Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Who is Peter Murrell? Nicola Sturgeon’s husband and former SNP chief executive

Peter Murrell was never an elected politician but his role as chief executive of the party since 1999 made him one of the most influential figures in Scottish and UK politics.

Concerns were raised within the SNP about power being held by one couple.

Scotland’s political power couple, Nicola Sturgeon and Peter Murrell, transformed the SNP, leading the party to record successes over multiple elections.

On the morning of April 5, Mr Murrell was arrested in connection with a police probe into party finances.

Who is the man credited with transforming the SNP?


Becoming the SNP power couple

Mr Murrell has never been an elected politician but his role as chief executive of the party since 1999 made him one of the most influential figures in Scottish politics.

He met Nicola Sturgeon through their work with the SNP in the late 1980s, and were first said to be in a relationship in early 2003.

They married at a ceremony in Glasgow in summer 2010.

At the time, he had already been SNP chief for 11 years and she was deputy first minister in a government led by her mentor Alex Salmond.

Nicola Sturgeon with husband Peter Murrell. Image: PA

Mr Murrell had previously worked Mr Salmond’s Banff and Buchan constituency office.

The SNP won power as a minority government in 2007, often attributed to Mr Murrell’s organisational skills, and made huge electoral gains in the 2011 election.

After Mr Salmond’s resignation in 2014 following the result of the independence referendum, Ms Sturgeon was elected unopposed as successor.

Questions were raised at the time about the close working and personal relationship between husband and wife, but they insisted there was a strict division of power within the party’s governance.

Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon were in government from 2007: Danny Lawson/PA Wire

The pair were reportedly told by the departing SNP leader in 2014 that she could not lead the party while Mr Murrell was chief executive but chose to ignore that advice.

Ms Sturgeon denied that becoming Scotland’s ultimate political power couple would be detrimental to the party, stating: “I’m comfortable there are no issues that arise.”

Why did Peter Murrell resign?

When Ms Sturgeon announced her decision to resign as first minister in February, it seemed inevitable her husband would also have to leave.

That pressure increased as two of the three candidates to replace her publicly questioned the integrity of the leadership contest.

But it was a row over party membership numbers that led to his resignation – shortly after the departure of the SNP’s communications chief Murray Foote.

Nicola Sturgeon with her new husband Peter Murrell following their wedding service at the Oran Mor in Glasgow, 2010. Image: Danny Lawson/PA Wire

The SNP went from fewer than 25,000 members before the independence referendum to more than 125,000 by December 2019.

But it long refused to answer questions about what happened to membership numbers after that.

Following sustained question from the media and candidates in the leadership race, the party revealed membership as of February 15 this year was 72,186, having fallen from 103,884 in 2021.

This corroborated published reports around the SNP losing 30,000 members, something Mr Foote strongly denied at the time.

He said that after speaking to the party’s HQ, he issued responses to the media which had “serious issues” and later decided there was a “serious impediment” to his role.