Nicola Sturgeon: Who is the SNP leader who came out so well in the TV debate?

A cheat's guide to the Scottish First Minister

(AFP/Getty Images)

Nicola Sturgeon, the leader of the Scottish National Party, proved a surprise winner in ITV's seven-way leader debate, coming out top in a poll by YouGov.

Ms Sturgeon went from being a barely-recognised face by the majority of the UK's population to the most-searched for politician on Google over the course of the evening.

Here is a brief profile:

Who is she?

The leader of the Scottish National Party and Scotland’s First Minister

Twitter handle?

@NicolaSturgeon and @ScotGovFM

Number of followers?

151k on her political account or 7,391 on her government account

Any jobs outside politics?

She worked as a solicitor

Biggest gaffe?

Nothing huge comes to mind, though staunch unionists might offer up a few

Where did she go to school?

Greenwood Academy in North Ayrshire and the University of Glasgow, where she studied law

Who’s in the family?

Her dad was an electrician and her mum was a dental nurse

What does she stand for?

Ending austerity, scrapping Trident, free university education. Oh, and Scottish independence

What constituency?

Glasgow Southside, in the Scottish Parliament

What you might not know about her:

She was the youngest parliamentary candidate in Scotland at the 1992 election – at the age of 21

She once interviewed the star of Danish political drama Borgen for STV’s Scotland Tonight show