I worked with Alex Salmond — I'll never forget what the SNP leader taught me
I only met Alex Salmond a couple of times, back at the turn of the century when he was leader of the SNP and I was a party member and for a very short time – no more than the blink of an eye – his junior defence spokesman.
During the 1999 Scottish parliamentary elections I was the SNP candidate for the then unwinnable constituency of Roxburgh & Berwickshire, and he came campaigning with me for a day in one of the border towns, either Hawick or Kelso – I can’t quite remember which.
On the streets he was immensely popular with the locals, although I suspect many had no intention of voting either for him or his party at that time.
He was a consummate professional at this sort of glad-handing the public, and his advice to me was to keep moving and to “look ‘em in the eyes” because you could tell right away if they were onside or not.
The last time we met was in his office while he was First Minister. I was part of a delegation seeking to prevent the disbandment of the historical Scottish infantry regiments, a task in which we sadly ultimately failed.
Defence was then and now ultra vires as far as the Scottish parliament is concerned, but at least he lent a sympathetic ear.
And now he is gone, suffering a heart attack in North Macedonia and dying more or less instantly.
The eulogies have been rolling in from friend and foe alike, and I believe it is good thing that we still generally adhere to the old adage of not speaking ill of the dead. But I have been mildly astonished by the warm words now being spoken by some of his former friends and associates who more recently have been trying their utmost to damage him.
New depths of humbug and hypocrisy have been plumbed over the past few days. His split from the SNP and his latter-day fellow colleagues, many of whom owe their political prominence to his patronage, has been a bitter one.
For what it’s worth, in my opinion he was certainly one of the more accomplished Scottish political figures of the last few decades, right up there with Gordon Brown, Donald Dewar, and John Smith. He was an excellent debater who could hold his own with most and a good and inspiring leader of the SNP.
He had his faults too, of course, but don’t we all? I suspect that he was always more at home amongst his peers at Westminster than he was in Holyrood. In the latter case, after the novelty of being First Minister wore off, I would imagine he found the Edinburgh scene a bit parochial and boring.
He was without doubt head and shoulders above any others in his party as the sequence of failures in leadership of the SNP in his aftermath amply demonstrates. That so many turned against him in the end is probably indicative of their inferiority complex more than anything else.
His legacy will live on not just in his memory but also in the court cases he instigated to clear his name, which by all accounts will continue. So I reckon we haven’t heard the last of him, not by a long shot.
Or, as the man himself used to say while quoting Sir Walter Scott: “Then tremble, false Whigs, in the midst o' your glee, Ye ha' no seen the last o' my bonnets and me.”
Stuart Crawford is a political commentator, former SNP member, and retired army officer. Sign up for his podcasts and newsletters at www.DefenceReview.uk
