Alex Salmond - The Dream Shall Never Die - 100 Days that Changed Scotland Forever

Contents Cover Title Page Copyright Dedication PART I Prologue Introduction The Run-Up The 100 Days Epilogue: The Scotland We Seek Acknowledgements PART II Election Day Introduction Pre-Election Diary Post-Election Diary Scotland”s Future In Scotland’s Hands Picture Section About the Author About the Publisher

William Collins

An imprint of HarperCollins Publishers,

1 London Bridge Street

London SE1 9GF

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

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.

Source ISBN: 9780008139780

Ebook Edition © March 2015 ISBN: 9780008139773

Version: 2015-09-08

To my dad, who believes in independence,

and my mum, who believed in me

Cover

Title Page Contents Cover Title Page Copyright Dedication PART I Prologue Introduction The Run-Up The 100 Days Epilogue: The Scotland We Seek Acknowledgements PART II Election Day Introduction Pre-Election Diary Post-Election Diary Scotland”s Future In Scotland’s Hands Picture Section About the Author About the Publisher

Copyright

Dedication

PART I

Prologue

Introduction

The Run-Up

The 100 Days

Epilogue: The Scotland We Seek

Acknowledgements

PART II

Election Day

Introduction

Pre-Election Diary

Post-Election Diary

Scotland”s Future In Scotland’s Hands

Picture Section

About the Author

About the Publisher

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.