She won the SNP crown, despite 55 per cent of her fellow Scots dismissing her vision for independence from the UK. Now Nicola Sturgeon, described by Tory Michael Gove as “the most dangerous woman in Britain”, stands just a few seats away from determining the shape of the country’s government for the next five years. Come May 8, a strong showing by the SNP could see the nationalists team up with a Labour government, “locking out” the Tories they loathe and leaving them perfectly positioned to make demands of Ed Miliband. As party chief, Sturgeon, 44, will be the one drawing up those demands, which are likely to include major concessions on the nuclear deterrent and more spending on Scotland. In front of the camera she has so far shown her softer side. Viewers, particularly women, have warmed to her. Like her predecessor Alex Salmond she has impressed with her polished debating skills. However, her opponents warn that beneath the coiffured hair and make-up, the real Nicola is a fiercely ambitious street fi ghter who will stop at nothing to realise her dream of breaking up the union. Independence has long been her dream. She became an SNP member in 1986, aged just 16, and by 29 she was elected to the new Holyrood parliament in 1999, as a Glasgow regional MSP. Her path to the top job was not plain sailing and in 1992 and 1997 she was beaten at the polls by Labour opponents. Author David Torrance, who has just released a biography, Nicola Sturgeon A Political Life, tells of her sometimes intimidating approach to opponents. In 2000 she allegedly had a ferocious argument with a Lib Dem MSP, Margaret Smith, who had tried to block an SNP debate on community care. Torrance says: “Witnesses claim to have seen Sturgeon and fellow SNP Shona Robison in a corridor outside the debating chamber. Sturgeon is said to have had her face quite close to that of Smith, with the row growing so heated that a security guard was compelled to intervene.” Tory MSP Mary Scanlon also told of her “brush with the heavy mob”, a reference to Sturgeon and Robison, with witnesses describing the pair as “very intimidating”. Sturgeon and Robison have played down their part, saying there was only an exchange of views.

In 2010 Sturgeon faced calls to resign when, as Salmond’s deputy, she became embroiled in a scandal involving one of her constituents. It emerged she had written to a Scottish judge on behalf of Abdul Rauf, who had defrauded the Department for Work and Pensions of £80,000. In the letter she asked him not to send Rauf to prison.



Scottish Labour’s Iain Gray told the Scottish Parliament at the time: “I spent yesterday standing up for victims of knife crime. Nicola Sturgeon spent yesterday standing up for a criminal.”



Sturgeon later apologised to Parliament and Rauf was jailed. He was unwilling to discuss the situation when contacted by the Sunday Express last week. The scandal soon blew over and now Sturgeon is on the brink of her greatest achievement to date with her popularity at an all-time high.



Yet opponents in Holyrood have warned she has done nothing to rid the SNP of the “Little Scotlanders”, whose threats and anti-English rantings last September brought criticism of the referendum process.



Tory MSP Alex Johnstone likened the SNP to a polit ical “cult” with Sturgeon its leader and party members forbidden from criticising her.



Mr Johnstone, who will be fighting for Salmond’s old seat of Banff and Buchan next month, warned SNP members who make it to Parliament would exact a heavy price for September’s defeat. He said: “They will be a small army of malcontents, sniping and bullying to get their own way.



“They behave like a political cult, not a political party and it has got worse with Nicola. At their last conference they decided no one can attack the leadership. How’s that for democracy? It is complete control freakery.



“Nicola is dangerous as she will not back down and is able and clever. She can market herself in different ways but essentially she is the cult leader.”



If there is an in-out EU referendum in 2017, Mr Johnstone expects her to play a particularly devilish joker card to skew the result.

“If the overall vote is to leave the EU, but not in Scotland, she will demand the UK cannot leave the EU as Scotland doesn’t want to,” he said. “She wants Scotland to remain in the EU so she will do everything in her power to achieve that end.”



In the inevitable storm that would follow she would undoubtedly press her case for independence, capitalising on England’s frustration with the SNP.



At First Minister’s questions on Thursday, Sturgeon was in complete control of her MSPs, who loyally banged their desks as she batted away questions from Labour and the Tories.



“We stand for maximum powers for this Parliament,” she said. “That is what we will argue for.”



Her parents Robin, 66, and Joan, 62, said her success had come as no surprise. Joan said: “Her determination and belief in her own country started her off on this route.”



She added: “I don’t think she will work in a coalition government. She’ll work well with Alex but Nicola is the leader of the party so she’ll lead.” As if there was ever any doubt.