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The Dream Shall Never Die: 100 Days that Changed Scotland Forever
Alex Salmond
The inside story of the campaign that rocked the United Kingdom to its foundations, and the implications of the Scottish independence movement for the future of British politics.Alex Salmond has been a passionate supporter of Scottish independence his whole life. In September 2014, he came close to realising that dream.In a riveting daily diary, written with his trademark wit and charm, Salmond takes us into the heart of the YES campaign, revealing what was said and done behind the scenes as the referendum reached its dramatic climax.He explains how the YES campaign energised the entire Scottish nation and rewrote the rulebook for grassroots political campaigning, not just in the UK but throughout the world.He also looks ahead to the critical role of the ‘national question’ in the future of British politics, making clear that the referendum was not the end of a process, but the beginning of one. The dream of Scottish independence is very much alive.
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Copyright (#u96d8624d-3a35-5a1e-b972-8b7f92cf7425)
William Collins
An imprint of HarperCollins Publishers,
1 London Bridge Street
London SE1 9GF
www.WilliamCollinsBooks.com (http://www.WilliamCollinsBooks.com)
First published in Great Britain by William Collins in 2015
This updated edition first published in 2015
Copyright © The Chronicles of Deer 2015
Alex Salmond asserts the moral right to
be identified as the author of this work
Cover photograph © Mark Runnacles/Getty Images
Picture section credits: all photographs by Allan Milligan, except: pages 10 and 11, Tom Farmer; page 18, AFP/The Scottish Government; page 19, courtesy of Fergus Mutch; pages 20 and 21, Jeff J. Mitchell/Getty Images; page 22, Ian Rutherford/The Scotsman Publications Ltd; page 23, Herald Scotland; page 24, Dan Kitwood/Getty Images; page 25, PA Images; page 26, The Parliamentary Recording Unit. All rights reserved.
A catalogue record for this book is
available from the British Library
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Source ISBN: 9780008139780
Ebook Edition © March 2015 ISBN: 9780008139773
Version: 2015-09-08
Dedication (#u96d8624d-3a35-5a1e-b972-8b7f92cf7425)
To my dad, who believes in independence,
and my mum, who believed in me
Contents
Cover (#u23f53c62-7bef-5054-8285-51192a651dee)
Title Page (#ulink_b29ddecb-1d6f-5924-8eb7-0848608cc4c0)
Copyright (#ulink_37015e91-933f-5865-bce6-6d8dade5e293)
Dedication (#ulink_536d7165-454a-5bdb-b8b0-a5f690a2673b)
PART I (#udf8a8972-ae55-53a0-89b7-f2116800f4f3)
Prologue (#ulink_8b05476a-e044-5806-8c8c-e4f4cc72cf37)
Introduction (#ulink_c1a1664c-339e-5725-bc02-4e0e52e34aa7)
The Run-Up (#ulink_3167cb0b-4e07-55a8-936f-9cbf67428ca9)
The 100 Days (#ulink_7d7fe7a0-8435-5624-9104-0c178873ffa2)
Epilogue: The Scotland We Seek (#litres_trial_promo)
Acknowledgements (#litres_trial_promo)
PART II (#litres_trial_promo)
Election Day (#litres_trial_promo)
Introduction (#litres_trial_promo)
Pre-Election Diary (#litres_trial_promo)
Post-Election Diary (#litres_trial_promo)
Scotland”s Future In Scotland’s Hands (#litres_trial_promo)
Picture Section (#litres_trial_promo)
About the Author (#litres_trial_promo)
About the Publisher (#litres_trial_promo)
PART I (#u96d8624d-3a35-5a1e-b972-8b7f92cf7425)
Prologue (#u96d8624d-3a35-5a1e-b972-8b7f92cf7425)
Day 100: Friday 19 September 2014
I phone David Cameron from a backroom in Edinburgh’s Dynamic Earth exhibition centre, and congratulate him on victory. He congratulates me on an amazing campaign. He tells me that he has appointed Lord Smith of Kelvin to take forward the promises made to Scotland in the dying days of the referendum – the ‘vow’. ‘Excellent choice,’ I say, and he pauses.
