JOHN Swinney has shared a “deeply emotional” memory of Alex Salmond following the death of the former first minister.

Swinney was speaking on Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg when he was asked to look back on his abiding memory of Salmond following news of his passing on Saturday at the age of 69.

The First Minister said his overriding memory of his former colleague was when he heard him speaking about winning the election in 2007 on the radio, which Swinney said showed the SNP had taken a “colossal step forward”.

Swinney said: “I worked very closely with Alex Salmond and I suspect the moment where I was most touched by what he did was when I was driving to Edinburgh on the day after the 2007 election and I listened to him speaking on the radio when he arrived in Edinburgh and he talked about Scotland had changed and changed forever and would never be the same again because of our election win in 2007.

READ MORE: Tributes pour in for former first minister Alex Salmond

“It was a deeply emotional moment for me because I heard my party leader at the time indicating that we’d taken a colossal step forward on our journey to independence and I fondly remember that moment and what it meant to me in signifying the progress we had made.”

Tributes from all over the world have been pouring in for Salmond – who was first minister for seven years -  following the news he collapsed after a speech he made in North Macedonia.

He was the leader of the SNP twice during his political career, from 1990 to 2000 and from 2004 to 2014, after joining the party in 1973.

(Image: David Cheskin/PA Wire) He is largely credited for helping take the party from the fringe into the mainstream as he led the SNP into power when they won the Scottish Parliament election in 2007. The party then won an unprecedented majority in the election four years later which helped pave the way for the referendum on Scottish independence. 

Salmond in his later years went on to form the pro-independence Alba Party after leaving the SNP. 

Swinney said Salmond “inspired a generation” to believe in Scottish independence and left a “fundamental footprint” on Scottish politics.

READ MORE: SNP figures pay tribute to former leader Alex Salmond

“He inspired a generation of people to believe in Scottish independence and that generation is still believing in Scottish independence and still wants Scottish independence,” added Swinney.

"Alex left a fundamental footprint on Scottish politics on that significant issue. He also took the SNP from the fringes of Scottish politics to the heart of government and we were successful in being elected to government in 2007 and we’ve been in government ever since.

“So much of the achievements that we have been able to build have been built on that sense of drive to make sure we serve the people of Scotland and that was very much the ethos that underpinned the government that Alex Salmond led.”

On Saturday, former first minister Nicola Sturgeon paid tribute to her predecessor and mentor Salmond, having had a public fallout with him after the allegations of sexual misconduct made against Salmond while in office to both police and the Scottish Government. He was later cleared of the allegations.

She said she was “shocked and sorry” to learn of his death.

She added that while she “cannot pretend the events of the last few years which led to the breakdown of our relationship did not happen” she still considered he had been “an incredibly significant figure” in her life.

Asked if he had hoped the rift between Sturgeon and Salmond would be healed, Swinney said: “Obviously it’s been a very difficult few years and there will be time to reflect on all of those issues in the days to come but today I think all of us can recognise the formidable contribution that Alex Salmond made to transforming the SNP into a party of government, transforming Scotland into a country that believed evermore that its future was as an independent country, and that’s been a significant contribution to the change in our politics.”