National readers share their memories of Alex Salmond

Robbie Allan

Beginning with founding All Under One Banner in September 2014, I recall asking Salmond, where at Spoons Cafe on George IV bridge he was aiding Tommy Sheppard's bid to become MP, to speak at the upcoming rally in Edinburgh. I was thrilled and actually star struck by his reputation, his speeches, his sheer charismatic approach and achievements for Scotland. It was one experience I shall never forget.  

His talents were God-given and he deployed them for us, for Scotland.

Thank you sir. RIP, and held in high esteem. 

For ever, for Scotland.

David Crutchley

I was in the audience at the Caird Hall in Dundee sometime in the early 90s when Alex was one of the speakers at a pro-independence meeting. Having moved from England a few years previously, it was at this meeting that my fledgling support for independence hardened into absolute certainty. His passion became mine. It will be sometime before we see a politician of his calibre in Scotland again. My condolences to his family.

READ MORE: How the international media reported on Alex Salmond's death

Ian David Brooks

I met Alex after his talk at the Assembly Rooms Edinburgh in August 2017. He had just finished holding court with Sir John Bird, the founder of The Big Issue magazine. 

When he came out to sign his book nobody appeared to want to go first so I jumped right in. I didn't take to much of his time but he was very cordial and noticed I was English straight away. By me approaching him straight away the spell was broken and he was then inundated by the queue. 

Quite clearly Alex Salmond was the leading political mind of his generation. It is a shame he didn't live long enough to see independence. I have no doubt there will be a statue of him one day. His shadow will cast a huge presence for a long time.

(Image: Ian David Brooks)

Pierre Delignière, president of Brittany-Scotland Association

I was very proud to meet Alex Salmond at Lorient Celtic Festival (Brittany) in 2017, and offer him a bottle of "Eddu", Breton whisky made of malted buckwheat.

I always admired Alex and am very sorrow with such loss. I wish we had a "Alex Salmond" in Brittany. 

Photo shows from left to right: Pierre Delignière, Jacque-Yves Le Touze, translator into French of The Dream Shall Never Die, and Alex Salmond (Image: Pierre Delignière)

Elizabeth Russell

I was in M&S in Inverurie when I saw Alex Salmond. He was answering questions from anyone who would ask them and loving it! He then got involved with one lady who was having major problems with her house. He took down her address and said he would help. This was just one of many. He had true humanity and his aim was to help when he could.

Heather Macdonald

During the build up to the independence referendum he continually kept cool and calmly put forward the case for Scottish independence over and over.

I saw him being asked the same question twice at an event by Nick Robinson from the BBC and Alex pointed out he'd already been asked the question but he would answer it again, which he he did in detail. I never met him but wish I had. I thought he was extremely intelligent, brave and had great integrity.

Stephen Shilton

I’ll never forget the Super Saturday of the 1999 Hamilton South Westminster by-election. Some fantastic Hamilton Accies fans put up a candidate (Stephen Mungall) to pressure for a new stadium for the club.

Alex was very friendly, asked them about their campaign, and then took an Accies scarf and put it round his neck as he went through the town centre talking cheerfully to everyone he met. As an SNP activist and Accies fan, I just could not believe the warmth and encouragement he gave to my friends in the Accies campaign as well as SNP activists.

The man was a political genius, extremely intelligent, and yet had the common touch. Not only that, he gave us a massive foundation on which to build the final steps to independence. Incidentally (one of Alex’s favourite phrases) the SNP lost to Labour by around 500 votes, and Stephen Mungall gained 1075 votes to keep his deposit.

Bill Boggia

It's a rare thing for politicians to deliver on their promises and Alex Salmond did exactly that with the 2014 referendum. His tenacity and determination to see Scotland as an independent nation once again was and still is inspirational. Thank you Alex Salmond, we will be toasting you when independence is finally won. What a giant!

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

Peter A Bell

I never met Alex Salmond. For some reason, I always thought we would meet at some point. I suspect I would have liked the man. I'm certain I would have found him stimulating company. Now, that meeting will never happen.