It suddenly occurs to me that he clearly doesn’t realise how well I know Robert Smith. Why on earth does he think I appointed him to lead the Commonwealth Games? I press Cameron on whether he will have a Commons vote on the offer to Scotland before Easter, as Gordon Brown has promised. I know he won’t.
With dawn approaching, the Prime Minister rings off to go and make his speech outside Number Ten, which I watch on TV. As he struts out to say that Scottish reform must take place ‘in tandem with’ and ‘at the same pace as’ changes in England, I immediately realise the significance. There was no mention of this last week when he was in a complete panic about the polls.
I think ‘You silly arrogant man’ and look around the room. The campaign team are totally exhausted, all passion spent, and no one realises the door that Cameron has just opened. I understand – no, I sense – what now must be done.
Just a few hours earlier, at 3.30 a.m., my wife, Moira, and I had left for Edinburgh from Aberdeen airport.
A snapper caught us at the gates. I had my head down, reading the referendum results on my iPad as they came in – far from the most flattering image of the campaign – and I saw the picture posted online before we had even reached Edinburgh. Anticipating the same thing happening at Turnhouse, I made sure I was sporting the bravest of smiles as we left the airport.
First we went to Bute House, where I phoned my Chief of Staff, Geoff Aberdein, to say that I would make the concession speech from Dynamic Earth as soon as the NO side had the official majority. The YES campaigners had been gathered there all night and would be gutted. They had to hear from me directly.
I delivered the speech that I had drafted very early in the morning when the first result from Clackmannan came through at 1.31 a.m. It was gracious in tone but resilient in defeat, celebrating the 1.6 million votes for YES and pointing to the future.
Following Cameron’s appearance outside Number 10, and now back in Bute House, I sit down and write a brief resignation speech. I know exactly what needs to be said. It takes but one draft. I ask the press team to arrange for John Swinney and Nicola Sturgeon to come and see me at lunchtime, and to organise a press conference for the afternoon. Finally, Moira and I are able to catch up on an hour or so’s sleep.
When getting dressed I reach for my favourite saltire tie, but Moira says that tartan would be better – softer – for this particular day. So a Lochcarron tartan tie it is.
Nicola and John arrive. We meet in the Cabinet Room. Nicola tries to talk me out of it, and at some length. She points out that there is no demand, no expectation, of a resignation.
‘Yes,’ I say. ‘That is the time to do it.’
John, who was in this situation with me fourteen years ago, is emotional. Calmly, I explain that I am not resigning out of pique or even disappointment. I am heartbroken about the result, but that is not the issue now. Cameron has opened the door and we must drive through it quickly. This is about what best takes the country forward.
Peter Housden, my Permanent Secretary, arrives. Calm and authoritative as ever, he puts the arrangements into gear. He agrees that, despite the shortage of space, Bute House is the appropriate, indeed the only, place to deliver this speech. The drawing room is packed by 3 p.m. I thank people for coming at short notice and deliver the following address:
I am immensely proud of the campaign which YES Scotland fought and particularly of the 1.6 million voters who rallied to that cause.
I am also proud of the 85 per cent turnout in the referendum and the remarkable response of all of the people of Scotland who participated in this great democratic constitutional debate, and of course the manner in which they conducted themselves.
We now have the opportunity to hold Westminster’s feet to the fire on the ‘vow’ that they have made to devolve further meaningful power to Scotland. This places Scotland in a very strong position.
I spoke to the Prime Minister today and, although he reiterated his intention to proceed as he has now outlined, he would not commit to a second reading vote by 27th March on a new Scotland Bill. That was a clear promise laid out by Gordon Brown during the campaign. The Prime Minister says such a vote would be meaningless. I suspect he can’t guarantee the support of his party and, as we have already seen in the last hour, the common front between Labour and Tory, Tory and Labour is starting to break.
But the real point is this. The real guardians of progress are no longer politicians at Westminster, or even at Holyrood, but the energised activism of tens of thousands of people who I predict will refuse to meekly go back into the political shadows.
For me right now, therefore, there is a decision as to who is best placed to lead this process forward.
I believe that this is a new exciting situation that’s redolent with possibility. But in that situation I think that party, parliament and country would benefit from new leadership.
Therefore I have told the national secretary of the Scottish National Party that I shall not accept nomination for leader at the annual conference in Perth on 13th–15th November.
