Alex Salmond passes away at 69

Condolences and tributes have been flooding in on the news that ex-Scottish First Minister, Alex Salmond has died. 

The former First Minister of Scotland, who had been giving a speech in North Macedonia, died suddenly at the age of 69. The cause of his death has not yet been announced.

A prominent Scottish nationalist and pro-independence campaigner, Mr Salmond was the leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP) on two occasions, from 1990-2000 and 2004-2014. He resigned as leader after Scotland voted against independence from the UK and served as an SNP member of parliament in Westminster until he was defeated at the 2017 general election.

Alex Salmond formed the Alba Party

Following a controversial exit from the SNP, Mr Salmond formed the Alba Party, a new party committed to achieving Scottish independence.

Alex Salmond was born in Linlithgow in 1954 and educated at St Andrew’s University, where he studied Economics and Medieval History. It was during his studies at university that he first began to take interest in a possible independence movement in Scotland. 

‘Russia Today’ hosted Alex Salmond’s own TV show

From 1987 to 2017, he served as MP for Banff and Buchan and, on his eventual defeat, began broadcasting his own TV show on what was then known as ‘Russia Today’. The show was eventually suspended when Russia invaded Ukraine.

Mr Salmond was accused of multiple accounts of sexual harassment and sexual assault in what appeared to be a sudden witch hunt against him. However, all charges dropped when not one of the accusations could be proven, by which time, many of his political allies had distanced themselves from him.

Alex Salmond is survived by his wife, Moira. The couple had no children.