Alex Salmond

Alex Salmond MP MSP
File:AlexSalmond1.jpg
First Minister of Scotland [[Scottish National Party (SNP)]]
Incumbent
Assumed office 4th May 2007
Preceded by	Jack McConnell
Succeeded by	John Swinney
In office 16th September 1990 – 2000
Preceded by	Gordon Wilson
Member of Parliament for Banff and Buchan
Incumbent
Assumed office 11 June 1987
Preceded by	Albert McQuarrie
Majority	11,837 (31.8%)
Member of the Scottish Parliament for Gordon
Incumbent
Assumed office 3 May 2007
Preceded by	Nora Radcliffe
Majority	2,062 (5.8%)
Personal details
Born	(1954-12-31) December 31, 1954 Linlithgow, Scotland
Political party	Scottish National Party
Website	http://www.snp.org/people/alex

Alexander Elliot Anderson Salmond, known as Alex Salmond (born 31 December 1954), is a Scottish politician, National Convener (leader) of the Scottish National Party (SNP) and Member of Parliament for the constituency of Banff and Buchan and the Member of the Scottish Parliament for Gordon. He is the SNP's Parliamentary Leader in the British House of Commons.

He is currently serving his second term as leader, taking over from John Swinney. He had previously been leader between 1990 and 2000.

On Friday, May 4th, 2007, his Party won a plurality of seats in elections to the Scottish Parliament. He is expected to become the next First Minister of Scotland.

Education and early career

Born in Linlithgow, West Lothian, the son of two civil servants, Salmond was educated at Linlithgow Academy and the University of St Andrews, where he graduated with an MA in Economics and History. He was first employed as an assistant economist in the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries for Scotland from 1978. In 1980, he joined the Royal Bank of Scotland, for which he worked until 1987, first as an assistant economist, then as the Oil Economist and latterly as Royal Bank Economist. While with the Royal Bank, he wrote and broadcast extensively for both domestic and international outlets. He also contributed regularly to oil and energy conferences, and in 1983 devised the “Royal Bank / BBC Oil Index” which continues monthly publication to this day.

Salmond became active in the SNP when he joined the Federation of Student Nationalists at St Andrews University in 1973 whilst a student at St Andrews. As a left-winger at the time he joined, he had considerable doubts as to whether or not the Labour Party would legislate for a devolved Scottish Assembly.

Salmond started his political life as a committed left-winger inside the SNP and was a leading member of the socialist republican organisation within it, the 79 Group. He was, along with other group leaders, expelled from the SNP when the 79 Group was banned within the larger party.

First time in Westminster

Following the SNP's National Council narrowly voting to uphold the expulsion, Salmond and the others were allowed back into the party a month later, and in 1985 he was elected as the SNP's Vice Convener for Publicity. In 1987 he was elected Member of Parliament for Banff and Buchan, Scotland, and later that year became Senior Vice Convener (Deputy Leader) of the SNP. He was at this time still viewed as being firmly on the left of the party and had become a key ally of Jim Sillars, who joined him in the British House of Commons when he won a by-election for the seat of Glasgow Govan in 1988. Salmond served as a member of the House of Commons Energy Select Committee 1987-1992.

When Gordon Wilson stood down as SNP leader in 1990, Salmond decided to contest the leadership. His only opponent was Margaret Ewing, whom Sillars decided to support. This caused considerable consternation amongst the SNP left as the two main left leaders were opposing each other in the contest. It was also around this time that Salmond and Sillars drifted apart. Salmond went on to win the leadership election by 486 votes to Ewing's 146.

His first test as leader was the United Kingdom general election in 1992, with the SNP having high hopes of making an electoral breakthrough. However the party, whilst considerably increasing its vote, failed to win a large number of seats; Sillars lost his, causing him to famously describe the Scottish people as '90 minute patriots'. This comment ended the political friendship between Salmond and Sillars, and Sillars would soon become a vocal critic of Salmond's style of leadership.

The SNP managed to increase its MPs from four to six in the 1997 General Election which saw a landslide victory for the Labour Party. After election, Labour legislated for a devolved Scottish parliament in Edinburgh.

Although still committed to a fully independent Scotland outside the United Kingdom, Salmond signed the SNP up to supporting the campaign for devolution, and along with Scottish Labour leader Donald Dewar played an active part in securing the victory for devolution in the Scotland referendum of 1997. However, many hard line fundamentalists in the SNP objected to committing the party to devolution, as it was short of full political Scottish independence.

Salmond was one of the few British politicians to oppose the NATO bombing of Serbia in 1999. He wants to take Scotland out of NATO

Several years as party leader earned Salmond an unusually high profile for an SNP politician in the London-based media, leading to invitations to take part in entertainment programmes such as Have I Got News For You and Call My Bluff. His appearances on the latter, and more specifically the fact that he held on to one of the famous 'bluff' cards that are used as props in the show as a souvenir, proved to have an unexpected significance in the run-up to the first elections to the Scottish Parliament. To counter his frustration at having to sit in silence through what he claimed was an inappropriately political speech by Tony Blair at a charity lunch, he held up the bluff card as the Prime Minister began querying Scotland's economic prospects should independence occur.

Resignation as leader and exile in Westminster

Salmond was elected to the Scottish Parliament in 1999 and was one of its highest profile members. He stood down as SNP leader in 2000 and was replaced by his preferred successor John Swinney, who defeated Alex Neil for the post.

His leadership was characterised by a moderation of his earlier left-wing views and by his firmly placing the SNP into an SNP gradualist, but still pro-independence, strategy.

In 2001 he left the Scottish Parliament to lead the SNP group in the House of Commons, a role he still occupies. During the prolonged parliamentary debates in the run-up to the 2003 invasion of Iraq he voiced strong opposition to Britain's participation. In the aftermath of the war, he lent support to the attempt of Adam Price, a Plaid Cymru MP, to impeach Tony Blair over the Iraq issue. Salmond has gone further than many anti-war politicians in claiming that Blair's statements on the presence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq had been consciously intended to deceive the public.

Return as leader

In a surprise announcement on July 15 2004, Alex Salmond announced that he would be a candidate in the forthcoming election for the leadership of the SNP (which arose after John Swinney's resignation). Salmond had previously said that he definitely would not be a candidate in that election, even claiming in jest that if he were elected he would resign. In the postal ballot of all members he went on to receive over 75% of the votes cast, placing him well ahead of his nearest rival Roseanna Cunningham.

Although he was re-elected in the United Kingdom general election of 2005, he made clear his intention to return to the Scottish Parliament at the Scottish parliamentary election, 2007, at which point he would take over the role of SNP group leader in that body from his deputy Nicola Sturgeon. He was a candidate in the Gordon constituency held between 1999 and 2007 by Liberal Democrat Nora Radcliffe. He defeated her with a margin of over two thousand votes, returning after six years' absence to the Scottish Parliament.

On May 4th, 2007, it was announced that the SNP had defeated Labour in the 2007 Scottish parliamentary elections with 47 seats to Labour's 46.

Trivia

In 1998, he won the Spectator Award for Political strategist of the Year.

Throughout his time in politics, he has maintained his interest in horse racing, previously writing a weekly column for The Scotsman and appearing a number of times on Channel 4’s "The Morning Line".

Mr Salmond is a well-known supporter of Hearts.

External links

• Alex Salmond MP official biography at the site of the SNP
• Guardian Unlimited Politics - Ask Aristotle: Alex Salmond MP
• TheyWorkForYou.com - Alex Salmond MP
• The Public Whip - Alex Salmond MP
• BBC News - Alex Salmond profile

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