Salmond's revenge

Leadership contest is a chance to cause trouble

- PAUL HUTCHEON

THE extraordinary leadership contest may go down in history as Alex Salmond's revenge.

Former first minister Salmond has been on the warpath since 2018 when news leaked that the Sturgeon Government had investigated him over alleged sexual harassment.

He has tried to bring down Sturgeon and her allies ever since and he seems to have succeeded.

The House of Sturgeon has fallen and Salmond is standing victorious on the rubble.

On paper, this is a contest involving Humza Yousaf, Kate Forbes and Ash Regan.

The reality is this is Sturgeon versus Salmond - with allies of the two Nationalist heavyweights interfering behind the scenes.

Sturgeon's resignation last month had many causes but it came amid debilitating internal conflicts on a strategy for independence and gender recognition reform.

Salmond's rival proindy Alba party fuelled divisions on both of the issues that gradually wore Sturgeon down.

The resignation of her husband Peter Murrell as SNP chief executive for misleading the media on membership numbers should also be seen in the context of Salmond.

Regan is taking the credit for helping flush out this scandal but it was her adviser, Kirk Torrance - a Salmond confidante - who was the brains behind the transparency strategy.

It did not always used to be like this.

Salmond and Sturgeon used to be the rock on which SNP hegemony and election wins were built.

He led the SNP to victory in 2007 and she was his talented deputy. But she was also his protege and he her mentor.