NICOLA Sturgeon was paid £25,000 plus expenses to be a pundit on ITV’s General Election coverage.
The payment was made public on the former first minister’s register of interests on the Scottish parliament website on Thursday morning.
The funds were handed to her company, Nicola Sturgeon Ltd.
In 2023, the former SNP leader updated her register of interests to say: “I am a director and hold an ordinary £1 share in a private limited company Nicola Sturgeon Limited (an artistic creation company, company number 781774).
“The share represents 100% of the issued share capital. The company does not yet have any income, but future book and related earnings will be made to it.”
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The company has also taken payments for her book reviews, written for the New Statesman magazine.
In October, Sturgeon penned a review of Boris Johnson’s “Unleashed”. The register of interests shows she was paid £700 to do so.
In relation to her appearance on ITV’s General Election coverage, the register states: “On 5 September 2024 my company Nicola Sturgeon Limited received a payment of £25,000 (plus VAT) from ITN Limited in respect of my appearance on the channel’s General Election results programme on 4 and 5 July 2024.”
It adds elsewhere: “Between 30 June and 5 July 2024 I received accommodation and car travel from ITN Limited … in respect of my appearance on the ITV General Election results programme from 4-5 July.
“The total cost of hotel accommodation was £2803.78 and the cost of car travel to and from the studio for rehearsals and the live programme was £329.15 (plus VAT).”
A spokesperson for Nicola Sturgeon said: “Nicola was paid the fee offered by ITV for her appearance on the election results programme and has registered it accordingly.”
Sturgeon’s memoir is due to be published in 2025. Pan Macmillan won the rights after what it described as “a hotly contested, nine-publisher auction”.
The former first minister said at the time: “Very excited to be doing this. I've always had an ambition to write.
“It is slightly bitter sweet today, though, as I head to the funeral of my uncle, the journalist Iain Ferguson. This is something that I always hoped we might work together on some day.
“Instead, it will be a book I dedicate to him.”
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