Nicola Sturgeon picks her best and worst MSPs at the Scottish Parliament

The ex-SNP first minister also said she struggled to name the best Holyrood performer due to a lack of talent among the existing crop of politicians.

When asked to pick the best MSP from the opposition benches, Ms Sturgeon plumped for Labour’s Monica Lennon.

However, she named Mr Ross as the worst MSP, citing recent photographs of the Tory waving his arms above his head in a debate about seagulls.

Read The Steamie - our dedicated politics newsletter

Without naming Mr Ross, the SNP MSP did an impression of the scene while saying: “I just think, no matter how serious the issue is, and I'm not saying it's not a serious issue, but if you end up flapping your arms about …”

In response, Mr Ross said: “It is amusing to know that, despite the fact she barely turns up to Holyrood any more, I still get right under Nicola Sturgeon’s skin.”

The former SNP leader joked, when asked to select a talent from another party at an event at Edinburgh’s Usher Hall on Tuesday night, “we are six months from an election”.

“I can't do that easily,” she said. “It really does pain me to say this, but five or ten years ago, I would have been able to answer this question much more easily than I can answer it now, because I would have Annabel Goldie or David McLetchie or people like that, who I really disagree with, but respect as parliamentarians and as people.”

After a considered pause, Ms Sturgeon said her pick would be Ms Lennon, thanks to her campaign work.

The SNP MSP referenced Ms Lennon’s work to eradicate period poverty in Scotland and introduce free sanitary products for women.

She then joked that her praise may have “changed her political career” for the worse.

“The MSP I think I've got most respect for is a Labour MSP, and I think she's done some great things around social policy,” Ms Sturgeon said.

“You know, she was responsible, when I was first minister, for the period poverty campaign and kind of picked it up and ran with it.”