NICOLA Sturgeon must be used to people telling her to resign at every turn – but normally those calls come from people with blue rosettes or Union flags on their lapels.
What the First Minister likely didn’t expect was to be told to step down by one of her own MPs … even if it was tongue-in-cheek.
The moment came on Instagram of all places, after Sturgeon posted a picture of Edinburgh castle she had apparently taken from Arthur’s Seat.
“I’m a born and bred west-coaster, but I have to admit that Edinburgh is beautiful,” Sturgeon wrote.
The admission proved too much for one SNP MP from Scotland's biggest city.
David Linden, who represents Glasgow East at Westminster, wrote: “#ResignSturgeon!!”
The light-hearted response went quite far over some people’s heads.
“Trump really has lowered the tone globally in terms of the way politicians communicate with the public. Hashtagging your boss to resign on a social media platform … how very professional,” one person wrote.
“How unprofessional as well as embarrassing,” another wrote.
Fortunately not everyone missed the point entirely. “I think he's making a joke at the expense of the trolls who make a point of commenting this on all Nicola's posts,” one Instagram user, who we suspect may be right, wrote.
Confirming the suspicion, Linden himself responded to the mini-backlash: “I think we are going to have to call for the devolution of humour for some folk.”
Good luck. If past experience is anything to go by, Westminster wouldn’t even come to the table for those negotiations.
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