The flags on the Scottish parliament building were lowered on Saturday evening to mark the passing of Alex Salmond, who transformed the Scottish National party and led Scotland to the brink of independence as first minister. Voices cross-party and around the world rushed to praise the achievements of this consummate and divisive politician, who dominated the Scottish political landscape for decades. And within the SNP itself, which he moulded into a dynamic, confident, election-winning operation, there was shock and raw grief.
But his post-referendum legacy was dominated by the collapse of the defining relationship of his political career with Nicola Sturgeon, who succeeded him as first minister and regarded him as her mentor. A decade on from that referendum, on Saturday there was also quiet reflection among SNP veterans on the bitter legacy of the events of the past seven years that caused Salmond to angrily quit his membership and found another pro-independence party – called Alba, the Gaelic for Scotland – to rival it. It was Sturgeon whom Salmond blamed for how the Scottish government handled initial complaints of sexual harassment made against him – resulting in a criminal trial in which he was sensationally acquitted of all charges – and a Holyrood inquiry. “It was a sundering among a comparatively small group of people who were very close and had taken the party to where it was,” said Michael Russell, former Scottish government minister and SNP chief executive under Salmond, and another member of that inner circle along with the current first minister, John Swinney. “It was very hard but this is the moment to reflect on his achievements.” “There was nobody to compare him to,” said Russell, who was Salmond’s campaign manager when he first became leader in 1990. “The party recognised early on that he was an exceptional talent.” “He was on a personal campaign to convert every person in Scotland. He had that ability to connect with people and also have a strategic view.” He also knew “the value of being seen”, said Russell, and was instrumental in raising the profile of the SNP to the point where voters considered it potentially a party of government.
Yet arguably Salmond was the successful leader he became because of his relationship with Sturgeon – she carried the SNP at Holyrood while he was in Westminster in the mid 2000s, and broadened the referendum campaign to appeal to younger, leftwing, urban voters. If the independence referendum of 2014 was the high-water mark of their relationship, after losing his Westminster seat in 2017 he refused to step back and take on the elder statesman role that was waiting for him, making things difficult for his successor. To her dismay he opted to sign a broadcasting deal with the Kremlin-funded broadcaster Russia Today and became an Edinburgh fringe host, trotting out sexist jokes. While he became an increasingly divisive figure, it is hard to overstate his impact on first Scottish politics and then the independence cause. Salmond joined the party he would eventually lead in 1973, as a student at St Andrews University and worked as an economist for Royal Bank of Scotland after graduation. But he was also a political radical as one of the 79 Group, which wanted the SNP to move to the left and capture disaffected Labour voters who were disappointed with the UK government’s failure to deliver devolution. Elected to Westminster in 1987, he took over the party leadership in 1990, and his flair for debating was evident as he relished the role of opposition leader in the first Scottish parliament. His fondness for betting on horse racing was well known, and likewise his political career was marked by moments where he took extreme gambles that paid off.
Immediately after the 2007 Holyrood elections, in which the SNP had won just one seat more than the incumbent Labour, in a parliament designed for coalition, Salmond made an audacious media statement standing in front of a helicopter insisting that his party had won and would form the next minority government. His rivals fell into line. A brilliant strategist, he trained candidates to “act like winners”, effectively breaking the Holyrood system by winning a majority in 2011, the only time any party has achieved this in the 25 years of devolution. This pro-independence majority paved the way for the historic deal with the then UK prime minister, David Cameron, to hold a single-question referendum in 2014 on whether Scotland should be an independent country. “He changed the script and in doing so he changed Scotland’s story,” said Eilidh Whiteford, who succeeded Salmond as MP for the Banff and Buchan constituency after he returned to Holyrood as SNP leader. “I was very lucky to have him as a friend, mentor and boss and owe him a great deal. He was hugely demanding to work for but also enormous fun. And he had the best ambitions for the country.” Fergus Mutch, a former Salmond adviser, said that Salmond “loved to be out and about”. “He took an interest in people and had time for everybody,” Mutch said, attributing this to how Salmond had recognised the growing discontent with Labour in Scotland as an opportunity for the nationalists. “Like any politician he looked studiously at the opinion polls but he found no better guide than talking to voters.” And while Salmond could be “an absolute taskmaster”, he also “knew the value of friendship, camaraderie and kicking back with a few drinks”.