Nicola Sturgeon and Peter Murrell: The downfall of Scotland's most powerful political couple
Once at the helm of Scotland’s biggest political party, Mr Murrell pleading guilty closes a chapter on the country’s most powerful political couple.
This month has marked the end of an era for the most powerful couple in the history of Scottish politics.
Nicola Sturgeon ended her 27-year stint at Holyrood earlier this month, while Peter Murrell pled guilty to embezzlement at the High Court in Edinburgh.
It is a far cry from their days of peak influence, when Ms Sturgeon was first minister and SNP leader, and Mr Murrell was the party’s chief executive.
The couple split last year, and neither Ms Sturgeon nor Mr Murrell are now running the SNP.
Early years
Ms Sturgeon and Mr Murrell met at an SNP youth weekend in 1988, but their relationship did not start until 2003.
At that time, Mr Murrell had been the party chief executive for two years and Ms Sturgeon had been a Glasgow list MSP for four years.
Ms Sturgeon became deputy leader of the SNP in 2004, and was deputy first minister after the SNP came to power in 2007.
Marriage
In January 2010, Ms Sturgeon and Mr Murrell announced they would be married, having become engaged the previous Hogmanay.
They were married at Glasgow’s Oran Mor on July 16, 2010. It was just days before Ms Sturgeon’s 40th birthday.
The reception was attended by several senior SNP figures, including then leader and first minister Alex Salmond.
Nicola Sturgeon as FM
Mr Salmond stood down as SNP leader and first minister following the 2014 Scottish independence referendum.
It was clear that his long time deputy, Ms Sturgeon, would succeed him.
This would cement the couple’s power, with Ms Sturgeon as leader and Mr Murrell as chief executive.
Mr Salmond told them Mr Murrell should resign from his job.
He said: “Nicola said she didn’t think it was a problem. And Peter looked at me with a look of sort of hurt astonishment, resentment, more than anything else.
“But it was advice well meant. It seemed to me a patently obvious point. I think my estrangement from Nicola and Peter can be traced to that moment.”
Resignations
Ms Sturgeon shocked the Scottish political world when she announced she would be resigning as SNP leader and first minister in February 2023.
In the leadership election that followed, the party faced calls to reveal its membership figures.
Reports that the number of members had fallen by 30,000 were rubbished by then party media chief Murray Foote.
He later resigned - saying he had been misinformed - when it came to light that the membership had fallen.
Mr Murrell was facing a vote of no confidence at the time so stood down as chief executive.
Read more: Who is Peter Murrell?
Operation Branchform
The police investigation into the SNP’s finances began in 2021 but it ramped up in 2023.
In April 2023, just weeks after Ms Sturgeon had resigned as first minister, Mr Murrell was arrested and the couple’s Glasgow home was raided by police.
Mr Murrell was later released without charge, but e high-end motorhome was seized from his mother’s Dunfermline home.
Ms Sturgeon was arrested in June 2023 but was released without charge.
She announced that she and Mr Murrell had split in January 2025.
The investigation against Ms Sturgeon - and former party treasurer Colin Beattie - was concluded with no charges in March 2025.
She had confirmed she would stand down as an MSP at the 2026 election just over a week earlier.
Mr Murrell was charged with embezzlement that month and pled guilty on May 25, 2026.