Sturgeon wishes she had not kept Murrell on as SNP chief executive

Sturgeon appeared at the Hay Festival in Hay-on-Wye, in Powys, in conversation with journalist Francine Stock to promote her 2025 memoir, Frankly.

She told the audience that Salmond, who later expressed reservations about the couple’s professional roles, had appointed Murrell in 2000.

And the ex-MSP said her estranged husband’s offending, which started in 2010, pre-dated her election as party leader.

Sturgeon said: “My judgement was that the chief executive was not line-manged by the party leader. There is a national executive committee.

“My judgement was that it was not fair for him to lose his job, that he had done well, because I was taking on a new job.

“If I could turn back the clock, of course, I would take a different decision.”

The former first minister said she took responsibility for keeping Murrell in his post but added: “I still don’t think that makes me responsible for somebody committing a crime.”