Scotsman Politics: Alex Salmond Memorial Service at St Giles Cathedral

Transcript

00:00Hello, I'm Alistair Grant, the Political Editor of The Scotsman and I'm here just outside

00:04St Giles Cathedral in central Edinburgh where for the last hour and a bit I've been attending

00:08the memorial service to Alex Salmond, the former First Minister who died at the age

00:12of 69 in October while attending a conference in North Macedonia.

00:17He had his funeral previously, it was a private service attended by family and close friends

00:23but this was a chance for people from across the political spectrum to come together in

00:29St Giles Cathedral and to mark the life of someone who made a huge impact on Scotland's

00:34political life.

00:35It was a service that I think was very moving for a lot of people inside, there was tributes

00:40from political figures like David Davis, the former Brexit Secretary, Kenny MacAskill,

00:45the Alaba Party politician now but formerly Scotland's Justice Secretary under Alex Salmond's

00:52government, there was a tribute by Duncan Hamilton who used to be an SNP MSP and some

00:59quite pointed statements as well about Scottish politics since Alex Salmond stood down as

01:04First Minister.

01:05Duncan Hamilton saying that it was a mistake for Alex Salmond to step down as First Minister

01:09as Alex Salmond said himself as well which seemed like a pointed criticism of his predecessors,

01:17mostly Nicola Sturgeon.

01:19There was also tributes from Alex Salmond's family, Christina Hendry, his niece giving

01:23a very personal tribute to her uncle Alex making the point that he might have been this

01:27huge political figure, someone who as she said was the top man in Scotland but he always

01:33made time for his family as well.

01:35And there was musical tributes as well from the Proclaimers who sang the Nationalist Anthem

01:40Cap in Hand just a few yards really from where Gordon Brown was also sitting there because

01:45there was a service that was attended by as I say political figures from across the

01:50spectrum but also music from Alistair Fraser in the Fiddle and from Dougie McLean performing

01:56his rendition of Caledonia.

01:59As you can see just outside the cathedral here there's lots of people that have gathered

02:03with saltires, with various kind of political flags to pay tribute to Alex Salmond, lots

02:10of cheers for the family as they left St Giles Cathedral and a few boos as well actually

02:14notably for John Swinney, the current First Minister.

02:22But I don't think these people will be going anywhere soon, they're very much here to mark

02:27a life of someone they hugely admired and respected.

02:32Alex Salmond nearly got his independence, he was like Moses being shown the promised land.

02:39We will never see the like of Alex Salmond ever again but possibly there is hope in the

02:45horizon but at the moment I cannot see it and I'm of an age where it possibly will not

02:52be the case.

02:54We've come here from Arran today and we couldn't not be here and we want to be not just in

03:01memory of Alex but in honour of his wife.

03:05It's been a great loss to us all because while Alex was around we still had a lot of hope

03:13but there's nobody to replace him, there's nobody like him.