'Alexander Elliot Anderson Salmond', known as 'Alex Salmond' (born
December 31,
1954,
Linlithgow), is a
Scottish politician, and the current
First Minister of
Scotland, heading a
minority government.
He is leader of the
Scottish National Party (SNP),
Member of Parliament for the
constituency of
Banff and Buchan, and the
Member of the Scottish Parliament for
Gordon.
He is currently serving his second term as leader of the SNP, taking over from
John Swinney. He had previously been leader between 1990 and 2000.
The SNP won by the smallest of margins (47 seats, 1 more than the
Scottish Labour Party) in the
2007 Scottish Parliament election. On
16 May 2007, Alex Salmond was nominated to become First Minister, heading a minority SNP administration, by 49 votes to 46. The
Liberal Democrats and the
Conservatives abstained. The
Greens supported him.
[1]
Education and career before politics
Born in
Linlithgow,
West Lothian, Salmond is the son of Robert Fyfe Findlay Salmond and Mary Stewart Salmond (nee Milne), both of whom were civil servants. Salmond was educated at Linlithgow Academy
[1] and the
University of St Andrews, where he graduated with an
MA in
Economics and
History. He was first employed as an assistant economist in the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries for Scotland from 1978.
In 1980, he joined the
Royal Bank of Scotland, for which he worked until 1987, first as an assistant economist, then as the Oil Economist and latterly as Royal Bank Economist. While with the Royal Bank, he wrote and broadcast extensively for both domestic and international outlets. He also contributed regularly to
oil and
energy conferences. In 1983 he devised the “Royal Bank /
BBC Oil Index”, which continues monthly publication to this day.
Early political career
Salmond became active in the SNP when he joined the
Federation of Student Nationalists at
St Andrews University in 1973 while a student at
St Andrews. As a
left-winger at the time he joined, he had considerable doubts as to whether or not the
Labour Party would legislate for a
devolved Scottish Assembly.
Expulsion and re-admission
Salmond started his political life as a committed left-winger inside the SNP and was a leading member of the
socialist republican organisation within it, the
79 Group. He was, along with other group leaders, suspended from membership of the SNP when the 79 Group was banned within the larger party. In 1981, he married Moira French McGlashan (born 1937), a senior civil servant with the
Scottish Office.
Following the SNP's National Council narrowly voting to uphold the expulsion, Salmond and the others were allowed back into the party a month later, and in 1985 he was elected as the SNP's Vice Convener for Publicity.
First time at Westminster
In 1987 he was elected
Member of Parliament for
Banff and Buchan, Scotland, and later that year became Senior Vice Convener (Deputy Leader) of the SNP. He was at this time still viewed as being firmly on the left of the party and had become a key ally of
Jim Sillars, who joined him in the
British House of Commons when he won a
by-election for the seat of
Glasgow Govan in 1988. Salmond served as a member of the House of Commons Energy
Select Committee from 1987 to 1992.
First time as SNP leader
When
Gordon Wilson stood down as SNP leader in 1990, Salmond decided to contest the leadership. His only opponent was
Margaret Ewing, whom Sillars decided to support. This caused considerable consternation amongst the SNP left as the two main left leaders were opposing each other in the contest. It was also around this time that Salmond and Sillars drifted apart. Salmond went on to win the leadership election by 486 votes to Ewing's 146.
His first test as leader was the
United Kingdom general election in 1992, with the SNP having high hopes of making an electoral breakthrough. However the party, whilst considerably increasing its vote, failed to win a large number of seats; Sillars lost his, causing him to describe the Scottish people as '90 minute patriots'. This comment ended the political friendship between Salmond and Sillars, and Sillars would soon become a vocal critic of Salmond's style of leadership.
Devolution
The SNP increased its number of MPs from four to six in the
1997 General Election, which saw a
landslide victory for the Labour Party. After election, Labour
legislated for a devolved Scottish
parliament in Edinburgh.
Although still committed to a fully independent Scotland, Salmond signed the SNP up to supporting the campaign for devolution, and along with Scottish Labour leader
Donald Dewar played an active part in securing the victory for devolution in the
Scotland referendum of
1997. However, many hard line
fundamentalists in the SNP objected to committing the party to devolution, as it was short of full political
Scottish independence.
Salmond's first spell as leader was characterised by a moderation of his earlier left-wing views and by his firmly placing the SNP into a
gradualist, but still pro-independence, strategy.
Kosovo
Salmond was one of the few British politicians to oppose the
NATO bombing of
Serbia in 1999
[2]. He was opposed to the conflict because it was not authorised by a
United Nations Security Council resolution, which was a
controversial subject at the time. Despite this, Salmond was heavily criticised in the media for describing
Tony Blair's decision to intervene militarily as an "''unpardonable folly''"
[3].