After the membership ballot I will stand down as First Minister to allow the new leader to be elected by due parliamentary process.
Until then I will continue to serve as First Minister. After that I shall continue as member for the Scottish Parliament for Aberdeenshire East.
It has been the privilege of my life to serve as First Minister. But as I said often enough during this referendum campaign, this is a process which is not about me or the SNP or any political party. It’s much, much more important than that.
The position is this. We lost the referendum vote but Scotland can still carry the political initiative. Scotland can still emerge as the real winner.
For me as leader my time is nearly over. But for Scotland the campaign continues and the dream shall never die.
Introduction (#u96d8624d-3a35-5a1e-b972-8b7f92cf7425)
I have believed in Scottish independence all of my adult life.
The roots of this are not, as is often assumed, because of my background as an economist, although that undoubtedly helped. It runs much deeper than that.
In fact it was another Alex Salmond – my grandfather – who first sparked this Alex Salmond’s belief in Scotland. This faith was instilled in me on my grandfather’s knee when I was barely more than a toddler.
My wise granda – Sandy to everyone – had a town plumber’s business in Linlithgow. He was in his late sixties and retired when I was young but kept his hand in by taking on odd plumbing jobs. I was his young apprentice, proudly carrying his tools.
As we trudged round the wynds and closes of the royal and ancient burgh my granda filled me with Lithgae folklore and Scottish history and how the two intertwined. He told me, for example, how King Robert Bruce’s men captured Linlithgow castle by the simple expedient of blocking the portcullis with a hay cart.
More than that, he named the families involved: local folk in the town, families that I knew – the Binnies, the Davidsons, the Grants, the Bamberrys, the Salmonds and the Oliphants. Oliphants were the local bakers. In my child’s eye I imagined the boys in the bakehouse making the bread, dusting off the flour and then charging off to storm the palace.
I was taught no Scottish history at school, but years later at St Andrews University I finally learned the history of my own country and discovered that my granda’s oral tradition wasn’t too wide of the mark – if we forgive his artistic licence in the naming of names. Of course my grandfather wasn’t really teaching me history but about life: how ordinary people could make a difference.
To my grandfather an honest man was the noblest work of God, Scotland was a special place on earth and Linlithgow was a very special place in Scotland. With this grounding it never even occurred to me that there was anything that could not be achieved with sufficient commitment and determination.
Robert Burns once wrote that a similar experience in boyhood gave him a Scottish view of the world which ‘will boil alang there till the floodgates of life shut in eternal rest’.
So it shall be with me.
Everything else I have been taught or experienced, from the science of economics to the art of politics, is overlaid on these foundations: the belief that Scotland is a singular place and that the people of Scotland are capable of great things.
*
It was the best of times. It was the best of times.
For many people the Scottish referendum campaign was the best time of their lives, a far too brief period when suddenly everything seemed possible and the opportunity beckoned for the ‘sma folk’ to make a big impact.
We didn’t win the vote but we did show the establishment circus – and its ringmasters Cameron, Miliband and Clegg – that major change is inevitable. The accepted order has been smashed – and it is the people who have achieved it.
There is a scene in the Ridley Scott film Kingdom of Heaven which sums up where we are now. Orlando Bloom, as the knight Balian, is left defending Jerusalem from the Sultan Saladin with no knights and only the dregs of the army. He has a brainwave: unite the remaining people by making them all knights, much to the disgust of the cowardly Jerusalem patriarch who wants to surrender.
‘Do you think that merely by making people knights they will fight better?’ asks the patriarch.
‘Yes,’ replies Balian.
And he was right. Trusting the common people with the future of their city, or their country, makes for better people and in our case for a better Scotland. Those metropolitan commentators puzzled by the surge in the SNP’s fortunes since the referendum should understand this reality.
Once people have had a taste of power they are unlikely to give it up easily. The process of the referendum has changed the country. Many people felt politically significant for the first time in their lives. It has made them different people, better people.
This book seeks to explain that change, how we got here, why the people became enthused, what caused the big swing to YES, how success was just denied and, most crucially of all, what will happen now.
The events in Scotland underline the ability of grassroots movements to take on political establishments in modern democracies. A new and powerful force has been mustered – modern-day knights if you will. And the international community should sit up and pay attention.
*
