The veteran Scottish politician Alex Salmondonce considered the Braveheart of the 21st Century, died this Saturday at the age of 69, suddenly after falling ill in North Macedonia.
He was a charismatic and controversial politician who built a career marked by historic achievements: first Scottish nationalist to become chief minister (2007), first to achieve an absolute majority (2011) since the Edinburgh Parliament was formed in 1997. and the man who was about to achieve independence (2014).
That legal referendum agreed with the London Executive finally ended with 55.3% of Scots advocating to remain part of the United Kingdom. However, days before the consultation there were moments of panic. The former British Prime Minister, David Cameronrecently confessed in his memoirs what was an open secret: he had to ask for help from the Isabel IIwho approached the parishioners after mass and said: “I hope people think very carefully about their future.” Nothing else was needed.
After losing the plebiscite, he announced his resignation. But he managed to leave the SNP at its peak popularity. After a confrontation with his successor, Nicola Sturgeonended up forming his own party, Alba.
Scotland is a very different place now compared to 2014. Support for secession has not changed. 44% of Scots would vote to leave the United Kingdom today, according to a latest YouGov poll, almost the same percentage (45%) that voted ‘yes’ in 2014. However, a decade later, nationalists do not They have no strategy, no charismatic leaders, no enthusiasm.
The Scottish Nationalist Party (SNP) continues to lead the Edinburgh Executive. But the secessionist machine has been stuck for some time. In the last decade, they have had four different leaders (three of them in the last two years alone). In the July general election, they fell from 43 to nine seats.
Salmond did not grow up in a particularly separatist environment. His father was a Laborist (like a large part of the Scots) and his mother was a Conservative (a species almost extinct in the north). His ideals began to be defined at the elitist university of St. Andrews – the same one where the prince studied. Guillermo and his wife Catalina–, where he graduated in Economics and History. He spent a few years working for the Royal Bank of Scotland, which at the time threatened to change the headquarters it has had in Edinburgh since 1727 if independence was achieved. Although he soon knew that politics was his true calling. He won his first seat in 1979 as an MP in London for the then divided Scottish Nationalist Party (SNP).
He then returned to Edinburgh and in 2005 assumed command of the party, which at that time was seen by voters more as a counterweight than as a real government option. But, against all odds, he won the 2007 Scottish elections. At first, he had to govern as a minority and was then unable to call his promised independence referendum. But his management convinced by his determination to stand up to the London parties and by very popular measures, such as free medicine and university. The support meant that in the 2011 Scottish elections he swept like no one else had done in the short history of the Edinburgh Parliament with a clear absolute majority.
In 2019 he faced charges for 14 sexual crimes, including two attempted rapes, accused by up to 10 different women. But he was acquitted.
His expansive political side always contrasted with an almost secretive attitude towards his private life. He had been married for more than 30 years Moria McGlashana woman 17 years older than him, who never gives interviews. The couple never had children.
