Fergus Ewing slams ‘concerted campaign’ of hate against old friend Alex Salmond

Veteran Strathspey MSP Fergus Ewing has pledged to do everything in his power to get to the bottom of the ‘concerted campaign’ to besmirch Alex Salmond.

Mr Salmond - who died after suffering a heart attack on Saturday in North Macedonia - resigned his party membership following allegations of sexual offences and went on to become leader of the Alba Party in 2021.

Mr Ewing said he feared that his old friend would have died in jail had his name not been cleared.

And he said he was disgusted with how the SNP had turned against him comparing his treatment to the manner in which Stalin removed ‘enemies of the state’.

He told the Strathy: “Over the past years, the party Alex transformed and led to victory, turned against him and quite literally erased him from their history as a non-person.

“They tried to pretend he did not exist. They never talked about him or even uttered his name. He made them and they in turn spurned him.

“In a way it was comparable to Stalin who removed ‘enemies of the state’ wiping traces of them from the politburo photograph.

“It was in the true sense of the word, pathetic as it was absurd. That remains a matter of their great shame.

“Though in the so-called tributes from some in the leadership over the past few sad says, not one single word of contrition has been uttered for this ugliest of defenestrations.

“In the past three years, it was my privilege to work with Alex on all sorts of matters.

“By far the most important of all was to obtain truth and justice for the way he was the subject of what I believe was a concerted campaign by some of the ‘top’ people in the land.

“A campaign to discredit him, get him charged, then prosecuted and then convicted and jailed.

“Had they succeeded, he would, I fear, have died in jail. There is simply no doubt in my mind and those of so many others that this was exactly what happened. And it can still be proven.

It is not at all a matter of clearing his name. His name was cleared when he trounced the Scottish Government in his judicial review and then when he was acquitted of the charges that were brought against him.

“It is about justice. This is an endeavour of such importance that to me, until the truth is exposed, Scotland as a country is diminished.

“When I look back on my life, the thing that I have done of which I am most proud, is to stand up for Alex before his trial when the pressure he was under was of a magnitude that is beyond imagining.

“And write to him in the weeks running up to his trial, expressing my complete faith in him, and to say that he had done more for Scotland and her people than anyone in its political history.

“The jury did not just dismiss the charges - they laughed them out of court…

“After the tears of grief have dried, I will continue to devote myself to securing that truth and justice that Alex fought for and deserved.”

The SNP have been contacted for comment.

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