NICOLA Sturgeon has said the need to seek more privacy in the wake of internet rumours was “part of the reason” for her resignation as leader of the Scottish National party.

The former first minister stepped down in February, saying she was clear “in my head and in my heart” that it was the right time to go as she was drained by the unrelenting and unforgiving pressures of modern politics.

Now Sturgeon, who has been the subject of a series of lurid and unfounded rumours about her personal life that have circulated on the internet in recent years, has told a new BBC Scotland podcast that online gossip about her was “part of the reason” behind the decision.

“I’m not naive, I’m not of the view that I will step down one day and be completely anonymous the next day, I understand the realities of what I have done and I’ll still be in parliament, but I want to have a bit more privacy,” she said.

“I want to have a bit more anonymity and I just want to protect some of what people take for granted in their lives that I’ve forgotten to have.”

Want to see why Scotland is better as part of the UK?