My Opinion on Alex Salmond.

Millions of words are going to be written about Alex Salmond’s appearance before the Harassment Enquiry yesterday in blogs, papers, and on social media and most will be more informative than my own ramblings but here is my opinion for what it is worth and if anyone is interested. I will admit from the outset that I have always been an admirer of Alex Salmond as a politician and his role in shaping Scotland and of course his leadership in taking Scotland very close to independence.

Alex Salmond appeared for 6 hours yesterday, 6 hours ( I watched every second). Some of the people called before the committee can’t even manage an hour or bother to even appear in person. It doesn’t matter what you think of Alex Salmond personally he was impressive yesterday, he knew what he was talking about, he knew the chronological order of events, he knew policy and a little law. He never allowed himself to be flustered by what I thought was just plain rudeness from Maureen Watt SNP MSP, and Alasdair Allan SNP MSP and he even helped Alex Cole Hamilton Liberal MSP (and to be honest one of the most useless MSPs ever) get himself out a hole.

I thought Andy Wightman Independent MSP didn’t really ask anything all that important but he wasn’t his usual woke self and did give Alex Salmond room to offer help but more of that later. Linda Fabiani SNP MSP did not interrupt as much as I thought she would and didn’t try to block as many answers as I thought she would either, she was polite and courteous. Jackie Baillie Labour MSP was again the most effective at getting to the point and asking good questions, as was Murdo Fraser Conservative MSP. Stuart McMillan SNP MSP didn’t really contribute anything to our understanding of events, neither did Margaret Mitchell Conservative MSP.

I don’t think that Alex Salmond showed there was a conspiracy against him but he did show that there had been incredible levels of incompetence of the leadership of the Civil Service in Scotland and the Crown Office and is 100% correct in calling for both Lesley Evans and James Wolffe to resign, the Scottish Government were very quick to support Lesley Evans last night calling her leadership excellent or some shit, that will show badly on them yet again as both should be sacked at the earliest opportunity. Alex Salmond was not able to show directly that Nicola Sturgeon was involved in the whole process but I do believe that he showed she had misled parliament. My own opinion remains the same, there is no way that Nicola Sturgeon does not know every single part of this. I also believed Alex Salmond when he said that he had evidence of a concerted effort by senior members of the SNP to get him, that I think will result in either them going as the pressure mounts in the longer term or more thousands of members leaving the party.

Alex Salmond showed that the investigation was flawed and tainted by bias, even against the ham-fisted efforts of Maureen Watt and Alex Cole Hamilton to try and get him on to the ground of the MeToo Movement, they really are idiots if they didn’t think he would see through that stupidity. He did show that the leadership of the Crown Office in Scotland is of serious concern to us all and needs to be looked at urgently, and he was right that a Police investigation should be launched into the leaks to the Daily Record but we all have a good idea who did that if you have been following events. He even reminded the the Committee that Parliament is not here to serve the Crown Office and that it has to stand up now and be the Parliament that we deserve and we demand, they are the highest level of Government in Scotland and for any department to block them should be of serious concern to us all, as should the Government blocking the release of legal advice that the Parliament has voted for twice, democracy matters.

I think Alex Salmond has made Nicola Sturgeons appearance next week very uncomfortable indeed if Jackie Baillie and Murdo Fraser are on the ball, the SNP members will ask little of any relevance and will resort to form in protecting their leader. I think Nicola Sturgeon does have questions to answer , especially around her disgusting husband and when she officially knew of what was going on, I don’t think she will be able to answer them all that well and we know that Jackie Baillie can get under her skin, and she is no Alex Salmond, her temper could show.  I thought Alex Salmond was a genius at the end when answering Wightman and pointing out that given how many people have refused to release evidence, given that James Wolffe has refused to answer virtually anything and the contempt that has been shown to the Scottish Parliament all they have to do is call his Lawyers and the Committee can have every single bit of evidence by Monday, wow, never saw that coming and the question now is do they have the balls. I suspect there will be many in the SNP, including Nicola Sturgeon, hoping they don’t.

I have been writing for a while now that I believe that certain people wanted to keep Alex Salmond out of a return to politics and that it got out of control to the extent there was no turning back for the Scottish Government and they were willing to send an innocent man to jail. I still believe that Nicola Sturgeon has been aware of everything from the beginning but I don’t think that can be proven, although I still believe she has to go for the sake of the indepdence cause, she is a barrier now and add in the poor policy making and the state of the SNP Party under her watch only the Nicola cultists can’t see it for what it is.

I don’t know if Alex Salmond will ever return to politics, he is 67 now, but I am glad he had his say, he showed that he is head and shoulders above any politician in my lifetime no matter what you might think of him as a person. He was found innocent and he deserves that to be at the front and centre of all of this. The Government handled this whole issue deplorably, the leadership of individuals with the Civil Service and the Crown Office has cost this country millions of pounds, they have brought our Parliament into disrepute and they have shamed us all, they HAVE TO GO, and for the Scottish Government to support them is just digging the hole deeper.

Next week will be interesting indeed, I hope that Sturgeon, Murrell, Evans, and Wolffe are held to account. I think Nicola Sturgeon will stumble on for a while yet, she might even defy Parliament if she is found guilty of misleading it and breaking the Ministerial Code but as far as I am concerned she has to go as well, the SNP will certainly never see a vote from me again until there is a serious clear out of the Government and the leadership of the SNP Party. Alex Salmond, in my opinion,  still has a role to play in our fight for independence,  that is clear, only he knows if he will play a role or not, but I hope he does because no matter your opinion of the man he can still help us achieve our goal if maybe not leading us to it.

Just my opinion, I am just an ordinary (and somewhat boring) man with an interest in politics. I don’t write all that well, I just write what I think and believe in the same way I discuss it, I am not the sharpest when it comes to politics but I try to be honest and not too bias.

 

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