Salmond Quits: Nationalism Loses Its Face
Updated: 6:14pm UK, Friday 19 September 2014
Alex Salmond may be standing down as First Minister after his defeat in the independence referendum - but given his track record it is hard to believe he will not remain an influential figure in Scottish life.
Regardless of the vote, few would dispute his abilities as a political tactician, having led the Scottish Nationalist Party (SNP) to a stunning victory in the 2011 Scottish Parliament election.
Born in Linlithgow in 1954, Alexander Elliot Anderson Salmond was educated at Linlithgow Academy and St Andrew's University, where he first joined the SNP.
Graduating with a degree in economics and history, he worked as an economist for both the Government Economic Service and the Royal Bank of Scotland before being elected as an MP for the Banff and Buchan constituency in 1987.
His election at Westminster followed a turbulent period for the SNP, which saw its number of seats fall from 11 to two in the 1979 General Election.
As a young and brash newcomer, Mr Salmond played a role in the breakaway faction of the party known as the "79 Group" which sought to take a more left-wing stance.
His brief expulsion as a result did not hinder his advancement within the party in the long-term, with his election to leader coming in 1990.
With the creation of the Scottish Parliament in 1999, Mr Salmond went on to serve as leader of the opposition at Holyrood, while retaining his seat at Westminster.
He stood down as SNP leader in 2000 and left the Scottish Parliament in 2001.
Returning as leader in 2004, he guided the SNP to a narrow Scottish election win in 2007 and then led a minority government as he became Scotland's first SNP First Minister, with his wife Moira by his side.
That success was superseded in the 2011 election, when Mr Salmond led his party to an unprecedented victory, with a crushing defeat of its main rival and pre-election poll leaders Labour.
It meant the SNP's manifesto pledge to hold an independence referendum could be delivered.
Mr Salmond signed the Edinburgh Agreement with David Cameron on October 15 2012, setting out the terms of the vote.
Despite attempts by some in the Yes camp to move the focus away from him, Mr Salmond was seen across the UK - and the wider world - as synonymous with the Scottish independence movement.
During his time as First Minister he has had his fair share of controversies, including the decision to free Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset al Megrahi on compassionate grounds.
But over the past year, his White Paper on independence has been the focus of criticism from his unionist rivals, most notably over his currency plans and oil revenue projections.
He was generally held to have lost the first televised referendum debate with Better Together leader Alistair Darling, but made a barnstorming return in the second.
It failed to translate into majority support for independence and the No campaign are now celebrating a clear victory.
But whatever happens next, Mr Salmond will go down in history as the man who led the battle for independence to its highest watermark in over 300 years.
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