Ex-Scottish Chief Alex Salmond, Who Almost Bought Scotland Independence From UK, Lifeless At 69

LONDON (AP) — Alex Salmond, the previous first minister of Scotland who for many years championed Scotland’s independence from the U.Ok. and almost completed it, has died. He was 69.

Salmond, who was one of the crucial divisive determine in British politics on the flip of the century and who because the then chief of the Scottish Nationwide Get together took Scotland to the brink of independence within the 2014 referendum, died within the North Macedonia lake-resort city of Ohrid, native media reported.

“Unfortunately, Alex Salmond, the former first minister of Scotland who was one of the panellists at yesterday’s cultural diplomacy forum that was held in Ohrid, died suddenly today,” in response to an announcement from the workplace of former North Macedonia President Gjorgje Ivanov.

Tributes poured in from throughout the political spectrum, led by King Charles III and his spouse Queen Camilla. “My wife and I are greatly saddened to hear of the sudden death of Alex Salmond,” the king mentioned. “His devotion to Scotland drove his decades of public service.”

U.Ok. Prime Minister Keir Starmer of the Labour Get together known as him a “monumental figure” of each Scottish and British politics. “He leaves behind a lasting legacy,” Starmer mentioned. “As first minister of Scotland, he cared deeply about Scotland’s heritage, history and culture, as well as the communities he represented.”

Salmond served as first minister of Scotland from 2007 to 2014, and was chief of the Scottish Nationwide Get together on two events, from 1990 to 2000, and from 2004 to 2014. Salmond led the independence marketing campaign within the referendum in 2014, however misplaced, gaining 45% of the vote, and subsequently resigned from the highest job and changed by his long-time ally, Nicola Sturgeon. Their subsequent cut up dominated Scottish politics for years.

“Obviously, I cannot pretend that the events of the past few years which led to the breakdown of our relationship did not happen, and it would not be right for me to try,” Sturgeon mentioned after studying of Salmond’s dying. “However, it remains the fact that for many years Alex was an incredibly significant figure in my life. He was my mentor, and for more than a decade we formed one of the most successful partnerships in U.K politics.”

In 2019, Salmond was charged with sexual assault and tried rape after allegations by 9 girls who had labored with him as first minister or for the celebration. Salmond known as the costs “deliberate fabrications for a political purpose.” Salmond was acquitted after a trial in March 2020.

A yr later, he created a brand new celebration known as Alba — the Scottish Gaelic phrase for Scotland — that made few inroads into Scottish politics and sought a brand new independence referendum come what might.

The present SNP first minister, John Swinney, mentioned that he was “deeply shocked and saddened at the untimely death” of Salmond.

“Over many years, Alex made an enormous contribution to political life, not just within Scotland, but across the U.K. and beyond,” he mentioned. “He took the Scottish National Party from the fringes of Scottish politics into government and led Scotland so close to becoming an independent country.”

Salmond had mentioned that he discovered to dream of an unbiased Scotland at his grandfather’s knee, and selected to hitch the SNP at college in 1973 when his English girlfriend poked an excessive amount of enjoyable at his separatist sentiments.

Salmond’s tutorial {and professional} background ready him to turn into Scotland’s most economically optimistic and visionary politician. At St. Andrew’s College. he double-majored in medieval historical past, reflecting his love of a Caledonia misplaced, and economics.

In his 20s, he labored as an economist first for Britain’s regional authorities in Scotland after which on the Royal Financial institution of Scotland, the place he analyzed the nation’s most dynamic trade, North Sea oil.

He received a seat within the U.Ok. Parliament in 1987, and inside three years was celebration chief. He supported Tony Blair’s Labour authorities within the late Nineteen Nineties to create a devolved Scottish parliament in Edinburgh, a reform that stopped wanting independence, however gave his homeland a style of self-government for the primary time since its 1707 union with England. Underneath that new settlement, which was ratified by a referendum, the Scottish Parliament has had a wide selection of home powers, together with over insurance policies on well being and training, however not on international coverage issues.

Salmond then had a really public discussion board to push his dream of full independence ahead — his authorities had an array of powers particularly on social points — and managed to persuade the federal government of Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron to name a referendum. Up till the outcomes had been identified, it had been thought of a detailed name.

Although the independence marketing campaign misplaced, Salmond’s SNP managed to capitalize its assist and has dominated Scottish politics since. The SNP has been the Edinburgh-based authorities since, although it suffered an enormous setback on this yr’s U.Ok.-wide normal election, when it misplaced a overwhelming majority of the seats it held within the Home of Commons to Labour. The following Scottish election is because of happen in 2026.

Konstantin Testorides contributed to this report from Skopje, North Macedonia.