I GOT LOTS OF THINGS WRONG

Sturgeon admits deliberately deleting her WhatsApp messages | Admits part of her did not want to be first minister during crisis

- PAUL HUTCHEON

A HUMBLED Nicola Sturgeon was reduced to tears at the UK Covid Inquiry after revealing she didn't want to be first minister when Covid struck.

The former SNP leader also confirmed she deliberately deleted WhatsApp messages as she confessed: "I got lots of things wrong.

Sturgeon's revelations came on a full day of questioning at the UK Covid Inquiry, which has been dominated by the scandal of Sturgeon and other members of her top team deleting their WhatsApp messages.

The politician cried at several points during a tough interrogation by Covid Inquiry KC Jamie Dawson, who asked if she had been the right first minister to manage the pandemic.

She said: "No, that's not how I would have thought of it at all. I was the first minister when the pandemic struck.

"There's a large part of me wishes that I hadn't been but I was and I wanted to be the best first minister I could be during that period.

Sturgeon then broke down in tears in dramatic scenes before regaining her composure to tell the inquiry: "It is for others to judge the extent to which I succeeded.

She then tried to downplay her use of WhatsApp by saying it had been limited and rare during the pandemic.

But asked by Mr Dawson "did you delete them?" Sturgeon admitted: "Yes, in the manner I have set out."

The KC also raised the failure to keep minutes of key meetings and Sturgeon initially not disclosing the first cases of Covid at a Nike conference in 2020.