On the morning of Saturday October 12, after delivering a speech in North Macedonia, Alex Salmond died. On hearing the news of Alex Salmond's death yesterday evening, I immediately went online to find out more. The tributes were pouring in by this time. The first of these tributes that I read was Martin Hannan's touching remembrance of a close personal friend. I haven't read any others.

Martin said it all: "Now we all have to live in a world without Alex Salmond, and it will be less colourful, less interesting and certainly a sadder place."

I don't have many political heroes. Politician and hero are words seldom seen together. Very few earn the admiration I felt for Alex Salmond. He combined the exquisite guile of an exemplary political operator with the inspirational power of a man possessed of an unquenchable dedication to a worthy, honourable, aspirational cause.

He possessed the head of a calculating political strategist and the heart of a national hero. It was this combination of personal qualities which informed the principled pragmatism that made the administrations led by Alex Salmond so effective and popular.

In September 2018 I wrote: "The SNP could well be a victim of its success. It may have so firmly established principled pragmatism as the ethos of the Scottish Government that voters will think it a fixed attribute – a constant on which they can rely even as administrations change. Nicola Sturgeon has to tread a cautious path between the desert of dull managerialism and the mountain of raised expectations."

This is not the time to comment on what was done with the legacy Alex Salmond bequeathed to his successor. It is sufficient now that we recall him as Scotland's most successful first minister and the greatest leader Scotland's cause has enjoyed to date.

He promised to deliver an independence referendum and untypically for a politician, he did just that after first delivering a truly remarkable election victory for the SNP in 2011.

With the benefit of hindsight, we can now see the flaws in the deal that Alex Salmond secured to allow the 2014 independence referendum. But I am convinced that it was the best deal anyone might have secured under the prevailing circumstances.

(Image: Jane Barlow/PA Wire) Let us not forget that there were many who thought it impossible that any kind of deal could be struck. Salmond proved he was the man for the job. In the process, he secured his place in history and in the hearts of all who shared his dream of restoring Scotland's independence.

With that same hindsight, we might wish things had been done differently in the Yes campaign. And we may be aware of the man's entirely human flaws and weaknesses. But nothing can detract from the sense of empowerment Alex Salmond instilled in us in the months leading up to the fateful vote on Thursday September 18 2014.

But there is another date which to my mind represents the change that Alex Salmond wrought on this nation. On Monday September 3 2007 the "Scottish Executive" was renamed the Scottish Government. Although it was purely a cosmetic change, it's significance lies in the way it betokens a mindset founded on the idea of Scotland as a nation on a par with other nations.

On that day, even if in name only, Scotland had its first ever elected government of the democratic age. That date marks the start of the modern era of Scotland's struggle against the imperialism of England-as-Britain. Adopting the title of Scottish Government was not about the politics or practicalities of restoring independence. It was about the spirit of a nation and people reasserting a status and distinct identity long denied. That spirit lives on in Scotland's liberation movement. That spirit is Alex Salmond's true legacy.

We commemorate the man best the more determinedly we cling to that spirit. To paraphrase Alex Salmond in his address on resigning as first minister, his time among us is over, but for Scotland, the campaign continues, and the dream shall never die.

Gillian Lappin

My husband wishes to share how he met Alex by chance at a meeting of the student nationalists in the 1970s and the impression he made was so strong that he carries it with him to this day. A true political giant, as we move forward, we are indeed standing on giant's shoulders – he will be much missed.

Julie Morgan

My fiancé ( who sadly died of cancer coming up for four years ago) saw Alex in Aberdeen in his show in 2014. It was such a joyful show and the whole audience loved it.

When a friend texted me yesterday to tell me he had died, I was in shock. I feel so sad. Alex has been the architect of Scottish independence, who fought with passion and pride. We all rose to 45% on September 19 2014 via him. I loved his recent words "Scotland is a country not a county". This along with "the dream will never die" will be his legacy for us to carry forward. You will be sorely missed Alex but never forgotten.

