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| Scottish independence: Despite defeat history may still point to Alex Salmond as the victor | Scottish independence: Despite defeat history may still point to Alex Salmond as the victor |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| The referendum is almost certainly Alex Salmond's final battle - and he lost. His shock resignation marks the career-end of one of Scotland and Britain’s most remarkable and committed politicians. Slumped in the back seat of his official car on his way to Aberdeen airport, with the stench of uncomfortable defeat coursing through the Yes camp, Scotland’s First Minister looked like a disappointed bloodhound. But it hid a deeper pain; the realisation that Scotland’s “once in a lifetime” rejection of independence also meant that calling it a day as First Minister of Holyrood was his only honourable option. | |
| Such a defeat - after months of soaring expectations and claims that a political earthquake was imminent – would have destroyed other would-be kings. The wide-spread expectation was that Alex Salmond would somehow find yet another come-back route. Instead he has chosen to go – and though the phrase is over-worn, Scotland may never see his like again. | |
| Margaret Thatcher once said : “You may have to fight a battle more than once to win it.” Salmond instinctively knew and understood this and those close to him admired an ever-returning champion, almost disturbingly capable of sifting through ashes and finding not a pyre, but shoots of regeneration. In his concession speech, with Scotland left exhausted from months of a monoculture of independence debate, it seemed he was trying to do just that. | |
| Scotland, he said, had not chosen separation from the United Kingdom “at this stage”. Although accepting the democracy of defeat, he quoted the 1.6m Scots who voted for him, not the two million who decided to reject the statehood menu he and the SNP had specially cooked up. | Scotland, he said, had not chosen separation from the United Kingdom “at this stage”. Although accepting the democracy of defeat, he quoted the 1.6m Scots who voted for him, not the two million who decided to reject the statehood menu he and the SNP had specially cooked up. |
| Salmond has been here before. Ahead of the 1992 general election, he said Scotland would be “free in '93”. The outcome? They were on the floor in ’94, winning only the same slim number of MPs they had before the election. | Salmond has been here before. Ahead of the 1992 general election, he said Scotland would be “free in '93”. The outcome? They were on the floor in ’94, winning only the same slim number of MPs they had before the election. |
| He will be 60 this November. And doesn’t have another 21 years to keep on the same journey, with the same message and prophetic conviction that ultimately Scotland will believe in him. | He will be 60 this November. And doesn’t have another 21 years to keep on the same journey, with the same message and prophetic conviction that ultimately Scotland will believe in him. |
| In the politics of national "neverendums", a second chance is always the dream. Quebec has had two chances at leaving Canada and said No both times. However Salmond has no choice but to agree that Thursday’s vote settles the matter for a generation. | In the politics of national "neverendums", a second chance is always the dream. Quebec has had two chances at leaving Canada and said No both times. However Salmond has no choice but to agree that Thursday’s vote settles the matter for a generation. |
| David Cameron thinks the “lifetime” option is more realistic. But whatever the next arrival time, Scotland’s second chance will not be led by the man one Tory MP at the beginning of his political career in the 1980s forecast was already the “infant Robespierre” of Scottish nationalism. | David Cameron thinks the “lifetime” option is more realistic. But whatever the next arrival time, Scotland’s second chance will not be led by the man one Tory MP at the beginning of his political career in the 1980s forecast was already the “infant Robespierre” of Scottish nationalism. |
| Thursday’s loss will have hurt him more than all of his previous defeats. With the SNP leading a majority administration in Holyrood, the machinery and authority of government was successfully deployed by the Yes campaign. The days of nationalism in Scotland defined by bunch of amateur dreamers and delusional tribalists has been gone for some time. | Thursday’s loss will have hurt him more than all of his previous defeats. With the SNP leading a majority administration in Holyrood, the machinery and authority of government was successfully deployed by the Yes campaign. The days of nationalism in Scotland defined by bunch of amateur dreamers and delusional tribalists has been gone for some time. |
| But there was one flaw in the machinery. In the final days of the 2011 Holyrood election campaign, Salmond chartered a £1,000-an-hour Bell helicopter to tour Scotland. He told journalists who asked: “We’re calling it Saltire One.” | But there was one flaw in the machinery. In the final days of the 2011 Holyrood election campaign, Salmond chartered a £1,000-an-hour Bell helicopter to tour Scotland. He told journalists who asked: “We’re calling it Saltire One.” |
