‘My decision comes from a place of duty and of love,’ Nicola Sturgeon said as she announced her resignation in February. ‘Tough love perhaps – but love nevertheless, for my party and above all for the country.’
It’s an intriguing formulation. ‘Tough love’ most commonly refers to authoritarian parenting or withdrawing financial support from a drug-addicted relative – often amid a mess of contradictions and pain. Neither could represent, generally speaking, the kind of relationship with the public that a liberal politician would consider desirable. But with Sturgeon having now handed over the reins to Humza Yousaf, a political ally if not a competitor in the realm of charisma, it sums up pretty well the uneasy settlement that the modern Scottish Government has reached with its people.