READ MORE: Calls for RAF to fly Alex Salmond's body back to Scotland

Allan Bruce

I met Alex Salmond some years ago on the train between Edinburgh and Aberdeen don't really remember much about it as it was just a brief encounter and he was already with some other people but had time to have a quick chat.

What I will remember about him is that he made the job of first minister of Scotland into a real job, not like the previous incumbents who were there just to make it something to try and keep us real Scots quiet and turned it into a talking shop for Westminster and what they decreed. God forbid they ever get back into power in Scotland as we will go backwards. Rest in peace, Alex gone from us too early like so many others.

Flora Robertson

I met Alex at an event in 2014, before indyref. My kids met him and had photos taken with Alex, because my young son had made two Lego boards, one with a saltire, one with a Yes.

On the way there we drew a card with Darling, wearing top hat and tails, sitting atop a Trident, being fired into space, fuelled by coins instead of flames, the message being "what Better Together can do with Plan B". 

My husband is great at profiling people, and had Alex sussed as a genuine, caring and friendly man. My household is sad today. Scotland will miss him, he was a great asset, not afraid to pull stunts and not afraid to talk back.

READ MORE: North Macedonia conference leader describes moment Alex Salmond died

E Vyner

Alex Salmond will be remembered as a true, loyal Scot, who believed in his country, and fought with his last breath to regain our independence. How can we remember and honour him? Fight on. It will happen; then he and all those who fought for Scotland's independence will be honoured.

Kay Macleod

Many of us in Scotland will have our personal stories of meeting Alex Salmond. At the time, I had read about him and the 79 group rebels in the SNP.

But I first met him in the flesh in 1984. I was a politically naive (a relative term) 19-year-old in my third year at University of Edinburgh. I invited Alex (in my capacity as president of EUSNA) to speak at Teviot Row (the main student union at the time) to address a pretty hostile audience of lunching students more interested in refreshments and the age-old Tory versus Labour hegemony, than what this local politician had to say.

At that time, Alex was only 29 years old, working at the Royal Bank of Scotland in St Andrews Square as an economist on North Sea oil and gas revenue flow and forecasts, and drove himself down to Teviot Row in his gold coloured Austin Metro – I remember thinking an oddly patriotic choice of car, when clearly the French cars at the time were cheaper and more reliable, not to mention better gear boxes.

But he was always loyal to UK workers when he could be – he was always surprising in some things like that. He walked into Teviot Row confident (and slim, I know!) in a pale blue coloured suit (different from your usual dark blue or grey/black effort that most of these political speakers wore, like George Younger the week before, or indeed himself in later years).

Dynamic and dapper in his bright suit. Alex was affable to a fault with everyone (some St Andrews thing he had learnt?), knowledgeable about last Saturday’s upset in the football results, asking about the latest new beer for cheap at the union. All skills that escaped me at the time. Why is he being so nice to those Yahs, those utter plonkers over there etc? But then I was not then, nor now, a politician.

At the podium, he switched gear, transformed himself into the UK Union roasting machine he was to become. He expounded on the pain caused by Thatcher’s cost of living cuts while the wealthy got tax breaks (sound familiar?), national assets were privatised mainly to the benefit of the already wealthy, the failure to shore up critical manufacturing (steelworks, shipbuilding) as Thatcher’s government cut and destroyed recklessly without protecting workers (miners strike was ongoing at the time), without providing alternative employment opportunities to hard working families across Scotland, the failure to invest in new technology in a timely manner, the knock-on effects for society, effects on future career opportunities – all relevant to a now captivated student audience.

Critically, it was not just about criticising an evidently flawed Thatcher regime for its own sake, but about bringing the solution to it all back home – to our Scotland and how we could be better if we were independent, not just for us, but for the world – investing justly in sustainable industries, taxing equitably, getting rid of immoral nuclear weapons, supporting the needy, building community, having a Scotland that set its own agenda, not one that danced to Westminster’s dated tune and irrelevant fugue.

