Sturgeon tells of ‘sexual bullying’ by male MSP during first term at Holyrood

Nicola Sturgeon told how she cried in a toilet at Holyrood after suffering what she now describes as “sexual bullying” from an unnamed male MSP.

The former first minister told in her memoir how in her first term at Holyrood she was referred to as “Gnasher” by the fellow politician.

In her memoir, Frankly, which has just been published, she said she initially did not understand what this referred to – but she later discovered it was linked to a rumour that she had once injured a boyfriend during oral sex.

Ms Sturgeon made clear that was “untrue”, but added: “The fact I feel the need to say that is in itself horrible, but I was utterly mortified.

“On the day I found out about the story, I cried in one of the toilets in the Parliament office complex, wondering how I was ever going to face people.”

Speaking about the unnamed male politician, she said: “His behaviour got steadily worse.

“He would often make ‘jokes’ about teeth or dentists when I was within earshot. I can still visualise the gleeful sneer on his face.

“He seemed to revel in my discomfort and I became quite scared of him. My heart would race whenever I saw him or heard his voice.

“His taunting of me abated eventually, but only after months of what felt like torture.”

Asked about this on the BBC Newscast podcast, Ms Sturgeon said a survey by the Scottish Parliament in the wake of the Me Too movement, sparked by women speaking out about sexual harassment, made her realise it was bullying.

“At the time I thought it was just the cut and thrust of politics, it was what you had to put up with,” she said.

She said the Holyrood survey asked MSPs and staff at the Parliament if they had ever suffered sexual bullying.

She recalled: “I was about to tick no and then this came into my head and I thought ‘actually I have’.

“That was an instance of bullying of an overtly sexual nature. It was designed to make a young woman… it did make me feel ashamed and embarrassed and a bit scared of the person who was doing this.

“But it took me that long to see it for what I now think it was.”

She added she was “cowardly” for not naming the MSP involved, but said if she had done so she suspects he “would enjoy the notoriety of it”, adding: “That was what I couldn’t bring myself to indulge for him.”

Asked if similar behaviour could happen at the Scottish Parliament now, Ms Sturgeon said: “I would love to say ‘no, I can’t imagine it’,  and I don’t know if it would happen in quite that way, quite that explicitly.

“But can I sit here and say I can’t imagine instances of sexual bullying? Unfortunately I can’t say that.”