Alex Salmond Biography: the rise to power

Published on Monday 11 October 2010 19:51

THE helicopter landing site had been the subject of much consideration at SNP HQ on Edinburgh's McDonald Road. There, exhaustion jostled with anticipation as aides attempted to take everything in.

• Alex Salmond: "Scotland has chosen a new path, one which echoes the hopes and aspirations of a new culture of politics. We will lead with verve and imagination but always mindful that we serve the people"

In the "war room" were six of them, Stephen Noon, Stephen Gethins, Kevin Pringle – Salmond's longest-serving staffer – Jennifer Dempsie, John Fellows and Susan Ruddick. Like their chief, Alex Salmond – currently in midair being flown from his north-east constituency to Edinburgh – they were confident of victory but did not know by how many votes or, more importantly, seats. Longtime aide Duncan Hamilton, meanwhile, was drafting a holding speech for Salmond. Pinned on the wall at McDonald Road was a quote from the writer Alasdair Gray that Angus Robertson asked him to incorporate. Just before 4pm on Friday, 4 May, 2007, most of those present at HQ jumped in cabs and sped off to meet the man of the hour.

Holyrood Park had been mentioned as a landing place, although quickly ruled out on the basis that Her Majesty might not be too amused at the presumptuousness of Alex Salmond, not yet First Minister, touching down on her private property. Instead Peter Murrell, the SNP's chief executive, settled upon the 17th-century Prestonfield House Hotel, a mansion set among 14 acres and overlooked by Arthur's Seat. Radio reporters held microphones aloft to capture the roar of rotor blades as Salmond's helicopter hovered above. Robertson stood waiting on the lawn. Aide Geoff Aberdein leapt out of the helicopter first, followed by a serene-looking MSP for Gordon, both of whom then walked towards Robertson, or "Gus" as Salmond always called him. He greeted them warmly before the trio meandered across the sleek lawn, Salmond taking his time as he approached a simple lectern that had been erected in front of an expectant media. "We did not want to be ending up with hanging chads in Florida and looking like losers," reflected Robertson later. "So we went for the West Wing at Prestonfield and where was Jack McConnell? He was on a side street in Glasgow somewhere, looking like a loser."

Salmond, meanwhile, did not resemble a loser. With a Saltire fluttering behind him and the SNP's election slogan, "It's Time", beneath his microphone, he pointed out that, however the last few seats to declare fell, the SNP had won the popular vote. "Scotland has chosen a new path," declared Salmond at his most eloquent, "one which echoes the hopes and aspirations of a new culture of politics. We will lead with verve and imagination but always mindful that we serve the people – all the people – of this proud and ancient nation. The Scottish writer Alasdair Gray put it well when he wrote, 'Work as though you lived in the early days of a better nation.' My commitment to Scotland is this – we will work, and these are the early days of a better nation."

The leader and his aides then moved into the hotel. Text messages began bleeping, including one from press officer John MacInnes. "Wekve won," it read, the necessary apostrophe a victim of the sender's elation. Receiving the same news, Angus Robertson entered the room and cried, "we've got it!" before hugging Salmond. The SNP, at around 5:33pm, had secured two crucial seats in the Highlands and Islands, giving them a one-seat lead over Labour, by 47 to 46. "That's excellent. Great," exclaimed Salmond as party workers crowded in to the room.

There were hugs, tears, champagne and toasts. Salmond remained calm throughout. His reaction to a situation was often inversely proportionate to its magnitude, so he was pleased, understandably pleased, but remained self-contained.

Angus Robertson then drove Salmond and Moira to The Hub, an arts venue at the top of the Royal Mile, near Edinburgh Castle. This had been dubbed an "end-of-campaign" party, in a deliberate attempt to hedge their bets should the election result be unclear or, at worst, a defeat for the SNP. The atmosphere inside was electric, "small children covered in SNP stickers clung to their parents as adults hugged and kissed each other, punching the air in victory and stamping their feet," observed one reporter. "Shouts of 'thank God!' and 'you didn't believe me!' punctuated the air."

Then, having entered the building from a side entrance, Salmond appeared, with, according to one onlooker, "a smile as wide as the Dee". "The Hub was absolutely crazy," recalled one activist who was there "people had to clear the way through, it was like a rock concert." Normally stoic and devoid of emotion, some saw a wet shine in the eyes of the First Minister-elect as he took to the stage. "I heard a rumour," he informed his rapturous supporters. "I think we won the election."

What now preoccupied Salmond was the all-important numbers game. To form a majority Scottish Executive he needed not only the Liberal Democrats (with 16 seats) but also the Greens (with two seats), a prospect Salmond had called a "progressive coalition … to move Scotland forward". Although he encountered Nicol Stephen, the Liberal Democrat leader and outgoing Deputy First Minister, at a television studio in Aberdeen the morning after polling day, the prospect of a coalition did not feature in their brief exchange.