They listened. They heard. Later that evening, I had some of those lads (yes, it was mainly lads in the union back then) come up to me and thank me for inviting him. Most of them meant it. I was impressed. By Alex.

Following on from that I got involved in the SNP more formally. Enjoyed some of the subterfuge as he and other plotted to make the much needed change to a more left-leaning leadership in the SNP happen, met in offices in Dundas street etc, and embraced the Scotland in Europe mantra, led by Jim Sillars who had become a law student at Edinburgh Uni that same year (and delivered one of the best speeches ever to thousands of students from the main quad on Chambers St the following year).

(Image: Newsquest) Scottish independence in Europe was now becoming an aspiration for many that made sense and was achievable. During this time, Alex and I would have lunch often enough to talk about ideas, his advice on how to deal with the endlessly annoying yahs and culturally clueless types to reach other students who might be more open to joining the cause, and judging by the numbers of students from back then who I have since heard from, it worked. He was always very well-mannered, introduced me to his boss at RBS, gave me a tour of the old RBS HQ at St Andrews Square, showed me the original Scottish bank note, the story about Walter Scott saving the Scottish pound note and how Scotland actually had invented the pound note in any case, not England.

Every time, the question of currency came up in the lead up to the 2014 referendum, I kept thinking Alex had an ace up his sleeve that would ask, what England would do for their currency if Scotland became independent? Since after all, the pound note was Scottish not English!

When I moved to Glasgow after graduating, I became more locally active, chair of Kelvin SNP branch in the west end. Fighting the poll tax was one of the key issues –another Thatcher imposition, a legal and moral anomaly. I would meet up briefly with Alex (and his reassuring wife Moira) at national conferences, but he was becoming more famous by then, so less available and that was fine.

The Govan by-election came along in 1987 and then the Central by-election a year later – headquarters in Bridgeton and all sorts of interesting times, but between the Sillars, Salmond and Sillars, Salmond and Neil debates, it was all a bit too confrontational at times. So while Govan was a success, Central was sadly a bit of a setback, but nevertheless memorable.

Long story short, I saw a lot less of Alex while in Glasgow but the world was changing anyway. The Berlin wall came down, Glasnost, one of my flatmates was from East Germany so it was a major event right there and then. I also needed to focus on my scientific research more, went to international conferences and got more satisfaction from involvement in issues closer to home like preventing nuclear dumping in Scotland, where I shared a platform with Alex once down in Dumfries.

The previous Labour government (with Tony Benn as energy secretary) had authorized the shipment of Japanese nuclear waste to Scotland (Dounreay) and now it had reached a point where bigger solutions needed to be found. A quango called NIREX was set up by the then Tory Westminster government to identify sites to bury nuclear waste and one of those sites was in the Western Isles, amongst other mainly Scottish sites. Over my dead body (and Winnie Ewing’s)!

We beat NIREX (how we did that is a different story for another day). But from that I realised I was more of an issues person and not cut out for the conformity of party politics, which still irritates me in its need for conformity to party policy. Also at that time, we (the GU Ossianic Society) were campaigning for STV to fulfill its commitment to Gaelic content in its broadcasts – had a few sit-ins at Cowcaddens, took a 10,000 person signature petition to Downing Street and won that battle also.

Alex meanwhile has been elected to Westminster, became SNP leader, thrown a few maces around and finally when the Tories were thrown out of power, Blair’s Labour Party (under pressure to address John Smith’s legacy and from the SNP led by Alex) finally passed the 1997 Devolution Act.

I remember voting ecstatically in Dundee where I was based at the time, for both setting up the parliament and for it to have tax-rising powers and then partying into the wee hours in Auchterarder when it all went through on a landslide (89% of the vote was positive).

