YOU could feel the lightness of spirit. Announcing her resignation, Nicola Sturgeon’s initially tense demeanour eased the longer she spoke; there was an almost palpable sense of a burden lifting from her with each remark uttered, each question answered.

We saw a more relaxed, chatty, personal First Minister delivering those exit remarks than perhaps we ever have. She knew “instinctively”, she said, that this was the right time to go. Judging by the smile which kept animating her face, it looked very much as if her instincts were right.

She explained that the punishing demands of managing the pandemic response had taken a toll physically and mentally. She could not guarantee having the same energy levels in future. She didn’t want to influence the SNP’s decision on turning the 2024 general election into a de facto referendum, only to leave office before it happened.

She also recognised how polarising a figure she was and wanted to remove herself from office to enable a more constructive conversation on independence.

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People are wondering, naturally, whether there is more to it. The de facto referendum plan, the biggest gamble in the career of a famously cautious politician, has the potential to get difficult and messy – was that influencing the timing of her exit? She said her thoughts on leaving had crystallised around two weeks ago: were the rows over trans prisoners and other government controversies really nothing to do with it?

And yet her given reasons were entirely credible: she could have continued, but had decided to step down in the best interests of the country and for herself personally. There are a vanishingly small number of politicians who could utter those high-minded words after eight years at the top of government and expect to be taken seriously, but Nicola Sturgeon can.

Why? There are a few reasons, starting with a reputation for greater honesty and decency than many of her peers.

For all the fury directed at her by her critics, particularly over independence and a maddening habit of grievance-mongering with Westminster, there are very few among them who doubt her basic honesty and her commitment to social justice and tackling inequality, even if delivery has not always matched aspiration.

It has been these equality issues – closing the attainment gap, keeping The Promise to care-experienced children, and yes, gender self-ID – that animate and bring alive Sturgeon the politician, even more so than independence which she always seems to view principally as a vehicle to achieving a fairer society rather than as a tribal goal in itself.

The Herald: Nicola Sturgeon shows 'a degree of humility that is unusual for a politician'Nicola Sturgeon shows 'a degree of humility that is unusual for a politician' (Image: Newsquest)

And she’s a workhorse. During the pandemic, her daily presence at that Bute House podium left the public in no doubt about how seriously she took her responsibilities. It’s doubtful anyone could have bested her understanding of the issues in that moment. Boris Johnson by contrast was the part-time Prime Minister.

At the same time, she shows a degree of humility that is unusual for a politician. She is indeed a polarising figure: you don’t have to delve far into news sites or social media to come across wild invective about her, usually by pro-UK supporters who parted company with their perspective some time ago. “Arrogant” is a word directed at her surprisingly often.

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But that one isn’t fair. However much one may disagree with Nicola Sturgeon, she does not exude arrogance. Her predecessor Alex Salmond embodied it and so did Boris Johnson, but Nicola Sturgeon ploughs a different furrow. Her style is thoughtful, understated, never flashy. As has often been the case in the Holyrood chamber, where her instinct has usually been to address the substance of criticism rather than bat it aside, she admitted yesterday to her own fallibility, readily admitting to regrets. This is not an adamant person who believes she is always right.

We may very well come to miss that too.

And politically, she did what many SNP politicians could not do: she appealed to voters in the centre ground, persuading them that it was safe to vote SNP. Voters who had opposed independence identified with her social democratic values and her opposition to Brexit.

That led some to vote SNP as a protest against the Tories, while others warmed to the idea of independence itself. Indy-sceptic voters needed reassurance: this careful, considered politician gave them that. Consequently, the polls have narrowed, 31 polls conducted in the last 12 months averaging 49.1 per cent Yes to 50.9 per cent for No. That’s progress, of sorts.

She is leaving at a time of her own choosing, further proof of her canny political judgment, with her reputation intact and a platform to go on to other things.

So what now? Everyone has an opinion about Nicola Sturgeon the First Minister but behind that persona is an intensely private person. She hesitated before revealing in 2016 that she had gone through the “painful experience” of losing a pregnancy aged 40 in 2011, doing so ultimately because she wanted to “challenge some of the assumptions and judgements that are still made about women – especially in politics – who don't have children”. (She’s parried plenty of sexist comment in her time – remember the Daily Mail’s ghastly “Legs-it” headline on her and Theresa May, to mention just one egregious example?)

Yesterday she spoke about the human toll politics takes on people’s families. Now she’ll have more time to be an auntie, though quipped that the idea might well “horrify” her 17-year-old niece and nephew.

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She’s a big reader, of course. And perhaps she herself will feature in works of art: you can imagine the play where a fictional Nicola Sturgeon meets outgoing New Zealand PM Jacinda Ardern in the departure lounge of an airport somewhere and they upend a few glasses of red. Who wouldn’t want to be a fly on the wall for that conversation?

The First Minister is a proper fan girl of Danish political drama Borgen, admitting to having rewatched the series “once or twice”. The recent Borgen reboot ended with Birgitte Nyborg taking a role in Europe. Could an international role beckon for Sturgeon too at some point? Perhaps; her immense political talents have hardly gone unnoticed in other countries.

That’s their gain. As for Scotland, we are entering a new, more uncertain era. There are likely to be times ahead when we miss the towering figure of Nicola Sturgeon.