Alex Salmond 'inspired a generation' says John Swinney paying tribute

Mr Salmond, who led the SNP to astonishing electoral success before later founding the Alba party, died at the age of 69 on Saturday afternoon from a suspected heart attack during a trip to North Macedonia.

The former first minister had made a speech at the Institute for Cultural Diplomacy Forum before collapsing at lunch in a crowded room. Organisers described how "time stopped", while attendees and paramedics tried in vain to resuscitate him.

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Mr Swinney, who served as finance secretary while Mr Salmond was first minister, said yesterday: “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. Alex left a fundamental footprint on Scottish politics on that significant issue.”

Asked about his abiding memory of Mr Salmond, he said: “Obviously, 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 [how] Scotland had changed and changed forever and would never be the same again because of our election win in 2007.

“And 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 that we had made.”

Mr Swinney was also asked about Mr Salmond’s break with the SNP, and the “bitterness” that arose between the former first minister and his protegee Nicola Sturgeon amid the fallout over sexual harassment allegations made against him. Mr Salmond was cleared of criminal charges following a trial at the High Court in Edinburgh in 2020.

Mr Swinney replied: “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 I think today, I think all of us can recognise the formidable contribution that Alex Salmond made.”

While admitting they had grown “somewhat more distant”, Mr Swinney told BBC Scotland’s Sunday Show that he had met Mr Salmond at an event in Edinburgh over the summer and the pair had talked “about the experience of being first minister”.

Mark Donfried, director of the Academy for Cultural Diplomacy, said he witnessed Mr Salmond’s collapse at the conference in North Macedonia. “He was here the last few days, he gave excellent participation two days ago at the panel discussion,” he said.

“He was really in the best of spirits, the best of health, and I was sitting across from him at lunch yesterday when all of a sudden he just went out and fell into the arms of a colleague of mine on the other side of the table. I immediately got up and ran to call an ambulance and when I came back, he was on the floor.”

Mr Donfried said: "Really time stopped. The entire hotel, the entire conference was in shock. Most of the participants here were young leaders and none of them had ever experienced anything like this. I think there was a feeling of shock, a feeling of loss and of not really knowing what to do."

He said the cause of death was suspected to be an "immediate massive heart attack", adding: "The good news is he didn't suffer. I don't think he felt any pain."

Mr Donfried said the Royal Air Force may be involved in repatriation of Mr Salmond’s body. The Interior Ministry of North Macedonia said Mr Salmond died at 3:30pm local time (2:30pm BST).

Mr Salmond served as first minister of Scotland from 2007 to 2014 and was leader of the SNP on two occasions, from 1990 to 2000 and from 2004 to 2014. He resigned as first minister after the 2014 Scottish independence referendum resulted in a 55 per cent to 45 per cent vote to stay in the UK.

He launched his rival Scottish independence party, Alba, in 2021 after his relationship with Ms Sturgeon fractured. His final post on X, formerly Twitter, shortly before his death, ended “Scotland is a country not a county”.

Tributes from political contemporaries praised him for his decades in politics and efforts to move Scotland closer to independence. Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said he was a "monumental figure of Scottish and UK politics". Flowers and messages have been left outside the Scottish Parliament and his home in Strichen, Aberdeenshire. At Holyrood, flags were lowered to half-mast.

Writing in The Scotsman, Sir John Curtice, professor of politics at the University of Strathclyde, said the SNP became the dominant force in Scottish politics under Mr Salmond’s leadership. “Apart from his ability to strike deals with opponents, central to Mr Salmond’s success was a charismatic personality that could light up a room as well as command the largest of political stages, persuading and enthusing his audiences,” he said.

“It was coupled with a seemingly limitless drive that, however, could lead him to expect too much of others. And, in truth, the last ten years of Mr Salmond’s political career was one of decline and disappointment. A falling out with Nicola Sturgeon and, although he was acquitted of all charges, a prosecution for sexual offences both did serious damage to his personal popularity. His Alba party, created as an alternative to the SNP, has enjoyed little electoral success.

“But there will be many in the nationalist movement today who will be mourning his passing, while many unionists will pay tribute to a man who had been a formidable political foe.”

In a statement on Saturday evening, Ms Sturgeon acknowledged the “breakdown” of her relationship with Mr Salmond but praised him for taking Scotland to the “brink of independence”.

“He was my mentor, and for more than a decade we formed one of the most successful partnerships in UK politics,” she wrote.

A commemoration for Mr Salmond was held in the North Macedonian city of Ohrid, attended by President Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova, who is reported to have extended her condolences over the death of the former first minister.