A Conservative attempt to unseat her – despite the first minister being cleared of breaching the ministerial code by an independent investigation – was easily defeated at Holyrood by 65 votes to 31.
Before the vote, a defiant Ms Sturgeon told her critics: “If you think you can bully me out of office, you are mistaken.”
Turning on the Tories, she said: “There are some in this chamber who decided before a single word of evidence was said that I was guilty in relation to the handling of complaints against the former first minister.”
She had admitted not giving Holyrood the full picture about when she first heard about an investigation, in 2017, but her account of having forgotten about it as believed.
“I find it difficult to think of any convincing reason why, if she had in fact recalled the meeting, she would have deliberately concealed it while disclosing all the conversations she had had with Mr Salmond,” Mr Hamilton concluded.
In the parliament, the Tory leader Ruth Davidson pointed to the separate conclusions of a Holyrood committee that the first minister had misled parliament.
“Nothing can erase that fact, however inconvenient it is to the first minister and her supporters,” she said.
“And let’s remember, that by misleading this Scottish Parliament, she misled the people of Scotland too.
“No first minister who truly wanted to live up to the ideals of this parliament should feel able to continue in post after having been judged guilty of misleading it.”