Humble, quiet and even polite ... Salmond turns over a new leaf Wednesday 19 November 2014 ALEX Salmond has bowed out as First Minister, telling MSPs he was leaving office with a sense of optimism and confidence about the future. EMOTIONAL MOMENT: Mr Salmond hugs his successor Nicola Sturgeon, who will be formally elected First Minister today. Picture: Gordon Terris In a final Holyrood statement before stepping down, he said a country empowered and energised by the independence referendum wanted a stronger parliament to meet its aspirations. Goodbye and good luck, he told MSPs yesterday as he left his seat for the last time. The former SNP leader departed to applause from MSPs on all sides and a standing ovation from his own backbenchers and ministers. Many of them assembled outside the main Holyrood entrace at Queensberry House to wave him off with mini-Saltires as he stepped into a government limousine that would take him to the Scotland-England football match in Glasgow, his final official engagement. Nicola Sturgeon will be formally elected First Minister today after a vote by MSPs and will be sworn in at the Court of Session in Edinburgh tomorrow. In contrast to the confrontational style he has brought to Holyrood since becoming First Minister in 2007, Mr Salmond relinquished the job with benign words and polite praise. He was humble, understated and statesmanlike in his final address. Opponents who would previously have been falling over themselves to attack him acknowledged his commitment and thanked him for his years of public service. Scotlands longest serving First Minister will remain MSP for Abderdeenshire East but he again dropped heavy hints that he will stand for Westminster in next Mays general election. Mr Salmond said: It has been the privilege of my life to serve as First Minister these last seven-and-a-half years. Any parting is tinged with some sorrow but in this case it is vastly outweighed by a sense of optimism and confidence. Stand-in Labour leader Jackie Baillie said his considerable abilities would be missed, before gently poking fun at his ability to combine running the country with playing a lot of golf. Ruth Davidson, the Scottish Tory leader, said Mr Salmonds time in office was a game of two halves - a good half in which he stood shoulder to shoulder with the Conservatives to get his budgets through parliament and a less impressive spell after 2011 dominated by the referendum. Willie Rennie dared to suggest Mr Salmonds pursuit of independence had been divisive and that wounds inflicted would take many years to heal. This heresy was too much for the ranks of SNP backbenchers. Their adulatory reveries interrupted, they booed and hissed until even the Lib Dem leader started saying nice things. The mood might have turned ugly again when the Green Partys Patrick Harvie blurted out the words delusional bully but it transpired he was referring to Donald Trump. Mr Salmonds old friend Stewart Stevenson insisted he was in the mould of John F Kennedy, likening the First Ministers achievements to putting a man on the moon. The First Minister thanked his opponents for thanking him before dashing off to pick up his scarf and settle himself in for a last official lap of the M8. Perhaps anticipating, dreading even, such a low-key departure, Mr Salmond had a ruse up his sleeve. On a visit to Heriot-Watt University earlier in the day, he unveiled a giant rock inscribed with one of his most memorable pledges: The rocks will melt with sun before I allow tuition fees to be imposed on Scottish students. The lump of Clashach sandstone, chiselled by apprentice stonemasons from Historic Scotland, was decorated with a gilt sun to illustrate the point. Some will regard it as a comical combination of hubris and poor taste. For others it is sure to become a place of pilgrimage. Comments iain Lawson, Paisley Mr Salmond very skillfully led a minority Government from 2007 to 2011 and then received an enormous mandate from the people of Scotland securing a majority Government in a Parliament whose entire electoral system was specifically designed to make such an overwhelming victory nigh impossible. The fact that seven years later he is leaving Government with his Party even more popular than in 2011, with his Party in Scotland now having in excess of an astonishing 85,000 members suggests to me that his style is a lot more reasonable and constructive than confrontational Of course I can well understand that his political opponents that he has left in his wake may not see it that way but they should not fret. I am sure he will be back very shortly albeit in a different role. Peter Moseley iain Lawson, Paisley I am sure he will be back very shortly albeit in a different role Aye, trough and Westminster come to mind. Steve McKay, Sweden Peter Moseley A very daft and mean spirited comment given Alex Salmond has just donated his First Ministers pension to good causes. Hardly the act of a greedy man. The reason he is contemplating returning to Westminster is to defend the interests of the Scottish people - no more - no less.
Posted on: Wed, 19 Nov 2014 06:47:28 +0000
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