Alex Salmond says ‘never say never’ about reconciliation with Nicola Sturgeon
Alex Salmond has refused to rule out a reconciliation with his successor Nicola Sturgeon, saying he would be “sad” if they remained on poor terms.
Ms Sturgeon, who stepped down as SNP leader and Scottish first minister earlier this year, was once close to him, but they had a well-publicised falling out after Mr Salmond faced sexual harassment allegations.
He was cleared of all charges following a high court trial, but Ms Sturgeon, 53, has continued to insist the relationship with her former mentor cannot be repaired.
Asked about the falling out as he appeared at Iain Dale All Talk at the Edinburgh Fringe on Tuesday, Mr Salmond, 68, would only say “never say never” when it came to trying to rebuild their relationship.
The former SNP leader, who now heads up the rival pro-independence Alba Party, said he had been “oblivious” when Ms Sturgeon had told the same show last year she had not been in touch with Mr Salmond since.
Asked if he could see a situation where the pair could ever reconcile, Mr Salmond said: “You should never say never.”
On the prospect of not speaking to his successor again, he added: “I would be sad if that was the case.”
But, referring to the Police Scotland investigation into SNP finances, where both Ms Sturgeon and her husband Peter Murrell were arrested, before being released without charge, Mr Salmond added to “be quite frank I think Nicola has got more immediate things to worry about”.
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Alex Salmond speaking to Sky News about Nicola Sturgeon
His comments came as he claimed the Alba Party could potentially win 24 seats at the next Scottish Parliament elections – adding the party could become a “key part” in an independence coalition at Holyrood.
Alba has not yet had a parliamentarian elected to either Westminster or Holyrood, with the party’s two MPs, Neale Hanvey and Kenny MacAskill, both defecting from the SNP to Alba after being elected.
Speaking about the support for his party, Mr Salmond said “these things take time”, adding that “political parties take time to establish themselves”.
With Holyrood elections fought using proportional representation, Mr Salmond continued: “The target for Alba is to get 15% of the vote on the regional list vote, that will get us about 24 seats.
“And if the cards fall correctly we will be able to be a key part of an independence coalition in that parliament.”
That coalition should then proceed “in terms of seeking a mandate to negotiate independence”, Mr Salmond said, saying “the referendum route has been blocked, partly due to the tactics employed by Nicola”.
He also insisted he still had “something to contribute” in the fight for Scottish independence.
Mr Salmond said: “The vote didn’t go the way I wanted it to but at least we had the mechanism for people to exercise the right of self-determination, and I think I could help contribute to that again.”
Politics
Norman Tebbit: Former Tory minister who served in Margaret Thatcher’s government dies aged 94
Norman Tebbit, the former Tory minister who served in Margaret Thatcher’s government, has died at the age of 94.
Lord Tebbit died “peacefully at home” late on Monday night, his son William confirmed.
One of Mrs Thatcher’s most loyal cabinet ministers, he was a leading political voice throughout the turbulent 1980s.
He held the posts of employment secretary, trade secretary, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Conservative party chairman before resigning as an MP in 1992 after his wife was left disabled by the Provisional IRA’s bombing of the Grand Hotel in Brighton.
He considered standing for the Conservative leadership after Mrs Thatcher’s resignation in 1990, but was committed to taking care of his wife.
Margaret Thatcher and Norman Tebbit in 1987 after her election victory. Pic: PA
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch called him an “icon” in British politics and was “one of the leading exponents of the philosophy we now know as Thatcherism”.
“But to many of us it was the stoicism and courage he showed in the face of terrorism, which inspired us as he rebuilt his political career after suffering terrible injuries in the Brighton bomb, and cared selflessly for his wife Margaret, who was gravely disabled in the bombing,” she wrote on X.
“He never buckled under pressure and he never compromised. Our nation has lost one of its very best today and I speak for all the Conservative family and beyond in recognising Lord Tebbit’s enormous intellect and profound sense of duty to his country.
“May he rest in peace.”
Lord Tebbit and his wife Margaret stand outside the Grand Hotel in Brighton. Pic: PA
Tory grandee David Davis told Sky News Lord Tebbit was a “great working class Tory, always ready to challenge establishment conventional wisdom for the bogus nonsense it often was”.
“He was one of Thatcher’s bravest and strongest lieutenants, and a great friend,” Sir David said.
“He had to deal with the agony that the IRA visited on him and his wife, and he did so with characteristic unflinching courage. He was a great man.”
Reform leader Nigel Farage said Lord Tebbit “gave me a lot of help in my early days as an MEP”.
He was “a great man. RIP,” he added.
Lord Tebbit as employment secretary in 1983 with Mrs Thatcher. Pic: PA
Born to working-class parents in north London, he was made a life peer in 1992, where he sat until he retired in 2022.
Lord Tebbit was trade secretary when he was injured in the Provisional IRA’s bombing in Brighton during the Conservative Party conference in 1984.
Five people died in the attack and Lord Tebbit’s wife, Margaret, was left paralysed from the neck down. She died in 2020 at the age of 86.
Before entering politics, his first job, aged 16, was at the Financial Times where he had his first experience of trade unions and vowed to “break the power of the closed shop”.
He then trained as a pilot with the RAF – at one point narrowly escaping from the burning cockpit of a Meteor 8 jet – before becoming the MP for Epping in 1970 then for Chingford in 1974.
Lord Tebbit during an EU debate in the House of Lords in 1997. Pic: PA
As a cabinet minister, he was responsible for legislation that weakened the powers of the trade unions and the closed shop, making him the political embodiment of the Thatcherite ideology that was in full swing.
His tough approach was put to the test when riots erupted in Brixton, south London, against the backdrop of high rates of unemployment and mistrust between the black community and the police.
He was frequently misquoted as having told the unemployed to “get on your bike”, and was often referred to as “Onyerbike” for some time afterwards.
What he actually said was he grew up in the ’30s with an unemployed father who did not riot, “he got on his bike and looked for work, and he kept looking till he found it”.
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