Image source, Academy for Cultural Diplomacy

Some of the final pictures of Alex Salmond have been released by the Academy for Cultural Diplomacy. He died after becoming ill while attending the group’s conference in North Macedonia

The Academy said Salmond joined meetings and made a speech on Friday, then had more meetings on Saturday morning before he collapsed in the afternoon.

The Berlin-based group said he would “be remembered as someone who had a profound impact on UK-Scottish politics, Europe and beyond”.

Image source, Academy for Cultural Diplomacy

Image source, Academy for Cultural Diplomacy

Image source, Academy for Cultural Diplomacy

Image source, Academy for Cultural Diplomacy

Image source, Getty Images

Alex Neil first met Salmond in 1982 and they went through the ranks of the SNP together.

The former MSP ultimately served under his former party boss in government as a cabinet secretary.

He tells the Sunday Show he thinks the way Alex Salmond was treated after his trial was "appalling".

After quitting as first minister, Salmond had a spectacular fallout with Nicola Sturgeon over her government’s mishandling of harassment complaints against him.

At a criminal trial in Edinburgh in 2020 he faced sexual offence charges, and testimony damaged his reputation. His own KC said Salmond "could have been a better man".

But the former first minister was ultimately cleared of all charges on a majority verdict.

"Alex was absolutely cleared of any criminal wrongdoing," says Neil.

"He was an innocent man, but some people didn't treat him as such after the jury's decisions and I think that hurt him."

Former SNP MP Joanna Cherry, a friend of Alex Salmond, says her thoughts are with his wife Moira - a "tremendous woman in her own right" - and describes him as the best first minister Scotland ever had.

Cherry, who is a KC, also addresses the allegations of sexual misconduct against Salmond.

Evidence heard during a criminal trial was damaging to his reputation - Salmond's own lawyer conceded he was "touchy feely" and sometimes acted inappropriately - but he was acquitted of all charges on a majority verdict.

A separate juridical review found a Scottish government probe was tainted by "apparent bias".

"I think it is a terrible tragedy that Alec has died before he was able to be completely vindicated but I believe that time will vindicate him," she tells BBC Scotland's The Sunday Show.

She says there is growing interest across Scotland in what "exactly went on behind the scenes".

"I think it's a great tragedy of Alex Salmond's career that so many of his erstwhile comrades and political colleagues and friends either stabbed him in the back or turned their back on him in his hour of need."

Alex Salmond’s former chief of staff says he was privileged to work for him during a “hugely exciting and electrifying period in Scottish politics”.

Geoff Aberdein, who began his career at Westminster when the SNP had only six MPS, says Salmond knew how to dominate the headlines with a just small group of politicians.

Aberdein told BBC Scotland's Sunday Show: “He understood that to make the SNP relevant you had to create a bit of a song and dance, you had to create a bit of a noise.

“When he became first minister, I felt that was the making of him and that was the making of the positon of first minister. He relished being first minister every single day.”

Aberdein says he and Salmond were involved in “feisty exchanges” which resulted in several sackings.

“He was a fierce intellect, you had to challenge him, that was my role," he says.

“All those seven times I was sacked, I always came in the next morning because I loved every minute of that job.

“He needed to be challenged, there’s absolutely no doubt about it, but he never asked me to do something he wasn’t willing to do himself.

“That’s what people expect from the first minister of Scotland.”

Image source, PA Media

The Editor in Chief of RT has also paid tribute to Salmond, a former presenter on the TV channel in the UK

In a post on X, Margarita Simonyan describes him as an "infinitely brave, almost Russian-spirited, tireless fighter for the independence of his native Scotland".

Salmond had presented his own talk show on the Russian-funded media outlet, until he suspended the programme in February 2022 following the invasion of Ukraine.

His involvement with the channel, widely seen as Kremlin-controlled, came as a shock to his SNP colleagues at the time but Salmond always insisted his programme was editorially independent.

Simonyan, 44, has been officially sanctioned by the US for allegedly interfering in the 2024 US presidential election and been described as the Kremlin's top propagandist.

Image source, Academy for Cultural Diplomacy

Just a day before his death, Alex Salmond spoke during a panel session at the diplomacy forum he was attending in Northern Macedonia. He reflected on the non-violent nature of the 2014 Scottish independence referendum.

"I think the worst excess of the entire referendum campaign of 10 years ago was that someone got an egg thrown at them, which is hardly in the great excesses of politics," he said.

He was apparently referring to an incident in which Labour MP Jim Murphy was "egged" and heckled, forcing him to suspend his "beer crate" campaign of Scottish town centres in support of a No vote.

Salmond said the referendum result had negative consequences for Scotland - highlighting the Brexit vote which took the UK out of the EU, even though Scotland voted decisively to remain.

And he said the opportunities provided by North Sea oil and now renewable energy were not benefitting the Scottish people.