All 16 Liberal Democrat MSPs, meanwhile, gathered on Saturday morning at Edinburgh's Hilton Grosvenor hotel feeling bruised by the election result in which the party had lost three seats.

Tavish Scott was perhaps the most hostile towards any deal with the SNP. "They'd spent the last few years attacking the SNP so there was quite a lot of enmity," recalled a senior Lib Dem, "so there was hostility before the phone calls even began, while dislike of Salmond personally also unquestionably played a part." At a group meeting, a significant majority of Lib Dem MSPs were reluctant to form a coalition with the SNP, while they agreed unanimously that they should stand by the position they had taken before the campaign and therefore there could be no talks unless Salmond dropped his pledge to hold an independence referendum.

Salmond and Stephen eventually spoke at around 7pm on the Saturday. He began by stating several times that there could be no talks unless Salmond agreed a referendum was "off the table". The SNP leader reacted strongly to this, concerned that Stephen (who had also issued a press statement to that effect) was presenting him with an "ultimatum". He argued that the Liberal Democrats could change their position now the election was over. One scenario had it that a referendum could proceed, but with each side of an SNP/Lib Dem coalition campaigning for a different outcome.

This conversation, however, broke off because of poor mobile reception. When Salmond called back after 9pm he made it clear he was prepared to have private talks. Again, Stephen refused to agree to this unless there was a clear understanding that a referendum would not form part of a new Executive's programme of government. Salmond argued that people expected "change" while pointing out that although his group trusted him to negotiate the best position possible, he could not abandon a cardinal aspect of SNP policy. Once again he stressed the possibility of finding a "creative" solution to the referendum issue. Taking this message back to his MSPs the next day, Stephen stated that Salmond was not prepared to give way on the referendum and therefore he believed the most likely outcome was an SNP minority government. The majority of his colleagues backed that view, although some believed Stephen would at least have preferred formal talks to take place.

Stephen then called Salmond just after 7pm on Sunday, saying his group's position remained the same. Salmond then began quoting recent newspaper columns by nationalist-inclined commentators, which argued that the Liberal Democrats had a duty to coalesce with the SNP. "Alex again said he couldn't agree to preconditions before formal talks," recalled one of those present, "but if he was to drop the referendum (Salmond said this more than once), he would be prepared to take a revised position to his party's National Council."

The point, recalled a source, was that "Alex Salmond was not saying the referendum was non-negotiable. He was willing to talk about the referendum, it wasn't clear what that consisted of (possibly on the timing or number of options] but he was willing." Salmond made one final attempt to stress the electorate's expectation for "change", adding that he would be signing an agreement with the Greens the following day, but Stephen would not budge. "I have had discussions with Alex Salmond," said Nicol Stephen in a statement. "I made it clear to him that unless and until the SNP removes the fundamental barrier of a referendum on independence there can be no coalition … In these circumstances it seems likely there will be a minority SNP government." That, said Salmond in a radio interview, was "not an entirely bad thing", while repeating that a coalition remained his favoured outcome.

The following day Salmond failed to lure the Greens into a formal coalition following two hours of formal talks. Although these were "very cordial", according to Salmond, the Greens opted instead to support the SNP only on an informal basis. "My working assumption now is that the SNP may go into a minority administration," said Salmond. "I am disappointed not to get into talks with the Liberals. I suspect it's a political position about where they want to be."

On 16 May, Salmond was elected First Minister of a minority government at exactly 11:11am, by 49 votes to 46. As the result was announced, Salmond looked typically serene while Jack McConnell appeared strained, as if political reality had only just set in. The new First Minister then shook hands with those around him, hugged Nicola Sturgeon, soon to be his deputy, and embraced Bashir Ahmed, Scotland's first Asian MSP.

Salmond then rose, buttoned his jacked and, in a well-judged acceptance speech, declared that he and every other MSP had "a responsibility to conduct ourselves in a way that respects the parliament the people have chosen to elect.

"That will take patience, maturity and leadership. My pledge today is that any Scottish government led by me will respect and include this parliament in the governance of Scotland over the next four years.

"That is the parliament the people of Scotland have elected," concluded Salmond, "and that is the government that I will be proud to lead."

Among those in the VIP gallery were Salmond's wife Moira , as well as his father, Robert, and Gail, his sister. "My father has never seen me in the chamber because he always refused to set foot in the Palace of Westminster," Salmond had remarked in his speech, "some people say I should have heeded his advice." Robert, however, could not bring himself to join in the applause, instead gazing upon his son, as one reporter observed, "through full wet eyes, in a moment held so hard it could bruise", while his daughter Gail asked: "Did you hear, Dad? Could you hear Alex, could you hear what he said?"

After leaving the chamber, even the normally controlled Salmond was emotional. "You think you can imagine what it's going to be like," he told supporters, "but, when you imagine, it's never quite the reality. It's a wonderful day." More than a year later, he described it more concisely as "a hell of a moment".