From there, the SNP under Salmond went from strength to strength. In power from 2007, he introduced universal university tuition remission to Scottish students, universal medical prescription remission, promoted renewable energy at a time when Westminster was stopping it moving forward. Then, likely based on these notable forward-thinking and popular achievements in the past electoral cycle, Alex and the SNP achieved the impossible in 2011, winning a majority government despite the deliberately complicated PR system Labour introduced to prevent such a thing ever happening.

Now, the push for an independence referendum which galvanized the independence movement and while it ultimately did not succeed, it did increase support for independence to a near 50% level where it remains to this day, even while the SNP vote has fallen back considerably. When it failed on September 18 2014, Alex resigned the day after.

Perhaps that was unnecessary. Should he have stayed on? What is clear is that the efforts to build on what he achieved have all failed since then. Would this have happened anyway, had he stayed on, is not clear.

In the runup to the referendum campaign, I met Alex in great US city of Chicago in 2012 when he came to visit Mayor Rahm Emanuel and to speak at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. It was like stepping back in time. He had not changed much – a bit older, rounder, balder but just as sharp, just as pithy and just as skilled at working the room. I had not seen him in nearly 10 years but when I walked up to him (surrounded by many important city folks) and tapped him on the shoulder, he turned round and just gave me the biggest hug ever. Kay! Like old friends.

My husband stood watching from the other side of the room laughing. And of course, Alex extemporised in his speech, reminiscing about when he knew me back in Edinburgh. He insisted on coming over to meet my husband who he had never met and was just delightful. Of course, it helped that all three of us were on the same page politically and historically.

Meanwhile, back home, he had been up to Stornoway for a campaign visit and met my parents. Going home ahead of the referendum, the house on Goathill Road was jammed with photos of dad with Alex, mum and dad with Alex, dad and his pal Alec, John with Alex, me with Alex. His bonhomie was evident in all of the photos.

My dad died in 2021 thinking the SNP had gone to the dogs since Alex stepped down and was at the point of not renewing his membership for the first time since he joined in Govan back in 1972 when Margo Macdonald (below) won the by-election there. He felt like the SNP had become too remote, not sufficiently focused on independence and too wrapped up in issues that were circumstantial. Dad could be a tad old-fashioned but honestly, he was not wrong on some of his criticisms.

(Image: Newsquest) What happened to Alex since 2014 has been heart-breaking and undeserved. I personally still consider him to be an honest and well-meaning individual who was driven to succeed for the benefit of all of Scotland. Did he stray off course, say or do things he would not have done in past – it seems he did although I never saw any signs of that behaviour in the years I knew him. Did certain bad actors also plot his downfall, I suspect so but have no evidence so best stay schtum on that.

What I do know is that Alexander Elliot Salmond was the single figure in my lifetime who did more than anyone to push Scotland to achieve her independence. You do not succeed in that by being nice to everyone, when you are clearly menacing an entrenched establishment. But, unlike some others, he remained true, creative and driven, possibly too much so. He could have retired to read and write books (and make more money), but he still had history to make.

Critically, it is now up to others to keep that fire and legacy moving forward. The torch he carried needs to be passed to a new generation who has Scotland’s independence to the fore. The question is who is the person to lead that movement? But today, I cry for the loss of a gallus lad who fought with every fiber of his being, every molecule of his brain for the independence of our Scottish nation. A generation of Scottish university students do not have to worry about paying for their university tuition (unlike me and others before them who spent a decade paying back loans) and people with health conditions in Scotland do not need to skimp on other essentials (food, heating) to pay for needed prescriptions because of policies Alex’s government introduced. I hope everyone who has benefited appreciates Alex’s achievements in these areas as a minimum. But more than anything, Alex got Scots to believe in their nationhood. Yes, Scotland is a country not a county! Scotland, you have lost a most remarkable son today.

Catherine McNamara

Was up at Perth putting leaflets in envelopes just before the referendum 10 years ago. Suddenly Alec appeared. He had taken the time to turn up to this little group in the middle of nowhere and say thank you. Everybody was so pleased to see him. Such a pleasant hard-working man. Then he took off to the next place he had to visit. What a loss to Scotland.