Alex Salmond was the most gifted Scottish politician of the last fifty years

Daily Record Political Editor Paul Hutcheon says the former First Minister changed Scotland forever.

Alex Salmond was the most gifted Scottish politician of the last fifty years.

Most MPs and MSPs come and go without a trace and leave behind no legacy of any substance.

Salmond changed Scotland forever and the country we live in today is largely in his own image.

In 1990, the year he was first elected as SNP leader, the party was on the margins of Scottish politics.

He dragged an unreconstructed SNP into the TV age and elbowed himself onto the front pages.

Disrupting Nigel Lawson’s 1988 budget was an early sign of his flair and his political career was marked by such acts of daring.

By the time he quit in 2000, the SNP was the main opposition party at Holyrood and had its foot in the door.

But it was his second spell in charge, between 2004 and 2014, that rocked Scotland to the core.

He modernised the SNP in the run up to the 2007 election by learning from previous defeats.

Salmond courted business, wooed trade unions and developed close links with the press.

The SNP’s win was down to him and it was the turning point for the modern SNP.

He then skillfully led a minority SNP administration for four years before securing a historic majority in 2011.

That was quickly followed by an agreement on an independence referendum and a vote on the country’s constitutional future.

Scotland has since been split down the middle on the constitution - a fact that was directly the result of Salmond’s rule.

On his watch, independence went from being a niche pursuit to a mainstream belief.

Salmond’s latter years in politics were not the most glorious.

His work for Russian state broadcaster RT was a low point which even his allies in the SNP never forgave him for.

And he was consumed by anger over the SNP Government’s unlawful investigation into claims of misconduct against him.

He was considered Nicola Sturgeon’s mentor, but their relationship disintegrated over the botched Government probe and he quit the SNP to form Alba.

He was acquitted of sexual offences charges at a later trial and the experience deepened the rift with Sturgeon.

However, political careers have to be seen in the round and Salmond was an extraordinary politician.

He grabbed the SNP by the lapels as a young man and turned a ramshackle political party into a Labour-slaying machine.

My own experiences of Alex Salmond the politician were largely positive.

We spoke regularly in the years leading up to the 2007 Holyrood election and I was always hugely impressed with his political skills and acumen.

He lived and breathed his trade and had the killer instinct only the best politicians possess.

Scotland has been robbed of supremely talented politicians who have died way too young.

Alex Salmond dies age 69

• Alex Salmond dies hours after speech
• Scotland and political world reacts
• Salmond's wife at his side for 40 years
• Last picture of Salmond before death

Donald Dewar died at the age of 63 when he was First Minister.

John Smith tragically passed away at 55 and Robin Cook was a mere 59.

Salmond, who was 69, was confident of kickstarting his political career by getting elected to Holyrood in two years. He probably would have succeeded.

His death is terrible news and Scotland is a poorer place without him.

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