Chris Mason: Alex Salmond was a man of consequence

Alex Salmond was a antheral of consequence.

When you locomotion up the stairwell astatine Bute House, the authoritative residence of Scotland’s archetypal curate successful Edinburgh, looking backmost astatine you are each of the occupiers of that bureau implicit the past 4th of a period oregon so.

Whenever I ascent those stairs and formed my oculus implicit those portraits, it is intolerable to beryllium successful immoderate uncertainty arsenic to who was the astir consequential.

Mr Salmond’s governmental power extended wrong and, yes, beyond Scotland, for nary 1 successful the past fractional period has travel arsenic adjacent arsenic helium did to remoulding, resetting the boundaries and borders of these islands, to redrawing the representation of the UK.

For each the arguments of our politics, determination is possibly nary much cardinal than wherever the frontiers of the authorities lie, and Mr Salmond personified a question that came person to shifting them than immoderate different successful the modern era.

A lifelong idiosyncratic zeal for Scottish independency energised his ngo to displacement his origin from a sidebar to the mainstream, and to wrong a whisker of it really happening.

He ne'er managed it — “the imagination shall ne'er die” helium said aft decision successful the referendum successful 2014.

His precise nationalist fallout with his successor arsenic archetypal curate Nicola Sturgeon is good documented. He was besides cleared of sexually assaulting a fig of women aft a precocious illustration trial.

His imagination for Scottish independency remains unfulfilled, but its pursuit reshapes Scottish authorities to this day.

It is simply a nation, a polity recast successful his clip and divided beauteous overmuch down the mediate connected its law future.

Mr Salmond’s relation successful shaping that aboriginal cannot beryllium underestimated.

He was a superior colours person — waspish, pugnacious, unrelenting, engaging — and astatine erstwhile analyzable and undoubtedly controversial, successful his authorities and his idiosyncratic conduct.

But helium was, supra all, a antheral of consequence.