High media profile
Several years as party leader earned Salmond an unusually high profile for an SNP politician in the London-based media, leading to invitations to take part in
entertainment programmes such as ''
Have I Got News For You'' and ''
Call My Bluff''. His appearances on the latter, and more specifically the fact that he held on to one of the famous 'bluff' cards that are used as props in the show as a souvenir, proved to have an unexpected significance in the run-up to the first elections to the Scottish Parliament. To counter his frustration at having to sit in silence through what he claimed was an inappropriately political speech by
Tony Blair at a charity lunch, he held up the bluff card as the Prime Minister began querying Scotland's economic prospects should independence occur.
[4]
Resignation and time in Westminster
Salmond was elected to the
Scottish Parliament in 1999 and was one of its highest profile members. He stood down as SNP leader in 2000, and was replaced by his preferred successor
John Swinney, who defeated
Alex Neil for the post.
In 2001 he left the Scottish Parliament to lead the SNP group in the
House of Commons. During the prolonged parliamentary debates in the run-up to the
2003 invasion of Iraq he voiced strong opposition to Britain's participation.
In the aftermath of the war, he lent support to the attempt of
Adam Price, a
Plaid Cymru MP, to
impeach Tony Blair over the Iraq issue. Salmond has gone further than many anti-war politicians in claiming that Blair's
statements on the presence of
weapons of mass destruction in
Iraq was consciously intended to deceive the public.
Return as leader
In a surprise announcement on
15 July 2004, Alex Salmond announced that he would be a candidate in the forthcoming election for the leadership of the SNP (which arose after
John Swinney's resignation). Salmond had previously said that he would definitely not be a candidate in that election, even claiming in jest that if he were elected he would resign. In the
postal ballot of all members he went on to receive over 75% of the votes cast, placing him well ahead of his nearest rival
Roseanna Cunningham.
[5]
Although he was re-elected in the
United Kingdom general election of 2005, he made clear his intention to return to the Scottish Parliament at the
Scottish parliamentary election, 2007, at which point he would take over the role of SNP group leader in the Parliament from his deputy
Nicola Sturgeon.
2007 election
Salmond stood as a candidate for the
Gordon constituency, which had been won in the 1999 and 2003 elections by Liberal Democrat
Nora Radcliffe[6]. Salmond defeated her with a margin of over two thousand votes, returning to the Scottish Parliament after six years' absence.
In the election on
3 May 2007, the SNP emerged as the largest party, winning 47 seats to Labour's 46. Following this close victory, Salmond's attempts to create a governing majority coalition with the Liberal Democrats and Scottish Green Party MSPs were unsuccessful, although the Greens agreed to support an SNP minority administration on finance and confidence issues.
[7]
First Minister
As a result, Salmond was forced to form a minority government on a "policy by policy" basis. He was duly elected as the Scottish Parliament's nominee for First Minister on
16 May 2007, and was sworn in on
17 May [8]. He is the first nationalist politician to hold the office, following three
Labour First Ministers:
Donald Dewar,
Henry McLeish and
Jack McConnell. In order to concentrate on his new role as First Minister, Salmond stood down as the SNP group leader at Westminster and was replaced by
Angus Robertson.
Following the decision of the
Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission (
SCCRC) to refer the case of
Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi back for a second appeal against conviction, Dr
Hans Köchler,
UN-appointed observer at the
Lockerbie trial, wrote on
July 4,
2007 to First Minister, Alex Salmond, reiterating his call for a full and independent public inquiry of the
Lockerbie case.
[9]
Köchler addressed his letter also to Foreign Secretary,
David Miliband, Home Secretary
Jacqui Smith and to the Minister for
Africa,
Asia and the
UN,
Mark Malloch Brown.
[10]
Trivia
★ In 1998, Salmond won the ''Spectator Award for Political strategist of the Year''.
★ Throughout his time in politics, Salmond has maintained his interest in
horse racing, previously writing a weekly column for ''
The Scotsman'' and appearing a number of times on
Channel 4’s "The Morning Line".
★ Mr. Salmond is a well-known supporter of
Hearts and a keen golfer.
References
1. Salmond elected as First Minister
2. http://www.siol-nan-gaidheal.com/kosovo.htm
3. BBC News, 29 March 1999
4. BBC News- "Salmond calls Blair's bluff"
5. Edinburgh News- "Salmond is SNP leader again with Sturgeon as No 2"
6. BBC News- "Salmond to contest Holyrood seat"
7. Scottish Green Party website
8. "Salmond officially first minister", ''BBC News'', May 17, 2007
9. UN observer calls for fresh Lockerbie probe
10. Köchler calls for "full and independent public inquiry" of the Lockerbie case
External links
★
Alex Salmond MP official biography at the site of the SNP
★
Guardian Unlimited Politics - Ask Aristotle: Alex Salmond MP
★
TheyWorkForYou.com - Alex Salmond MP
★
The Public Whip - Alex Salmond MP
★
BBC News - Alex Salmond profile
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