Sturgeon testified on Wednesday and described the feud with salmon as quote one of the most invidious political and personal situations she has ever faced.

She denied his accusations that she had plotted against him and misled the Scottish parliament.

I have never claimed in this or anything else to be infallible.

I have searched my soul on all of this many, many times over.

It may very well be that I didn't get everything right.

That's for others to judge.

But in one of the most invidious political and personal situations I have ever faced, I believe I acted properly and appropriately and the overall I made the best judgments I could.

In his own explosive testimony last week, Salmon accused Sturgeon of taking part in a malicious plot to drive him out of public life and of breaking the ministerial code.

He stood trial on charges of sexual assault and was acquitted last year.

The feud between the pair once close friends and powerful allies in the cause of Scottish independence could deprive Sturgeon of the emphatic win she needs in May's Scottish elections to overcome resistance by British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who opposes a referendum.