Salmond also suggested that the No vote in 2014 had also harmed England. He speculated that had Scotland become independent, then PM David Cameron would have resigned and Brexit might not have happened.

He concluded: "My general message is respect for legitimate democratic aspirations leads to good outcomes.

"Disrespecting it, in one way or another... can lead to bad outcomes for everyone."

First Minister John Swinney also told BBC Scotland’s The Sunday Show that he and Salmond “have become more distant than we were when we were colleagues in government”.

But he says: “I saw Alec over the summer, we met at an event in Edinburgh, we talked about the experience of being first minister.”

Asked about the investigation into complaints against Salmond from Scottish government staff, Swinney accepts that the “last few years have been difficult years”, but says there will be time to reflect on these issues in days to come.

He says: “These issues have been the matter of public record and set out and discussed at length.

“At this particular time it’s appropriate to reflect on the political contribution of Alex Salmond and acknowledge it has been significant in transforming scotland.”

Image source, Reuters

Former UK prime minister David Cameron has joined the tributes to Salmond.

He says they disagreed on many things, but "there is no doubt that Alex Salmond was a giant of Scottish and British politics".

Cameron, who was PM from 2010 to 2016, says Salmond was "hugely passionate about the causes he championed" and had "enormous charisma and genuine conviction".

Salmond has sometimes been credited with outfoxing Cameron in the negotiations leading to the 2014 independence referendum, getting to choose the timing of the vote and the wording of the question.

In a post on X, Cameron wrote: "He might have had his faults, but he was as sharp as a button with a strategic mind.

"I once said you had to count your fingers on the way out of a meeting with Alex! He has been taken far too young; my thoughts and prayers are with Alex’s family."

John Swinney has been talking further this morning about his relationship with Salmond.

The first minister told BBC Scotland's Sunday Show that Salmond "encouraged me to simply get on with the work that I needed to do to manage the public finances".

He says: "He led the strategic direction of the government but left people like me to get on with the jobs we needed to get on with.

"That was very much the nature of the relationship, it was a working relationship focussed on serving the people of scotland."

Swinney was Salmond's finance secretary when the SNP first took power at Holyrood in 2007.

He also tells the programme that he transformation of Scottish independence from being a "peripheral idea to an idea that is central to the politics of Scotland" was part of the fundamental work that Alex Salmond delivered during his life.

Scotland’s first minister John Swinney has been leading the tributes to Salmond this morning, appearing on several media outlets.

He told the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuessberg programme Salmond was a “very significant figure” who set the agenda in Scottish and UK politics.

He says: “He inspired a generation of people to believe in Scottish independence. Alec left a fundamental footprint on Scottish politics.

“He took the SNP from the fringes of Scottish politics to the heart of government.”

Swinney succeeded Salmond to become party leader between 2000 and 2004. When the SNP came to power at Holyrood in 2007, with Salmond gain as leader, he appointed Swinney as his finance secretary.

Swinney told the programme that so much of the party’s achievements had been built on Salmond’s “sense of drive”.

Succession actor Brian Cox - an independence supporter who became a friend of Alex Salmond - shared his memories of him on Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg.

"He was a lot of fun, he was very entertaining, he had great humanity," he said.

"He was probably, I think, one of the greatest political thinkers that certainly Scotland has ever produced - I think possibly these islands have ever produced. He was an extraordinary man."

He said Salmond's essential appeal was "his humanity and how he came across to other people".

Cox, from Dundee, said his former friend helped him appreciate his country in new ways.

"When you're young and you have ambition... I looked at the Tay and thought I'm going to cross that one day, I'm going get down to the south.

"As I got older a I realised actually my country's not bad, actually my country's pretty damn good - and I think Alex really fought for the country."

The Sunday papers in Scotland are dominated by the death of Alex Salmond.

The Herald on Sunday features a full-page portrait of the former first minister next to the quote “He was a towering figure”, while the Sunday Mail remembers a “political giant”.

Scotland on Sunday uses the SNP’s description of its ex-leader as a “titan”, while the Sunday Post describes his death as the “passing of a political colossus”.

The pro-independence Sunday National leads with a picture of Salmond and a headline drawn from his last post on X: "Scotland is a country not a county".

Read more here:

Image source, EPA

Good morning - we are resuming our live coverage following the sudden death of Alex Salmond, aged 69.

Scotland's former first minister and SNP leader became unwell on Saturday while attending the Ohrid Cultural Diplomacy Forum in Northern Macedonia.

He had made a speech and it is understood he collapsed during lunch. A heart attack is suspected but a post-mortem examination will be held to determine the cause of death.

King Charles, Sir Keir Starmer and current Scottish First Minister John Swinney are among the many who have paid tributes to a man described as a "titan" and "monumental figure" in UK and Scottish politics.

