The ITV news anchor Tom Bradby has revealed how he recruited Nicola Sturgeon to make her debut as a political pundit on election night.
He lured the former first minister on board at a lunch in Scotland, and she will take her place in the studio alongside George Osborne, the former Tory chancellor, and Ed Balls, the former Labour shadow chancellor, on July 4.
Bradby, the ITV News at Ten presenter, thought Sturgeon would welcome the opportunity to shed party politics and offer her insights on the emerging general election results.
ITV has already issued publicity photographs of Sturgeon with Balls and Osborne before next Thursday’s ballot.
Bradby told the Radio Times that after the 2019 general election, which Boris Johnson won with a huge Conservative majority, he was searching for ways to take ITV’s coverage to “the next level” and thought the former Scottish leader would offer a fresh perspective.
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“Who do we put in there who people would be really interested in watching go from politician to analyst?” Bradby said.
“I went up to Scotland and very carefully laid out over lunch how interesting it is to be an analyst and not to have to stick to a party line. I think that’s what appealed to [Sturgeon]. She’s up for new challenges. She was one of the pre-eminent figures of her generation and she’s looking for the next phase in her life.”
Sturgeon, who continued as the MSP for Glasgow Southside, has kept a low parliamentary profile since quitting as first minister and SNP leader in March last year, although she has been active at literary events.
It is just over a year since she was arrested by detectives then released without charge as part of Operation Branchform, the investigation into the funding and financing of the SNP.
In mid-April this year her husband, Peter Murrell, the former SNP chief executive, was re-arrested and charged with embezzling SNP funds. He resigned from the party after he was charged.
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Police Scotland have confirmed that Sturgeon, who was succeeded by Humza Yousaf before giving way to John Swinney, remains under investigation as part of their inquiries.
Swinney said earlier this month Sturgeon still had a “huge contribution” to make to the SNP’s general election campaign. She has said she would support SNP candidates from “time to time” where necessary.
Sturgeon is in the process of writing her memoir, for which she has reportedly received a £300,000 advance. She told the audience at a literary evening in Portobello that the experience felt “very therapeutic”, adding that she had finished the first draft and that it had proved much harder to write than she expected.
The announcement of her TV role — the fee so far undisclosed — as an election-night pundit was criticised by opponents.
Neil Findlay, the former Scottish Labour MSP, said: ”I wonder if Nicola Sturgeon Limited will be getting paid for her election punditry as I seem to recall quite a bit of SNP hostile comments (rightly so) when Ruth Davidson was paid for her election-night role.”
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Lord Foulkes, a Labour peer, said: ”Outrageous that ITV are considering having her on their election results programme.”
