Nicola Sturgeon can't seem to resist having a pop at her fellow SNP First Ministers

The decision by Scotland’s longest-serving First Minister to voice what, at the very least, can be interpreted as criticisms of her fellow SNP leaders may not go down too well with some in the party.

While she did admit to making “lots of mistakes”, one of them was her reason for resigning. In an interview with the Institute for Government think tank, Sturgeon said that, towards the end of her tenure, she thought she had become “a polarising figure” and decided to quit, adding: “I think it turns out I was wrong about this, but I convinced myself that if I took myself out somebody else would be able to reset things.”

‘Obsessed with ideology’

Does she imagine that she could somehow still be First Minister, or that she would be doing a better job? If so, it’s fair to say that not everyone agrees, particularly veteran SNP MSP Fergus Ewing. He told the Institute for Government that Sturgeon became "obsessed with ideology, equality and gender reform" and led the SNP in a direction that was "really not going to work out".

Swinney and his deputy Kate Forbes might also contest the idea that there has not been a “reset”, although it may have been different to the one that Sturgeon envisaged. Certainly, their government seems more focussed on the economy and the NHS than independence and gender matters.

This different emphasis and Labour’s woes at Westminster have helped stabilise the SNP’s fortunes and, as of now, they have reasons to look forward to next year’s Holyrood elections.

However, if the sniping from off-stage continues, tensions within the SNP – always been a broad kirk, with ‘Tartan Tories’ alongside some fairly hard-left figures – could resurface with damaging consequences for their electoral chances.