Salmond sets his stall out at the Fringe of credibility
Alex Salmond, the politician turned radio host turned stage raconteur, is a hard man to ignore.
But, at times, it’s well worth the effort. Mr Salmond lost his Gordon seat in the general election this year. Any time out he took for quiet reflection we can now assume to be well and truly over.
Promoting his new show at the Edinburgh Festival, Salmond criticised his party’s treatment of former MP Michelle Thomson.
Thomson has been cleared of any criminal behaviour in 13 property deals following a police investigation.
She resigned the party whip in 2015 and was suspended. She continued as an independent but stood down before June.
Salmond’s backing for Thomson and criticism of Sturgeon won’t do any harm in hyping his show but what it does for his credibility remains to be seen. Salmond has chosen to go into bat for a woman who bought properties at the lowest end of the price scale, often from desperate sellers, before reselling at huge short-term profit.
While the former Edinburgh West MP is wholly innocent of any crime, it is surprising he continues to see her as a person of the required calibre to be an SNP MP.
By hitching his wagons to Thomson, Salmond has undermined Sturgeon.
It’s unlikely the First Minister spends much time reproaching herself over Thomson’s demise as an MP and nor should she. She has bigger problems to deal with.
Salmond also chose yesterday’s press conference to make another headlinegrabbing claim: that Scotland would vote for independence by 2021. He’s no great expert in these matters. A bit like Jeremy Corbyn in June, it’s often forgotten that the Yes campaign led by Salmond in 2014 actually lost. By some considerable margin.
Three years later, he and the rest of the SNP Westminster group made no small contribution to the party’s misfortunes at the general election.
These inconvenient facts somewhat undermine any image Salmond may have of himself as a grand potentate making portentous predictions from the sidelines.
Simply banging on about independence won’t do the trick.
Maybe Salmond should leave it to those still involved at the sharp end and exit stage left.