After a torrid few months, it’s hardly surprising Nicola Sturgeon was ready to enjoy a long lunch.

The former Scottish First Minister looked very relaxed as she knocked back wine while dining alfresco in west London, just days after her husband was jailed for embezzling party funds.

While Peter Murrell is starting a five-year stretch in HMP Dumfries, his estranged spouse, 55, who is filing for divorce, met leading human rights lawyer Claire Mitchell KC at Golborne Bistro in Notting Hill.

The friends made the most of the warm weather as they enjoyed an animated conversation outside the popular restaurant, which specialises in Anglo-Mediterranean dishes.

Dressed casually and smiling throughout the meal, the former SNP leader, who has moved to England after decades of trying to break Scotland away from the rest of the United Kingdom, looked in good spirits despite the turmoil caused by her husband’s trial.

Onlookers said she was laughing and engaging in a spirited discussion with her lawyer friend as they spent several hours together drinking white wine in the sun.

The meal on Sunday came after an extraordinarily difficult period for the veteran politician.

Murrell, the former chief executive of the SNP, admitted embezzling more than £400,000 from the party over a 12-year period.

He spent the money on a motorhome, cars and hundreds of other items including jewellery and luxury goods, some of which were gifted to Ms Sturgeon.

She was arrested as part of Operation Branchform – the investigation into the stolen party funds – after stepping down as First Minister in 2023, but has faced no charges.

And while she has always vehemently denied any knowledge of her husband’s crimes, she continues to face questions over the scandal and calls to release a written statement she gave to police, following revelations that detectives were frustrated by some of her answers.

After giving a ‘no comment’ interview to Police Scotland, Ms Sturgeon then provided the written statement, but it emerged that the document failed to address all of the points raised – and there were further questions which officers would have liked to have asked her.

Scottish Conservative deputy leader Rachael Hamilton has been among those calling for Ms Sturgeon to release the statement and for a Scottish Parliament inquiry into the affair.

‘There is nothing stopping Nicola Sturgeon publishing that statement, so she should do so immediately,’ she said. 

‘If she fails to do so, she has no right complaining about the suspicion and innuendo surrounding her – because she will be fuelling it.’

Ms Hamilton added: ‘What Sturgeon knew, what she told police and why she wasn’t charged are just some of the issues that a parliamentary inquiry into the Murrell scandal would address.’

Ms Sturgeon has insisted that she fully cooperated with the police probe.

But senior officers privately raised concerns about her response to inquiries and poured scorn on her claim she had no ‘conscious memory’ of seeing a £124,000 motorhome, paid for by Murrell with stolen cash, sitting outside her mother-in-law’s home.

The Daily Mail has also learned Police Scotland and the Crown Office – the Scottish public prosecutor – have no objection to Ms Sturgeon publishing her written statement.

Aamer Anwar, Ms Sturgeon’s lawyer, last month suggested ‘anonymous sources’ had ‘desperately tried to insinuate guilt’ despite Ms Sturgeon having not been charged, prosecuted or convicted. 

He added: ‘Ms Sturgeon is innocent of any crime… it was Mr Murrell who was charged, tried, convicted and imprisoned for his crimes.’

Among those demanding a parliamentary inquiry is Joanna Cherry KC, who accused the former leadership of the party of ‘hostility’ towards those ‘questioning what Murrell was up to in respect of internal party governance and party finances’.

She said: ‘Murrell would not have got away with what he did for so long without the hostility to debate, transparency and scrutiny enforced by the SNP leadership and their cronies and the harassment and intimidation of those who dared to speak up. That is why we need an independent inquiry.’

Three former members of the SNP’s finance and audit committee who resigned in March 2021 amid concerns about the party’s financial health and governance also raised issues over the way their concerns were handled.

Ms Sturgeon told a meeting of the party’s National Executive Committee that the party’s finances had ‘never been stronger’ and urged members to be ‘very careful’ about suggesting there were ‘any problems’ with them.

In their joint statement, Allison Graham, Cynthia Guthrie and Frank Ross said the response to their resignation had been ‘deeply concerning to all of us’. 

They said: ‘We would like to place on record our appreciation for the professionalism shown by Police Scotland throughout a lengthy and difficult high-profile investigation that required focus, objectivity, credible evidence, and institutional integrity.

‘We hope there will now be a reflection on the unjustified attacks made against all those involved in carrying out and supporting the work that led to a guilty plea in this case.’

The SNP highlighted current leader John Swinney’s previous comments on calls for a parliamentary inquiry.

He has rejected the demands, saying there was ‘a very clear criminal justice conclusion’ to the case.