| The smug comment and the exercise didn’t go down well with his fellow MSPs. One close to him, and now expected to mount a leadership challenge when Salmond goes, said “Alex is always centre-stage. It’s where he believes he should be. US Presidents have Air Force One. Alex thought he was entitled to an equivalent. It’s the dark side of his personality – and for a generation the SNP have had little choice but to accept that campaigns and elections in Scotland have been about one man.” | The smug comment and the exercise didn’t go down well with his fellow MSPs. One close to him, and now expected to mount a leadership challenge when Salmond goes, said “Alex is always centre-stage. It’s where he believes he should be. US Presidents have Air Force One. Alex thought he was entitled to an equivalent. It’s the dark side of his personality – and for a generation the SNP have had little choice but to accept that campaigns and elections in Scotland have been about one man.” |
| The Independent has been told that another Saltire One was on stand-by again, and that triumphalist victory fly-ins, which included stops at Edinburgh and Stirling Castle, the spiritual home of Bruce and Wallace, were planned for today, all despite the party’s internal canvass returns showing a serious hesitancy from Scottish voters which Salmond kept well away from all his speeches. | The Independent has been told that another Saltire One was on stand-by again, and that triumphalist victory fly-ins, which included stops at Edinburgh and Stirling Castle, the spiritual home of Bruce and Wallace, were planned for today, all despite the party’s internal canvass returns showing a serious hesitancy from Scottish voters which Salmond kept well away from all his speeches. |
| When Salmond stood down as SNP party leader in 1999 after a so-so performance in the Holyrood election, he told favoured journalists that he was “giving others a chance to come out of the shadows, to grow and develop”. | When Salmond stood down as SNP party leader in 1999 after a so-so performance in the Holyrood election, he told favoured journalists that he was “giving others a chance to come out of the shadows, to grow and develop”. |
| But he was gone for just five years, and when he returned most of the party remained low-profile politicians, except for wee Nicola, whom he privately said had become his likely heir. | But he was gone for just five years, and when he returned most of the party remained low-profile politicians, except for wee Nicola, whom he privately said had become his likely heir. |
| Nicola Sturgeon is as culpable for the hard oversell of the final weeks of campaigning as her mentor, and was often more patronising and dismissive of her opponents than Salmond. But it’s thought that he will anoint Sturgeon and try and leave the party in her hands. Others in the party will certainly not see that as automatic. | Nicola Sturgeon is as culpable for the hard oversell of the final weeks of campaigning as her mentor, and was often more patronising and dismissive of her opponents than Salmond. But it’s thought that he will anoint Sturgeon and try and leave the party in her hands. Others in the party will certainly not see that as automatic. |
| Although his early morning speech in Edinburgh was a hybrid apology and thank you to all who backed him, there remains a reluctance to accept his own “long march to freedom” is going to be left incomplete. | Although his early morning speech in Edinburgh was a hybrid apology and thank you to all who backed him, there remains a reluctance to accept his own “long march to freedom” is going to be left incomplete. |
| He told his audience: “Let us not dwell on the distance we have fallen short, let us dwell on the distance we have travelled and have confidence the movement is abroad in Scotland that will take this nation forward.” | He told his audience: “Let us not dwell on the distance we have fallen short, let us dwell on the distance we have travelled and have confidence the movement is abroad in Scotland that will take this nation forward.” |
| Salmond studied medieval history at St Andrews University, and therefore knows that the taking of power can be opportunistic and ill-timed. The 2014 referendum came too soon for him. He perhaps needed another year, another Tory Government, and an even sharper threat of a possible UK exit from the European Union. | Salmond studied medieval history at St Andrews University, and therefore knows that the taking of power can be opportunistic and ill-timed. The 2014 referendum came too soon for him. He perhaps needed another year, another Tory Government, and an even sharper threat of a possible UK exit from the European Union. |
| Others believe that the late intervention of Gordon Brown, the promise of enhanced powers for the Scottish Parliament and the likely emergence of a federalist UK constitution, means historians will eventually point to Mr Salmond as the real victor of 18 September 2014. | Others believe that the late intervention of Gordon Brown, the promise of enhanced powers for the Scottish Parliament and the likely emergence of a federalist UK constitution, means historians will eventually point to Mr Salmond as the real victor of 18 September 2014. |
| The price of saving the Union may turn out to be its radical reinvention. And although Saltire One may never to the skies again, Salmond says he will stick around long enough to “make sure these further powers are delivered”. And he will. | The price of saving the Union may turn out to be its radical reinvention. And although Saltire One may never to the skies again, Salmond says he will stick around long enough to “make sure these further powers are delivered”. And he will. |