THIS was no tinkering around the edges, but rather the biggest reshuffle in the SNP’s time in government.
Far more comprehensive than Alex Salmond’s in 2009, but not quite as brutal as Jack McConnell’s first day on the job as First Minister when he sacked half his Cabinet.
Sturge’s purge (copyright The National’s Andrew Tickell), was far more civil. Nobody was sacked, but rather they were allowed to resign.
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Perhaps the most civil resignation of all was Shona Robison’s.
The beleaguered Dundee City East MSP has been under immense pressure as Health Secretary in recent months, most notably over the scandal of NHS Tayside’s dodgy accounting, and their frankly appalling mental health services.
The calls for her sacking have often reached feverish levels.
Yesterday after she went, Scottish Labour’s health spokesman Anas Sarwar took the credit: “After two years of relentlessly exposing SNP failures on health, Shona Robison is removed as Health Secretary.
“While this is a welcome change, the best gift on the 70th year of our NHS would be adequate funding and staffing. That is her successor’s real test,” he tweeted,
Scots Tory health spokesman Miles Briggs was a little more graceful: “Best wishes to @ShonaRobison as she leaves the @scotgov.
“We may have had our disagreements on health policy in Scotland, but I wish her the very best in the future and hope she will find the opportunity to continue to campaign on health issues as she has over the last 19 years.”
The LibDem’s Alex Cole Hamilton’s tone was slightly more confused: “Whilst my call for @ShonaRobison resignation is matter of public record, I do not revel in it today. On a personal level she was always very kind to me and generous with her time. She has an obvious compassion about her, uncommon in Scottish Politics. I wish her well.”
To say Robison was well liked by colleagues on the SNP backbenches is to underplay the level of affection her colleagues have for her. An affection that was only strengthened when her marriage to MP Stuart Hosie ended in the most public, salacious and hurtful way.
In her resignation letter Robison cited a difficult year that saw her suffer a health scare and lose her parents.
She wanted to now to enjoy a “new chapter” of her life that included a new relationship, and “take time to focus on those closest to me, who have too often had to come second place to my job, which has been hard for us all”.
Few will resent her that.
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