Tributes to Alex Salmond at memorial service for former Scottish First Minister, with Gordon Brown among mourners

30 November 2024, 13:13 | Updated: 30 November 2024, 13:25

Gordon Brown was among the attendees at a memorial service for former Scottish National Party leader Alex Salmond, who died last month aged 69.

First Minister John Swinney also joined the service at St Giles' Cathedral, along with deputy first minister Kate Forbes and Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar.

Mr Swinney was met with boos as he arrived at the service, with at least one person in the crowd outside on the Royal Mile shouting he was a "traitor".

Former Scottish National Party leader Mr Salmond died in October in North Macedonia.

Friends and former colleagues paid tribute to Mr Salmond at the service.

Read more: Body of former First Minister Alex Salmond returned home to Scotland

Read more: 'Time stopped': Alex Salmond 'fell into arms of colleague' and 'died on the spot'

Kenny MacAskill, the acting leader of the Alba Party told the memorial service that Mr Salmond "restored pride" in Scotland.

Mr MacAskill read out an email he had received from a man which described the former first minister as being "the energy to deliver the change Scotland so badly needs".

He said: "That man was right. Alex Salmond made our people walk tall and he restored pride in our land, devising a strategy and moulding a movement he embarked on a journey.

"Running the first-ever independence-supporting government, which, through credibility, capability and competence, won an unprecedented and previously perceived impossible overall majority in 2011."

Mr MacAskill later said those who share Mr Salmond's dream "must conclude that journey on his behalf".

"When we leave this memorial, we do so not with our heads hung low but with our heads held high.

"A tear in an eye, but fire in our soul; cherishing his memory, revering his achievements, seeking justice for his name and pledge to deliver his dream."

Scottish band The Proclaimers performed their song Cap In Hand at the memorial service for former first minister Alex Salmond in Edinburgh.

The pro-independence song features the line: "I can't understand why we let someone else rule our land, cap in hand."

Mr Salmond took office in Holyrood in 2007, before winning a majority for the SNP in 2011 and securing the independence referendum three years later.

Despite losing the vote and subsequently quitting as first minister, Mr Salmond continued in politics, sitting as an SNP MSP between 2015 and 2017, then standing for the upstart Alba Party at the 2021 Holyrood election after a rift with his successor Nicola Sturgeon saw him leave the party for good.

Mr Salmond was at a conference in North Macedonia when he suffered a heart attack, with his body repatriated with the help of businessman Sir Tom Hunter.

He was buried in a private family ceremony near his home in Strichen, Aberdeenshire, on October 29.