Standard-bearer of Scottish nationalism leaves party at high-water mark

Alex Salmond's emotionally controlled resignation speech effectively conceded Scottish politics has now shifted

The Guardian, Severin Carrell, Friday 19 September 2014

Scotland's first minister Alex Salmond announces his resignation.
Photograph: Handout/Reuters

Alex Salmond's emotionally controlled resignation speech reflected a personal decision in which the man so long the standard-bearer of Scottish nationalism recognised the limits of what he could achieve.

After reshaping Scottish politics and bringing his 90-year-old party to the brink of its dream of independence, Salmond effectively conceded Scottish politics had now shifted, even though he had achieved a high-water mark of 45% support.

"The last seven years as first minister of Scotland has been the privilege of my life but I think that's a reasonable spell of service, and I think that we have to understand and recognise when it is time to give someone else a chance to move that forward," Salmond said in his resignation statement delivered at the first minister's residence at Bute House, in Edinburgh.

Drained and subdued by what was clearly a personal decision – it is the second time he has unexpectedly stood down as leader – Salmond said heading the party for 20 out of the last 25 years was "a fair spell" in charge.

In one extended metaphor, Salmond said that the referendum result had moved the "base camp" for the independence campaign higher up the mountain. "Base camp isn't far off the summit now," he said, but a new leader was needed to reach the peak.

"I think the circumstances are absolutely redolent with possibilities for the SNP and for Scotland, but especially for Scotland," he said. But he confirmed he felt responsible for Thursday's defeat, even though winning 45% of the vote was a "remarkable political development".

"In terms of personal responsibility, I don't think that there's any more assured way to take whatever responsibility I have for that than in the decision I have just made; any mistakes which were made in the campaign were mine; nobody else is responsible."

Salmond said he had decided to step down on Friday morning, after arriving in Edinburgh by private jet from Aberdeen airport at 3.30am, as the first flurry of defeats for the yes vote began trickling though from the local counts.

Salmond is credited with single-handedly revitalising the party after taking on the leadership for a second stint in 2004, having led the SNP initially for a decade from 1990. He then won power to form a minority government in 2007 before winning an unprecedented landslide victory in 2011, which cleared the way for Thursday's referendum.

But in an unexpected paradox, the independence campaign he fathered had shifted Scottish politics from its old formal ways into an unstructured, youthful mass movement that had activated the Scottish left. His time, he said, had passed, and a different type of leader was needed.

Salmond had started the day with a combative speech soon after 6am at the Dynamic Earth science centre near Holyrood, putting Westminster on notice that Scotland's voters expect the UK parties to deliver on their vow to introduce new powers for Holyrood, as he accepted defeat in the referendum.

That suggested he planned, as was widely expected, to continue as first minister to fight on for even greater tax and welfare powers for Holyrood. Salmond then spoke to the prime minister David Cameron, to confirm he accepted the voters' verdict.

He continued that theme at Bute House, insisting that the Scottish government had to hold Westminster's "feet to the fire" to ensure that the promised extra powers were delivered.

Salmond would not name his favoured candidate and insisted that he would leave it up to the party's 26,000 members to choose his successor, in a postal ballot expected to begin within weeks, without being influenced by him. His successor would be formally appointed at the SNP conference in Perth in November.

Even so, Salmond is extremely likely to be succeeded without any significant competition by his deputy Nicola Sturgeon, who has become a commanding figure in the independence campaign and SNP after being appointed by Salmond to lead the referendum process. In one highly theatrical moment at the SNP's last spring conference in Aberdeen in April, Salmond brought Sturgeon onto the stage as if she was his annointed successor, to a rapturous and lengthy standing ovation by party activists.

If the SNP does elect Sturgeon, a Glasgow MSP and former lawyer, the SNP will move further to the centre left and pose a more substantial political challenge to Labour in central Scotland. Sturgeon was also one of the most significant figures running Yes Scotland's referendum campaign, which realigned independence politics from being a solely nationalist cause to include Greens, socialist groups and non-aligned radical left activists.

Patrick Harvie, leader of the Scottish Green party, a junior partner with the SNP in the Yes Scotland, said he and Salmond had profound disagreements over many issues but nobody could doubt the key role Salmond played in "changing our political landscape. The future of Scottish, and of UK politics, could be entering a more open and creative period than we have known for many years. If nothing else, Alex Salmond has been central to bringing us to that moment."

This is the second time Salmond has dramatically resigned: he stood down from his first time as Scottish National party leader in September 2000, only a year after the newly-established Scottish parliament was founded in Edinburgh.

But Salmond returned to the leadership in 2004, after his successor John Swinney struggled to make his mark at Holyrood, leaving the SNP severely weakened. Salmond's sudden resignation now suggests he has great confidence in Sturgeon's capacity to take over the party leadership and post of first minister.

Salmond repeatedly insisted during the referendum that he intended continuing as first minister beyond the next Scottish elections in 2016. This had quashed speculation at Holyrood that Salmond might stand down if he lost; but his wife Moira, who is rarely seen in the public spotlight, is 17 years his senior, raising questions about whether he would want to remain as first minister given her relative age.