Alex Salmond: Master campaigner and tactician who reshaped Scottish politics

Loved and loathed in equal measure, but few could deny Alex Salmond’s immense impact both north – and south – of the border.

History will remember Mr Salmond, who has died aged 69, as the leader who took the SNP to the brink of achieving the party’s dream of independence in 2014 – arguably no one has done as much as Mr Salmond to advance the nationalist cause.

Born in Linlithgow in 1954, Alexander Elliot Anderson Salmond was educated at Linlithgow Academy and St Andrew’s University, where he first joined the SNP.

Graduating with a degree in economics and history, he worked as an economist for both the Government Economic Service and the Royal Bank of Scotland before being elected as an MP for the Banff and Buchan constituency in 1987.

His election at Westminster followed a turbulent period for the SNP, which saw its number of seats fall from 11 to two in the 1979 general election.

He characterised his early time at Westminster as “a one-man campaign of parliamentary disruption” – best illustrated when he was ejected from the chamber during the 1988 budget.

As a young and brash newcomer, Mr Salmond played a role in the breakaway faction of the party known as the “79 Group” which sought to take a more left-wing stance.

His brief expulsion as a result did not hinder his advancement within the party in the long term, with his election to leader coming in 1990.

With the creation of the Scottish Parliament in 1999, he went on to serve as leader of the opposition at Holyrood, while retaining his seat at Westminster.

He stood down as SNP leader in 2000 and left the Scottish Parliament in 2001.

Returning as leader in 2004, he guided his party to a narrow Scottish election win in 2007 and then led a minority government as he became Scotland’s first SNP First Minister – a feat many thought was unachievable.

That success was superseded in the 2011 election, when Mr Salmond led his party to an unprecedented victory, with a crushing defeat of its main rival and pre-election poll leaders, Labour.

The majority win was even more impressive considering the voting system at Holyrood is essentially designed to prevent such a result.

It meant the SNP’s manifesto pledge to hold an independence referendum could be delivered.

Mr Salmond signed the Edinburgh Agreement with David Cameron on October 15 2012, setting out the terms of the referendum to held in 2014.

Despite attempts by some in the Yes camp to move the focus away from him, Mr Salmond was seen across the UK – and the wider world – as synonymous with the Scottish independence movement during the campaign.

As the September 18 vote drew closer, the polls narrowed, and Yes Scotland appeared to have the momentum. Many wondered whether the first minister could become the ultimate Scottish political history-maker.

But the result – a 55% to 45% vote to stay in the UK – led to his resignation on September 19.

Having taken the independence cause to “base camp”, it was someone else’s turn to make a bid for the summit.

Borrowing from Ted Kennedy, he said: “For me as leader my time is nearly over but, for Scotland, the campaign continues and the dream shall never die.”

The speech marked the end of the Salmond era, with his deputy Nicola Sturgeon taking the helm as SNP leader and First Minister by November.

But those who thought he would step back from frontline politics were mistaken, with Mr Salmond announcing his intention to return to Westminster by standing in the 2015 general election.

He won the Gordon seat, and returned, alongside 55 SNP MPs, to the House of Commons, standing down as an MSP at the 2016 Scottish elections.

As the party’s foreign affairs spokesman, and with a UK-wide profile thanks to the independence referendum, Mr Salmond became one of Westminster’s biggest names.

As the 2016 EU referendum rolled around, he was often seen giving television interviews, and could even be heard on his own weekly radio phone-in show.

Many suspected Mr Salmond still had the ear of Ms Sturgeon, although despite never being short of opinions, he insisted moves towards a second independence vote were hers to make.

Even before Brexit, he seemed certain that Scotland’s fate had been fixed: “The destination is set. We’re now just arguing about the timetable,” he said in 2015.

In 2016, after the vote to leave the EU, he made no secret of his preference for a second vote sooner rather than later – pre-empting the first minister’s autumn 2018 to spring 2019 timetable.

The following years would see a fracturing of the relationship between Mr Salmond and Ms Sturgeon, culminating in the launch of his rival Scottish independence party, Alba, in 2021.

The pair’s relationship broke down following complaints about Mr Salmond’s behaviour while first minister from two Government employees.

The handling of the complaints would subsequently be found to have been “tainted by apparent bias”, according to a judge at the Court of Session who awarded Mr Salmond more than £500,000.

After he was cleared of accusations of sexual assault against nine women, including a charge of attempted rape, Mr Salmond accused senior figures in government of a plot to jail him, which Ms Sturgeon described as “absurd” in a hearing of a specially convened Holyrood inquiry.

Speaking in a BBC documentary, Salmond And Sturgeon: A Troubled Union, which was broadcast last month, Mr Salmond said he was unsure if his relationship with Ms Sturgeon could ever be mended.

“I don’t really do hurt feelings very much … but it’s a big regret that Nicola and I are no longer on speaking terms,” he said.

Reflecting on her relationship with Mr Salmond and its breakdown, Ms Sturgeon said he was “for a long time, a very positive force in my life”, adding: “But I think I had to learn how to be myself.”

Ms Sturgeon would later have her own troubles, announcing her resignation as party leader and first minister in February last year. She was arrested and questioned by police just a few months later in connection with an investigation into the funding and finances of the SNP.

As recently as September of this year, Mr Salmond said he regretted his decision to step down the day after the referendum vote, describing it as a “mistake”.

Speaking in a documentary by ITV Border about the 10th anniversary of the independence referendum – named A Decade of Debate – Mr Salmond said he would not have handed the reins to Nicola Sturgeon at the time had he known how the next 10 years would play out.

In the decade since the vote, support for independence has remained fairly static, leaving Mr Salmond frustrated by what he saw as a lack of action on the part of the SNP-run Scottish Government to secure another vote.

Away from the constitution, Mr Salmond’s time as first minister was eventful.

His handling of planning for Donald Trump’s Scottish golf course; his dealings with newspaper boss Rupert Murdoch; the details of his expenses; a row over EU legal advice; and Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill’s decision to free Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset al-Megrahi on compassionate grounds were among the controversial moments.

Elsewhere, popular policies such as free university tuition, free prescriptions, a freeze on council tax, and Mr Salmond’s seemingly innate talent for outmanoeuvring his political opponents helped to assure electoral success.

Outside politics, Mr Salmond married his partner, Moira, in 1981. He was a keen golfer and a fan of horse racing.