SNP Leadership contest 2004

'Unlike God, he does not plan to take a day's rest.' Robbie Dinwoodie on Alex Salmond, 3 rd September 2004.

Is Alex the man for the jobs?

Alex Salmond is profiled by our Chief Scottish Political Correspondent Robbie Dinwoodie

By Robbie Dinwoodie in the Herald, 3 rd September 2004

He may be back in charge at the SNP, but he's still an MP, racing pundit and a professor. Robbie Dinwoodie asks Alex Salmond just how he'll cope.

AS of this morning, Alex Salmond will be seriously over-employed. He will be a constituency MP representing his beloved Banff and Buchan at Westminster, the leader of his parliamentary group there, a visiting professor of economics at Strathclyde University, racing tipster for a tabloid newspaper, and the national convener of the SNP Ð a job he proposes to do "from all over Scotland". That is not to mention Labour-speak, which will portray him as leader of the "Notting Hill Nationalists" and puppet-master pulling the strings of his deputy running the show at Holyrood. Why argue for an influx of economic migrants to boost the Scottish economy when just a handful of Salmonds could clearly do the same?

The SNP leader-elect is happy to explain how he will do all these jobs. In fact, he has a timetable drawn up already. Monday will be devoted to his constituents, before he heads down to Westminster to contribute down there. "I am joint top with Tam Dalyell on contributions to debate," he says proudly, so he believes he can continue making an impact there.

Thursday night will see him back in Edinburgh convening the SNP shadow cabinet and party executive meetings. Friday and Saturday will see him out and about speaking and campaigning. Sunday he will do television interviews before taking his wife, Moira, out for a meal.

Unlike God, he does not plan to take a day's rest.

"I am not claiming I would have chosen these circumstances, but with Westminster first up as the next main contest there is a great advantage in leading from the front. Also, campaigning with Nicola Sturgeon in recent weeks has been a joy, not just because of all her political talents but because she has a well-developed sense of irony."

Some Ð internal colleagues and journalistic observers Ð felt their joint "manifesto" was an odd clamjamfry of ideas, mostly culled from current party thinking and hardly likely to frighten the Labour/LibDem horses.

Mr Salmond bristles. He is an Olympic-class bristler. "One fifth of one percent of national income to create a decent citizen's pension, new policies on education, drugs and public investment, holding out the prospect of rail links in the Borders and elsewhere in Scotland, a bullet train between Glasgow and Edinburgh, a new approach to funding public projects, reform of the parliamentary process . . ." He pauses mid-bristle for breath, his policy torrent momentarily abating. But surely it is for the party to formulate new policies, come up with new ideas. What about process? Mr Salmond is determined to address that as a key priority. In fact, over the next few nights, he plans a series of keynote speeches, spelling out a vision of Scotland as something closer to a Scandinavian nation.

"I will be setting a cracking pace," he says with characteristic modesty. "I will look at how to modernise our approach to the economy, far from the executive's current rigor mortis. I will look at modern social democracy and I will look at how to encourage active citizenship, which the last month of hustings has shown can be healthy."

Mr Salmond argues that Scots pay the high taxes of Scandinavian social democracies, but do not get the delivery. Something breaks down along the way and he wants to tackle that.

He contrasts this approach with "frenetic Jack", a first minister who sees "activity as a substitute for policy". Instead, Mr Salmond wants not a big bang policy review but a broad review of big themes, looking at how to engage the head, heart and soul of people disengaged by politics.

The big question exercising the party is whether there will be recriminations following this contest, bad blood that will continue to afflict the party. Mr Salmond has stressed repeatedly that there is to be a clean slate, a fresh start. Alex Neil, an old adversary, decided not to stand for convener or deputy, backed Mr Salmond but then signally snubbed him by not backing his running mate. Whether he is brought back inside the tent will be interesting. Would there be an olive branch to the likes of Margo MacDonald?

The leader-elect refuses to talk on most of this on the grounds that he awaits the result, but he was clearly wounded when Michael Russell, an old ally, likened him to an absentee laird.

The best bet is that Mr Russell will be back in some capacity, sooner rather than later. Cabinet rankings for Roseanna Cunningham, Fergus Ewing and Christine Grahame will also tell a story. Is Mr Salmond a born-again consensualist, prepared to tolerate contrary views at the top? We are about to find out.