Nicola Sturgeon: If I was touting for other jobs while leader it would have come out

Former first minister Nicola Sturgeon talking to the media as she returned to the Scottish Parliament. Picture: Andrew Milligan/PA Wire

Ms Sturgeon said resigning as first minister was the “biggest life change” she had gone through

Nicola Sturgeon has denied pursuing other jobs during her time as Scotland’s first minister, insisting if she had been it would have been found out.

The former leader of the SNP told the BBC’s Nicola Sturgeon Podcast that she would remain in the Scottish Parliament until at least the next election and resigning as first minister was the “biggest life change” she had gone through which would see her have to “almost re-wire how my brain works”.

Ms Sturgeon, 52, said on the sixth episode of the series that she had “not been pursuing other opportunities” when co-host Glenn Campbell put to her rumours about her getting a job somewhere like the United Nations.

“You know as well as I do, if I had been away touting myself for other jobs, you would know about it because these things would never be secret, and I haven’t. I have been focused on this job, I don’t know what I want to do next,” she told the podcast.

Ms Sturgeon spoke to the broadcaster before turmoil hit the SNP when police arrested her husband