Sturgeon and Murrell: From SNP power couple to divorce and embezzlement probe

Nicola Sturgeon has split from her husband, with whom she formed the force behind the governance of the Scottish National Party.

During the coronavirus pandemic, Sturgeon was the First Minister guiding the country through crisis.

Peter Murrell was the party’s chief executive, the top official of an election juggernaut that won four consecutive Holyrood elections.

Nicola Sturgeon announces she is divorcing her husband Peter Murrell. Instagram

The seeds of their hold on Scottish politics were sown many years before when the pair met aged 18 at an event for young Scottish nationalists in Aberdeenshire.

They didn’t become romantically involved until 2003 when Sturgeon served in the shadow cabinet and Murrell had been the SNP’s CEO for several years.

Scotland

Nicola Sturgeon splits from husband amid police investigation

The former SNP leader announced that her marriage to the former chief executive of the Scottish National Party Peter Murrell was ending.

Sturgeon’s reputation continued to flourish and she became a prominent figure in 2004 when she was elected the SNP’s deputy leader after narrowly losing to Alex Salmond in the party’s leadership contest.

She led the SNP at the Scottish Parliament until the 2007 election, when Salmond was elected as an MSP, meaning the public regularly saw her clash with then First Minister Jack McConnell.

Several years later, in July 2010, Sturgeon and Murrell tied the knot in an intimate ceremony at Oran Mor in the West End of Glasgow.

On the political front, Sturgeon went on to hold several more high-profile roles, including health secretary, infrastructure secretary and the person in charge of the SNP’s independence referendum campaign.

Nicola Sturgeon and her husband Peter Murrell (R) attend day twelve of the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club on July 11, 2015. Getty Images

After the Yes movement lost the vote in 2014, Salmond immediately resigned, and Sturgeon won the subsequent leadership contest unopposed becoming the country’s first female First Minister.

She held the position for more than eight years — 3,051 days, to be precise — before tendering her resignation to King Charles in March 2023.

During her time as FM, the SNP said membership numbers soared and the party rose to become one of the most powerful political forces in the UK.

The SNP was an election-winning machine. Sturgeon and Murrell were known for their strict party management and for quickly sidelining any internal dissenters.

Scotland's First Minister and leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP), Nicola Sturgeon, stands with her husband husband Peter Murrell outside a polling station in Glasgow, on December 12, 2019. — Scotland’s First Minister and leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP), Nicola Sturgeon, stands with her husband husband Peter Murrell outside a polling station in Glasgow, on December 12, 2019. Getty Images

The couple don’t have any children and Sturgeon has spoken candidly in the past about her painful experience of miscarriage.

Speaking on STV’s Loose Women in 2023, she said she lost her unborn baby at the very end of Hogmanay in 2010 and then attended a memorial for the 40th anniversary of the Ibrox disaster on January 3, 2011.

During the coronavirus pandemic, Sturgeon was ever-present on the nation’s TV screens as she delivered live daily news briefings – outlining the latest figures and updating restrictions.

Her leadership during Covid was polarising, with some feeling reassured at her presence as she guided the nation through tough times, while others were furious at some of her operational decisions around testing, quarantines and the loss of life in care homes.

The biggest crack in the Murrell/Sturgeon power dynamic emerged in July 2021 when Police Scotland confirmed detectives were investigating the party’s finances after seven complaints were made around donations to the SNP.

Operation Branchform was launched amid allegations that £600,000 raised for campaigning towards Scottish independence was diverted elsewhere.

The probe continues to cast a shadow over the SNP and Sturgeon stunned the political world by suddenly announcing her resignation on February 15, 2023.

She said this was not in relation to the investigation but because she knew in her “head and heart” that the time was right to go.

The following month, Murrell announced he was stepping down as the party’s chief executive – a role he had held for more than 20 years.

That came during a row over the party’s membership numbers, which also led to media chief Murray Foote stepping down.

The operation took a dramatic turn on April 5, 2023, when officers searched the couple’s home and erected a blue tent outside the property, as well as carrying out searches at the SNP’s Edinburgh HQ.

Murrell was arrested and then released without charge, pending further investigation, on the same day.

Several days later, a luxury camper van, thought to be worth about £110,000, was seized by police as the investigation intensified.

Sturgeon was arrested on June 11, 2023, but like Murrell and party treasurer Colin Beattie, she was also released without charge pending further investigation

Murrell was re-arrested in April last year and charged in connection with embezzlement of SNP funds.

Sturgeon announced on Instagram on Monday that had split having been “separated for some time”.

It is not clear for how long Sturgeon and Murrell have been apart. They were both still sharing the home in Glasgow’s Uddingston in April 2024.

Sturgeon wrote: “With a heavy heart I am confirming that Peter and I have decided to end our marriage.

“To all intents and purposes we have been separated for some time now and feel it is time to bring others up to speed with where we are. It goes without saying that we still care deeply for each other, and always will. We will be making no further comment.”