Nicola Sturgeon fought back tears as she was grilled by the Covid inquiry about deleted WhatsApp messages during the pandemic. Giving evidence, the former first minister was asked if she thought she was well suited to be a leader after heavily criticising Boris Johnson’s handling of the crisis. “I was the first minister when the pandemic struck. There’s a large part of me that wishes that I hadn’t been”, Ms Sturgeon said, appearing upset. “But I was and I wanted to be the best first minister I could be during that period.”