NICOLA Sturgeon has insisted she will not have to resign over the Alex Salmond row but admitted she faces “difficult issues” because of the rift with her predecessor.
In a sign of the breakdown in relations, the First Minister even refused to say if Mr Salmond was still her friend.
"I'm not going to comment," she said when asked.
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Speaking to the media in London about Brexit, Ms Sturgeon was pressed about the inquiries into her actions while Mr Salmond was investigated for alleged sexual misconduct.
Ms Sturgeon had three meetings and two phone calls with her predecessor while he was being probed by her officials, but insists she did nothing wrong and did not interfere.
She is now being investigated by ethics watchdogs to see if she breached the ministerial code.
MSPs are also to examine her behaviour and the background to Ms Salmond’s successful legal challenge to the way the government investigated him.
The former First Minister won a judicial review week after ministers admitted the way he was investigated had been flawed and unfair.
The collapse of the government’s case left taxpayers with a legal bill of around £500,000.
In the wake of the climbdown, Mr Salmond and Ms Sturgeon’s camps have been engaged in a venomous briefing war, with the First Minister claiming she is the victim of smears.
Ms Sturgeon’s official spokesman also accused “the other side” of conducting a “vendetta” against Ms Sturgeon’s chief of staff, Liz Lloyd.
Speaking on Sky News, Ms Sturgeon was asked: “Do you actually feel at the moment that your own job is on the line?”
She replied: “No, I don't… With regards to Alex Salmond, there are investigations underway which should be allowed now to take their course.
“But my job as First Minister is to do everything I can to protect the best interests of Scotland, to see the SNP - as far as we can - play a part in stopping the whole UK jumping off the Brexit cliff edge.”
READ MORE: Iain Macwhirter: The SNP needs to face up to the political reality of disunity
Asked “Is Mr Salmond still your friend?”, she said: “Look, I'm not going to comment.”
She added: “I've been a friend and colleague of Alex Salmond for 30 years - for most of my life. Obviously, there are difficult issues that we're confronting around that at the moment, there are a number of inquiries underway, and it would not be appropriate for me to comment any further while they're ongoing.”
Asked by the BBC if she believed there was a vendetta against her and her staff, she said: “Look, I’m here to talk about the biggest crisis facing the UK in my lifetime today.
“There is an inquiry into my conduct under the ministerial code. I’m confident of the appropriateness of my behaviour.
“There’s also a potential parliamentary inquiry in Scotland. And of course, perhaps most importantly of all, there’s an ongoing police investigation, and I think now the most important thing is to allow those inquiries to take their course.”
Former SNP deputy leader Jim Sillars said the row was hurting the independence case.
Writing in the Scotsman, he blamed the party’s “cult of personalities” under Mr Salmond and Ms Sturgeon for weakening its governance, and giving too much power to its leaders.
He said: “A tragedy is engulfing the SNP from the conduct of the Salmond and Sturgeon warring factions. The previous basis of public support, competence, judgment and stability, is laid bare as bogus. A tragedy that was inevitable.”
He concluded: “It will be a long way back for the party out of this mess... We should not kid ourselves. The SNP and independence have been so conjoined that problems with the former damage the latter. The only answer now is to build the Yes movement as an entity in its own right, with its own strength not dependent on the SNP.”
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