There was a time when British politicians were not so at the mercy of events, when their support was based on granite, not sand. Nicola Sturgeon was one of them. 

As leader of the Scottish National party between 2014 and 2023, she won eight elections in a row — if you count council and European elections, which she very much does. She made nationalism appear progressive, even reasonable. During Covid, she was the political antidote to Boris Johnson — the prime minister whom, WhatsApp messages later revealed, she judged “a fucking clown”. 

But the Sturgeon who arrives to meet me in central Edinburgh is more fallible. Windswept by the Scottish winter, she sheds her bright red jacket and slides into the booth. She orders a no-alcohol G&T: a fitting cocktail of control and openness.