Scottish independence referendum: Alex Salmond takes to the world stage to sell Scotland’s story

HIGH on the Edinburgh Castle ramparts, stormy gusts buffeted the 16th-century Great Hall where Alex Salmond told the world of the plans he hopes will change the course of Scottish history forever.

As he charted his route to independence, the First Minister must have been hoping that it was the winds of constitutional change that were battering noisily against the medieval roof, which sheltered him from the blast outside.

“Don’t worry folks, this place has been around for a thousand years and it ain’t going anywhere,” Mr Salmond told the international press corps – reassuring them, rather unnecessarily, that the fortifications weren’t about to be blown away.

His obvious pride in the antiquity of his surroundings chimed with the sense of history with which Mr Salmond attempted to imbue one of the most important days of his political career.

Not only had Mr Salmond chosen the 253rd anniversary of Robert Burns’s birth to launch his Your Scotland, Your Referendum consultation document, but he had brought the world’s press to a place redolent with symbolism.

“It was in this venue, Edinburgh Castle, that the first recorded venue of the old Scots parliament was held almost 900 years ago,” Mr Salmond said.

“This hall itself was built by James IV, Scotland’s great renaissance king about 500 years ago. It does stress the continuity of Scotland as an ancient, historic nation stretching back over a 1,000 years of independence before the Act of Union of 1707.”

Flanked by ancient suits of armour and an impressive array of pikes, swords and pistols, Mr Salmond was keen to give foreign journalists from Australia to Azerbaijan a quick history lesson, while he briefed them on his plans for Scottish independence.

While in the presence of these relics of bygone conflicts, Mr Salmond emphasised that the modern fight for independence had been a bloodless one.

“This has been, over the last 100 years, an entirely democratic process,” Mr Salmond told journalists, some of whom came from countries where violence had blighted constitutional upheaval.

“Not a single person has lost their life arguing for or against Scottish independence. There has not been so much as a nose bleed. It is a democratic tradition of which we are rightly proud,” he added.

There was, however, a reminder of blood-thirstier times in a short video that was shown before Mr Salmond made his entrance to the Great Hall.

One thousand years of Scottish history were crammed into a four-minute film that suggested that Scotland had arrived at this historic moment via the 1314 Battle of Bannockburn, the execution of Mary Queen of Scots in 1587, the 1745 Jacobite Rebellion, Winnie Ewing winning the Hamilton by-election in 1967 and the discovery of North Sea Oil.

Unsurprisingly, the film-makers felt there was no need to mention the Battle of Waterloo. Nevertheless, it was difficult to escape that great British victory. Staring down on Mr Salmond was a portrait of that gallant Scot Ensign Ewart of the Royal North British Dragoons (or the Scots Greys, if one uses the regimental title more likely to appeal to the First Minister) fighting for the Duke of Wellington.

As he explained the detail of his consultation document to an international audience for the first time, Mr Salmond was in genial mood.

But he did appear tired following his trip to London this week to persuade the English of the benefits of Scottish independence.

In truth, some of the journalists also seemed weary having tackled the “Lang Stairs”, a curved stairway of 70 steps leading to the summit of Castle Rock. A nearby notice told tourists that an alternative “more gradual ascent” had been built in the 15th century to “improve the passage of heavy guns”.

Yesterday, it was the “more gradual” road to independence that concerned those questioning the heaviest gun in Scottish politics.

Patiently, Mr Salmond answered questions on the complexities of a second question on a devo-max option. Still, however, there was no sign of the wording of that question and more doubts raised about the legality of a second constitutional option.

And on Burns Night, it was inevitable that the Bard would make his presence felt. One questioner asked Mr Salmond whether the egalitarian Robert Burns, who had great affinity with the common man, would have approved of such a grand venue?

“I am sure he would have,” Mr Salmond said, arguing that the event was in keeping with Burns’s reputation as a champion of Scottish culture.

Throughout a day, which began with the First Minister watching a performance of Tam o’ Shanter by schoolchildren at Edinburgh’s Storytelling Centre, there were numerous references to the ploughman poet.

The National Bard followed the First Minister to Holyrood when he presented his consultation to parliament.

Burns was there when the Rev Dr Stewart Gillan of St Michael’s Parish Church, Linlithgow, addressed MSPs at Holyrood’s “Time for Reflection”. “Today is a day that can only mean that it is poetry before politics,” Dr Gillan said, somewhat optimistically.

Burns was still around when Mr Salmond stood up to speak at Holyrood, but one detected that the politics of Scottish independence beginning to gain the upper hand. “For our purposes today, I want to invoke Burns the democrat, because the choices Scotland faces now are, fundamentally, matters of democracy.

“Our country is facing a new constitutional future and we must take the best path for our people,” Mr Salmond told MSPs.

Given yesterday’s penchant for historical references, it was perhaps surprising that there was no mention of William Wallace. There was, though, an oblique reference to Lord (Jim) Wallace of the Lib Dems, who as Advocate General has questioned the legality of the referendum. “I am told there are members of the House of Lords, who believe that it is in their province to set boundaries on what Scotland can and cannot do,” Mr Salmond said.

“Perhaps they should be reminded that Burns’s great hymn to equality has been heard in this parliament before – when Sheena Wellington sang A Man’s a Man for A’ That at our first opening in 1999.” But when describing the progress made on his march to independence, Mr Salmond turned to the contemporary poet James Robertson, who wrote The bird that was trapped has flown.

Mr Salmond added: “The bird has flown, and cannot now be returned to its cage. I believe this journey represents the aspirations and ambitions of the people of Scotland.”

Mr Salmond may believe that the bird has flown, but he could not have helped noticing when he travelled up the Royal Mile that the Union Flag was still flying high above Edinburgh Castle, standing proudly in the wind beating against the roof of the Great Hall.

At the end of an historic day, the reality is that Scotland still remains within the United Kingdom and yesterday’s arguments show that there are still a great many twists and turns on the road that Mr Salmond hopes will end with an independent Scotland in 2016.