Nicola Sturgeon interrupted twice by hecklers at book promotion event
Nicola Sturgeon was heckled twice by detractors in the crowd but said the animosity made her ‘come alive’
Nicola Sturgeon was heckled by campaigners as she appeared at an event to promote the new chapter of her book.
Sean Clerkin, the independence activist who first raised concerns about missing SNP funds, used the event to tell Ms Sturgeon to apologise.
Detractors twice shouted from the audience with furious comments about Alex Salmond’s downfall and Peter Murrell’s embezzlement of party funds.
READ MORE:A barely audible 'guilty' marks the pinnacle of the Peter Murrell drama that has dogged the SNP
Both Mr Clerkin and a woman were removed by security guards - however, Ms Sturgeon said “questions like that” made her “come alive”.
The former first minister was in Eastwood Theatre, outside Glasgow, at the launch of the paperback version of her memoir, Frankly.
While saying that she receives abuse on social media from people who “don’t have the guts” to make comments to her face, a woman began shouting from the audience.
“Was Alex Salmond fitted up to hide the corruption within the SNP?” she shouted, as other audience members told her to be quiet.
Ms Sturgeon replied: “Are you going to sit down again and listen to the answer, or are you going to scarper?
“So, answer your first question, no, Alex Salmond was not fitted up.
READ MORE: Nicola Sturgeon makes her final address to the Holyrood chamber - did she keep her Promise?
“Alex Salmond was responsible for his own behaviour. I wasn't responsible for it.”
Mr Clerkin then took to his feet to ask Ms Sturgeon what had happened to party funds “ring-fenced” for a second referendum.
He called for her to apologise as security staff removed him from the auditorium.
The former SNP party leader replied: “I come alive when I answer questions like that.”
She added: “As you leave, sir, let me say this: I will always take responsibility for the things I do.
“I will never apologise for the crimes of a man.”
As the audience cheered in support with shouts of “I love you”, Ms Sturgeon added: “Thank you for that reaction to these yobs.”
Murrell, Ms Sturgeon’s ex-husband and former SNP chief executive, was jailed for five years in June for embezzling more than £400,000 from the SNP.
She told the audience she is trying to come to terms with being betrayed by him.
“On the personal side, some days I don't think about it much at all,” she said.
“Other days I struggle to think about anything else, and I suspect that will be the case for quite a while.”
Ms Sturgeon said Murrell had been “lying to me right up until the last minute”.
She said she believed he was going to plead not guilty and proceed to trial until the week before his guilty plea.
“He kept saying, it was all a big misunderstanding. He could explain it all,” she said.
“And then he pled guilty, and then I found out through stuff that was read out in court - and this hit me like a ton of bricks - that he'd actually been negotiating a guilty plea since March 3, but hadn't told me that, didn't even give me the time to prepare myself for that.
“Until then we were still nominally living in the same house, although I was trying to be away from it as much as possible.
“He was quite isolated. He didn't go out much. He was quite uncommunicative, and I worried a lot about him, even though I was obviously angry at what I was kind of starting to understand that he had done,
“But now I think maybe I was the fool for worrying about him because he clearly didn't worry very much about me.”
Ms Sturgeon also used the event to describe Boris Johnson as the “biggest tosser” she had worked with and said he should never have been prime minister.
“I genuinely, really, really believe he should never ever, ever have been allowed within a million miles of Downing Street,” she said.
Asked if she sees anyone in the SNP now who could be an “aspiring leader” would lead Scotland to independence, Ms Sturgeon said Jenny Gilruth, current deputy first minister, or new MSP Hannah Mary Goodlad, would be her picks.
Calling Ms Gilruth a “really great talent”, Ms Sturgeon added: “We just elected a brilliant woman up in Shetland, Hannah Mary Goodlad.
“Look up her if you've not seen her - a really impressive young woman.”
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