CHARLIE WHELAN: Alex Salmond was one of Scotland’s greatest ever politicians
One of the many privileges that working for Labour gave me in opposition and in government was the chance to meet great political leaders.
Alex Salmond who died at the weekend was one of them.
I first met Alex, would you believe it, in a Westminster bar!
Yes the leader of the SNP liked a dram or two and was even known to have a few bob on the nags occasionally.
He was what you would call a normal human being which is actually quite rare in politics.
He was, like me, a political obsessive, loved an argument but also loved winning. Tragically for him he fell at the final hurdle.
Perhaps one of the reasons I got on so well with Alex was that he too was a man from the left of the political spectrum.
Indeed he was once expelled from the SNP for his extreme views.
What Salmond knew though that for the SNP to be a successful party in Scotland it had to be rid of the ‘Tartan Tory’ image, a label they got for supporting the Conservative Party in voting with them to bring down a Labour Government.
It was Alex Salmond who convinced a skeptical party to support the yes campaign for a Scottish Parliament.
Many in the SNP thought this was a sell out of the Independence movement.
Many in Labour also thought that a Scottish Parliament would kill off the idea of an Independent Scotland for good including Labour’s defence secretary George Robertson.
The astute political brain of Alex Salmond proved all the doubters wrong and it was he as leader who won the largest number of seats in the Scottish Parliament and became First Minister ironically by doing a deal with the Tories.
He was an excellent leader too and I remember how he rang me when I was working with Prime Minister Gordon Brown to see if he could help end a dispute at the Grangemouth Refinery which would have threatened oil supplies to the whole of Scotland.
He would do anything to help his country.
Salmond knew that I had moved to the Highlands and made sure I was invited for drinks with him when the SNP conference came to Aviemore.
He was as welcoming to me as any one else in the room even though we had very different views on the future of Scotland.
It was Salmond’s victory in securing a majority of seats in the Scottish Parliament that forced the Tory Prime Minister, David Cameron to concede a referendum and not only that, negotiated a question on the ballot paper that would never be allowed by an independent election regulator.
It was Yes or No to Independence rather than the more neutral do you want to ‘Leave’ or ‘Remain’ in the United Kingdom.
It was our very own Earl of Seafield who said on the act of abolishing the Scottish Parliament in 1707 that it was ‘the end of an auld song’ and so it has proved for Alex Salmond’s dream of an Independent Scotland.
Alex Salmond latterly got caught up in sexual assault claims where he admitted to ‘sleepy cuddles’ but was acquitted of all charges.
The charges came from within the SNP itself which led to our MSP Fergus Ewing naming the pursuit of Salmond ‘the scandal of our age’.
The previous close relationship with Nicola Sturgeon was at an end and they became bitter enemies.
When the famous depart we are mostly generous in our praise.
The Scottish Nationalist actor Brian Cox who loves Scotland so much he lives in America said of Salmond that he was probably one of the greatest political thinkers Scotland has ever produced!
I don’t think even Alex after a few drams would believe that.
He will though be remembered as one of Scotland greatest politicians.
Charlie Whelan (Labour) was one-time spokesman for Gordon Brown.