Sir Sean Connery ‘voice coached’ Nicola Sturgeon

Sturgeon underlines her status as a famous name UK-wide with an appearance on Loose Women. Picture: Rex Features

The First Minister admitted that she is “thoroughly enjoying” her new-found  UK-wide fame after the election threw her into the national spotlight.

During an appearance on ITV’s Loose Women show yesterday, she was told that former prime minister Margaret Thatcher famously had a voice coach to help her delivery.

Ms Sturgeon said: “I’ve never had a voice coach, although – I’m about to name-coach horrendously here – I did once get some advice on how to project my voice from Sean Connery.

“It was all about how you breathe. So that’s my claim to fame.”

The overhaul of Ms Sturgeon’s image over the years has come under the spotlight during the election, but she played down the extent of this.

“The main thing that’s changed about me is that I’ve got older,” she said.

“Every woman as they get older … firstly as you go grey you have to think about whether you’re comfortable about that and if you want to do something about it. You also just get a bit more comfortable in your own skin, so that’s probably the No1 thing that’s changed.”

But as her exposure has increased on the political stage, Ms Sturgeon admits that she has had to pay more attention to image and appearance.

She added: “I’m not going to sit here and lie and say you don’t pay more attention to that, the more you are in the public eye.”