Salmond is credited with transforming the SNP from a fringe party into the dominant force in Scottish politics.

Under his leadership, the party secured a referendum on whether Scotland should become an independent country in 2014, which resulted in a No vote by a margin of 55% to 45%.

He later left the party and, after a dramatic falling out with his former protege Nicola Sturgeon, formed the rival pro-independence Alba party, which he led until his death.

Image source, PA Media

At this point in the evening we'll pause our coverage on the sudden death of Alex Salmond.

The death of Scotland's former first minister will almost certainly dominate the political coverage from the BBC tomorrow morning, with Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg across the UK and The Sunday Show in Scotland.

We'll bring you all the news and analysis from both programmes and from around the world when we restart our online coverage in the morning.

Thank you for joining us tonight. Your writers were Craig Hutchison, Megan Bonar and Jonathan Geddes. Steven Brocklehurst and Claire Diamond were the editors.

Scotland's former First Minister Alex Salmond has died, aged 69.

Here are the main headlines:

• Alex Salmond was in North Macedonia when he became ill

• It is understood the former MP and MSP collapsed after delivering a speech at an international conference on Saturday
• The Press Association news agency has reported the Alba party believe the cause of death to be a heart attack
• Salmond led Scotland between 2007 and 2014
• He led the pro-independence side ahead of the referendum in 2014 and resigned as first minister after Scottish voters backed remaining in the UK by 55% to 45%
• Salmond formed the pro-independence Alba Party in 2021 after resigning from the SNP three years earlier
• UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer described Salmond as being a "monumental figure of Scottish and UK politics"
• Scotland's First Minister John Swinney said he was "deeply shocked and saddened" at the news and extended his condolences to Salmond's wife Moira and his family
• King Charles III said he was "greatly saddened" to hear of Salmond's death and said his "devotion to Scotland drove his decades of public service".
• Former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, who had been Salmond's closest ally before a spectacular fall out, said she was "shocked and sorry" to hear of his death

You can read more on the story here and an obituary for Alex Salmond can be found here.

Image source, Pa

The BBC's Political Editor Chris Mason says he has never been in any doubt which of Scotland's first ministers has been the "most consequential".

Speaking on the BBC's Weekend News, Mason says: "No-one in the last half century has come as close as Alex Salmond did to recasting, remoulding the very boundaries and borders of, and within, our islands.

"Redrawing the map of the UK, potentially."

He goes on to say Salmond "reshaped Scottish politics" and "the Scottish nation still remains pretty much split down the middle on that big constitutional question".

He concludes highlighting the nature of the tributes from his political opponents, as well as his allies, which show he "was a man of consequence".

Friends remember a 'kind and thoughtful' manpublished at 22:31 BST 12 October 2024

22:31 BST 12 October 2024

Andrew Kerr
BBC Scotland political correspondent

Alex Salmond had a powerful effect on many people.

His electoral success demonstrated he certainly wasn’t short of personal charisma.

The former first minister was also a divisive figure.

However, his friends tonight are remembering a man who was warm and funny in private when he was off the political stage.

Alex Neil first met Salmond in 1982 and they went through the ranks of the SNP together.

Neil ultimately served under his former party boss in government as a Cabinet Secretary.

He told me tonight that Salmond was always plotting ways to achieve Scottish independence even from a young age.

They had their political disagreements, of course, but they never stopped speaking.

Neil added that his friend was kind and thoughtful and committed to ensuring that people could get a decent chance in life.

One of Scotland's most talented politicianspublished at 22:16 BST 12 October 2024

22:16 BST 12 October 2024

Kirsten Campbell
BBC Scotland political correspondent

Image source, Getty Images

“Facts are chiels that winna ding”.

This Robert Burns quote, which roughly translates as 'you can’t dispute the facts', was one of Alex Salmond’s favourites.

The tributes coming in from political friends and foes alike - describing him as a titan, a giant, monumental, formidable - suggest that it is indisputable that he was one of Scotland’s most talented politicians.

Broadcaster Lesley Riddoch told BBC News: "If you put the negatives to one side... he had energy, drive and vision."

She highlighted some of the successful polices which arose from his time in power such as free NHS prescriptions and the scrapping of tuition fees.

"There would be no wind energy industry in Britain, never mind Scotland, if he hadn’t used the powers that devolution gave the Scottish Parliament to drive ahead wind energy when it was being stopped south of the border," she said.

"He could see ahead. When other people could only see lots of obstacles, he always seemed to be able to see some sort of path."

Image source, Reuters

Former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson says Alex Salmond was "one of the great political disruptors of the age".

Writing on X, Johnson says Salmond was also "the father of modern Scottish nationalism".

He says he was: "Charismatic, clever, caustic and fearsome in debate.

"I am glad that he never succeeded in breaking up the Union but very sad that he is gone."