She was, she stressed, “a human being”, not just a politician. And as one who had wrestled with accepting she simply no longer had the reserves needed to do the job justice, it was her “duty to say so”. Just three weeks after insisting there was “plenty left in the tank”, Nicola Sturgeon’s shock announcement revealed the personal toll she said eight years as Scotland’s first minister had exacted on her and her loved ones. Could she have battled on for longer? Yes. Could she have given it “every ounce of energy that it needs?” Then the answer was “different”, she said. And she had “a duty to say so now”. As she spelled out her reasons in detail, the echoes of another, equally surprising resignation, were impossible to ignore. When Jacinda Ardern announced last month that “I no longer have enough left in the tank” to continue as New Zealand’s prime minister, there was equal shock. She too spoke of a duty to admit her doubts.
“I am leaving because with such a privileged role comes responsibility – the responsibility to know when you are the right person to lead and also when you are not,” Ardern said. “I am human. Politicians are human. We give all that we can for as long as we can. And then it’s time. And for me, it’s time.” Such admissions appear to be far rarer among male politicians than females ones. Critics will accuse both women of stepping down before being pushed. However, both gave a glimpse of how politics had become personal. “A first minister is never off duty. Particularly in this day and age, there is virtually no privacy,” Sturgeon said. “Even ordinary stuff that most people take for granted like going for a coffee with friends, or for a walk on your own, becomes very difficult.” “I am a human being,” she stressed more than once. “And every human being every day wrestles with a whole load of conflicting emotions. And over the last number of weeks, probably since around the turn of the year, I’ve been struggling with just that.”
Both had found themselves in the eye of the storm immediately before announcing their departures. Ardern, who when elected was the youngest female world leader, and who was praised in particular for the compassion and strength she exhibited after the Christchurch terror attacks, had seen her popularity fall. She had faced a significant increase in threats of violence, particularly from conspiracy theorists and anti-vaccine groups infuriated by the country’s vaccine mandates and lockdowns. So much so that the New Zealand actor Sam Neill tweeted at the time she quit: “Her treatment, the pile on, in the last few months has been disgraceful and embarrassing. All the bullies, the misogynists, the aggrieved. She deserved so much better. A great leader.” Sturgeon, though confident she could lead her party to victory in the next elections, had recently found herself entangled in the issue of transgender rights, among other things. They each insisted these difficulties were not factors in their decisions. Yet both had been subjected to online abuse as a result of them. Sturgeon spoke of the “much greater intensity” and “brutality” of life as a politician today. Rosie Campbell, a professor of politics and director of the Global Institute of Leadership at King’s College London, believes female politicians are more vulnerable to abuse in this environment. “We had a period in time in the 90s and early 2000s where we had more women in politics. Social media wasn’t so present, and actually the quality of the discourse was better than it is today,” she said. “What I suspect is a minority of individuals have managed to lower and brutalise the debate for everybody. It’s something we have got to tackle because not only will it force good people out of politics, it will have consequences in terms of the quality of legislation that is passed.” The Labour MP Chris Bryant, chair of the standards and privileges committee, acknowledged the specific problems female politicians faced when he tweeted: “Life in modern politics is tough so I want to thank Nicola Sturgeon for every ounce of energy she has given and every personal sacrifice she has made in public life. We all take slings and arrows – and women politicians more than most – so thank you.” Caroline Nokes, the chair of the Commons women and equalities committee, has highlighted the specific pressures faced by female politicians. “The most glaring problem is the shocking abuse and misogyny which all women in politics and especially minority ethnic women suffer,” she said when the committee published a report titled Equality in the Heart of Democracy: a Gender Sensitive House of Commons last year. “Vicious abuse, including rape and death threats, is totally unacceptable. Specific action must be taken to protect women MPs and candidates. Without such action, an entire generation of women could be deterred from entering parliament,” Nokes said. For Sturgeon, the moment is a major milestone. “I will be 53 this year. I entered parliament when I was 29. I’ve been in government since I was 37. I have literally done this in one capacity or another for all of my life. I’ve been Nicola Sturgeon the politician for all of my life.” She added: “But having reached this stage in my life, maybe I want to spend a bit of time on Nicola Sturgeon the person, the human being, and contribute differently.”