Nicola Sturgeon’s arrest is a reminder that it’s scandal and standards that bring down parties, not policy

It is remarkable that questions of conduct can damage the SNP in the polls, when for so long abject failures of policy have bounced off Ms Sturgeon’s Teflon popularity, writes Charlie Mowbray

Casual observers, which frankly means most people, regarded Nicola Sturgeon as a decent and principled woman (Reuters)

Nicola Sturgeon, like Boris Johnson, is a leader bringing down her party after resigning.

In the former first minister’s case, she insisted her departure was down to being tired out by the job, having put in a nine-year stint, and it had nothing to do with any upcoming legal cases. The arrests of Peter Murrell, her husband and former SNP chief executive, and the party’s treasure MSP Colin Beattie shortly afterwards were just coincidences.

Now Sturgeon has been arrested herself, spending seven hours in the company of Scottish police before being released without charge. She has vehemently denied any wrongdoing, tweeting a statement written on her iPhone notes like a cancelled musician, in which she stressed it was “beyond doubt” she was innocent, adding her arrest was a “shock and deeply distressing”.

Now I cast no judgement whatsoever on the case, not least because contempt rules are more stringent in Scotland, but also because the reaction is far more interesting than the details of what we truly know, which is nothing. But it is remarkable that questions of conduct can damage the SNP in the polls when for so long failures of policy had little impact on Sturgeon’s popularity.

Scotland currently has the shortest male lifespan in the UK, the highest numbers of drug misuse in Europe, record waiting times in the health service and a 20 per cent gap between the attainment levels of rich and poor pupils. The latter of these, Sturgeon, as the Glasgow Southside MSP, had promised was her personal mission to deliver, but in reality the SNP have only ever maintained the status quo.

There was a brief phenomenon during Sturgeon’s tenure as first minister: English liberals would fawn over the former leader, embarrassing themselves to any Scots nearby by stressing just how much they wanted to vote for her. She wasn’t like other politicians, not like those down here.

For some reason, all the policy failures meant nothing because she seemed to conduct herself professionally, care about what she did, and not pose for photos at parties during lockdown. Casual observers, which frankly means most people, regarded her as a decent and principled woman. Perhaps they were right. But the fact that Sturgeon wasn’t good at her job didn’t register. People on the street called her “Nicola” much like they used Boris Johnson’s first name because she was seen as one of them. Once that trust and belief goes, so does the Teflon coating.

Support for the SNP was already falling, with polling last week suggesting a big part of their vote share is haemorrhaging to “don't know”, which is also how SNP officials answer the question “where is the money?” Scandals like this are a huge part of that collapse. Standards bring parties down, not policy.

Consider Johnson, a leader who was not forced out by the hit Brexit inflicted upon Britain’s GDP, the failure to make levelling up more than a catchphrase, lying about how many hospitals his government would build, or doing nothing on the housing crisis. He was forced out by Partygate and the appointment of Chris Pincher. The details don’t matter; being in a position to face such questions is enough. It was questions about decency, not trade deals that did for the soon-to-be-former MP.

Sturgeon standing down hurt the SNP, but she could have remained a big beast, following Gordon Brown’s approach of making a big intervention every few years before going back into hibernation. Instead, everything she does will be looked at through a prism of these events.

It’s not her governance that has damaged the party, or a failure to deliver on pledges. For better or worse, how politicians are perceived is far more important than what they actually do.