ALEX Salmond has suggested Donald Trump should be “given a chance” and could improve US-Russia relations.

The former First Minister’s positive comments are in stark contrast to some of the remarks he has made about the President-elect in the past after the two politicians had a major falling out.

The MP for Gordon has branded the TV reality show host turned commander-in-chief a “sociopath” and unfit to be US President.

Read more: Donald Trump's US Election victory is a 'devastating result for the world'

Referring to how the billionaire businessman had tried to block a wind farm from being opened off the Scottish coast near a luxury golf resort he owned in Aberdeenshire, the former SNP leader said he had based his judgement on the nature of his conversations, noting how when Mr Trump had spoken to him he "would go from chummy, to threatening, back to chummy" and would also "deny obvious facts".

However, appearing on ITV’s Good Morning Britain, Mr Salmond adopted a more positive attitude. Stressing that he had no regrets over his previous comments, he noted how Hillary Clinton had set the right tone in her concession speech, saying: “Donald Trump has won the presidency; you have to respect the office and he has to be given his chance.”

Read more: Donald Trump's US Election victory is a 'devastating result for the world'

The former SNP leader explained: “On the positive side, there have been a couple of things he developed in the campaign, if we sweep aside all the divisive, demeaning rhetoric, and that is the rebuilding the crumbling infrastructure of America - the richest country in the world should have decent infrastructure – and, secondly, his policy of jaw-jaw rather than Cold War Cold War with Russia has potential to make things better.

"So, let's hope he gets a team around him who can develop these policies and dispel the substantial impression that so many people in America, and around the world, have of him at the present moment.”

The Nationalists’ foreign affairs spokesman went on: “Very few, I don't think hardly any politicians on this side of the Atlantic have any knowledge whatsoever of Donald Trump, he comes into the presidency in that sense with a clean sheet of paper, they only see what they've seen on television, but this is now reality, not reality television.

“Now he'll come to the presidency and now he’s behind the eight ball. He’s going to be the person who has to face the decisions. The demonstrations in New York are about him and, therefore, he has an enormous task on to dispel the divisions of the election campaign and get on and address the job of governing of which, of course, he has no experience.”

Read more: Donald Trump's US Election victory is a 'devastating result for the world'

Mr Trump has previously spoken positively about Vladimir Putin in sharp contrast to the Obama administration’s view of Russia’s involvement in Syria supporting the Assad regime.

In 2007, the President-elect said the Russian President was “doing a great job in rebuilding the image of Russia and also rebuilding Russia; period". In 2011, he said: “I respect Putin and Russians but cannot believe our leader allows them to get away with so much...Hats off to the Russians."

Last year, the former reality TV host said: “I would probably get along with him very well. And I don't think you'd be having the kind of problems that you're having right now."

Within hours of Mr Trump’s victory speech, Mr Putin had congratulated the victor and signalled Moscow's willingness to restore full relations with its old Cold War enemy.

Also in his TV interview, Mr Salmond was asked about Mr Trump’s Scottish investments, including the luxury golf resort. The Gordon MP pointed out the difficulty had not been with the Aberdeenshire investment per se but the President-elect’s failure to deliver most of what he had promised and his subsequent attitude to local people.

He explained: “That’s the difficulty with Donald; when things are in agreement, when he’s getting his own way, he’s as nice as nine pence, he is incredibly convivial. The difficulty is he doesn’t brook opposition or disagreement. It’s the behaviour in these circumstances that is the real concern.

“If you are arguing about wind turbines or wind power that’s one thing, if you are arguing about hard power and nuclear weapons, it’s quite another; not just for him but for the entire planet,” added the former FM.