NICOLA Sturgeon, Joanna Cherry and JK Rowling must drop their “tedious” feud and observe “a period of dignified silence over the remainder of the summer”, according to the former first minister’s one-time aide.
Kate Higgins, who served as a senior special adviser to first ministers Sturgeon, Humza Yousaf and John Swinney, waded into the row through a substack post.
She told the trio of Sturgeon, Cherry, and Rowling “to do one”, The Herald reports.
In a blog post, the former adviser waded into the war of words between the women, which has played out recently at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, as both former politicians attempt to sell books while Rowling looks ahead to her new TV show later this year.
Speaking to broadcaster Iain Dale, Sturgeon rejected claims she was “at war” with Rowling but claimed the author was “obsessed” with her.
She also said dismissed Cherry’s memoirs as “shite” and said she would not be reading them.
Responding at a different event, Cherry, who was an SNP MP for just under a decade, said Sturgeon “flirts and teases” with the suggestion she may be gay.
In her post, Higgins referenced the title of the 1980s children's TV show Why Don't You Switch Off Your Television Set and Go and Do Something Less Boring Instead?
She wrote: “So, in a similar spirit, and meant with only the best of intentions, my message to Nicola Sturgeon, JK Rowling and Joanna Cherry: why don't you all just do one?
“Oh I appreciate that there are books to be sold, bums to be put on seats at festivals, followers to be generated and headlines to be had, but the ongoing tit for tat is tedious.”
Higgins said Cherry should follow the example set by Margaret Ewing, who lost out on the SNP leadership to Alex Salmond in 1990 but maintained afterwards “a dignified silence” and “rolled her sleeves up, stayed engaged and backed him all the way”.
Aiming at Rowling, the former special adviser said that engaging in “personalised, heightened mud slinging to continue to make your point is unedifying and demeaning”.
Higgins added: “Have you forgotten how many young people revere you for bringing Harry Potter into their lives and helping so many of them who were othered, bullied and ostracised for being different – just like Harry?
“Some of them might even have found themselves on the outside as teenagers because they were confused about their sexuality and gender identity. You helped them then; in what way do you think your puerile attacks on Nicola Sturgeon help them now?”
And at Sturgeon she directed especially biting criticism, accusing her of a “bewildering” attack on Swinney.
Referencing Sturgeon’s first speech as first minister in 2014, Higgins said: “It might seem edgy to you to use soft sweary words to demean Joanna's book, but how does doing so send a 'strong, positive message to all girls and young women across our land?'”
And she criticised the former first minister for speaking out about the “betrayal” she suffered at the hands of her estranged husband Peter Murrell, currently serving five years in prison for embezzling £400,000 from the SNP during his time as chief executive.
Higgins said she could not begin to imagine Sturgeon’s pain at the “personal betrayal” by Murrell but added that “all of us in the SNP – especially the longstanding members – feel some of that pain too”.
Higgins went on: “To have you play it out publicly just makes it harder for the party to put this shameful episode in our long history behind us.
“It makes it more difficult for us to encourage activists to come out and help win back support that has drifted away, or to come to meetings to keep the party functioning at local level.”
Turning to Sturgeon’s criticism of her party’s approach to the 2026 Holyrood election, which the former first minister said lacked “vision”, Higgins said it was puzzling that she appeared to think “that the SNP's fortunes and trust in an SNP government might be enhanced by you attacking John Swinney and the party's most recent election campaign”.
She added: “Especially when we both know that if he had not come forward – at some significant personal sacrifice – to lead and serve his party, we faced electoral defeat.
“How would that have helped the SNP to continue to deliver for the people of Scotland and build on your strong legacy and track record as First Minister, not least in widening access to education and eradicating child poverty?”
By “demeaning each other, by being hostile and abusive”, Higgins said the three women were “suggesting that such treatment of women – especially by men – is welcome in Scotland in 2026”.
Higgins added: “Indeed, a period of quiet reflection might remind each of you of the power you hold to do public good, not least in standing against hate and intolerance, and in standing for the rights of all girls and women to live lives free from abuse and harm.”
Cherry told The National: "Ms Higgins displays the sort of casual attitude towards the facts that we have come to expect from SNP spads appointed in recent years not because of their ability but because of their blind loyalty.
"At no time did I stand for the leadership of the SNP against Nicola Sturgeon nor indeed against anyone else nor did I ever wish to do so. However, I remain proud that I questioned the misgovernance and ineptitude which typified her approach to running the party and running the country.
"Perhaps if more people had had the courage to do so, her husband wouldn’t have been able to steal members donations and Scotland might be a little closer to independence."
Sturgeon and Rowling have declined to comment.
