Scotland’s former first minister Alex Salmond has been branded “the slipperiest of characters” by David Cameron, with the ex-PM saying it would have “hurt beyond belief” if Scots had voted for independence.
In his forthcoming autobiography, For The Record, the former Conservative leader concedes allowing the 2014 referendum to take place was a “gamble” – although he said it would be a “much bigger gamble” to dismiss the issue.
After the SNP won an overall majority at Holyrood in 2011, Mr Cameron travelled to Edinburgh to negotiate the terms of the historic ballot.
The former prime minister said: “I went up to Edinburgh for my first negotiation meeting with the slipperiest of characters, Alex Salmond, Scotland’s first minister, in February 2012.
“I always used to say you had to count your fingers on the way out of a meeting with him.”
Mr Cameron had been at Balmoral for an audience with the Queen in the run-up to the referendum when a shock poll put Yes narrowly in the lead.
Days later, the Queen urged Scots to “think very carefully” about the vote, with Mr Cameron saying he was “delighted” by her comments.
He wrote: “If I were the one who precipitated the end of our island story, it would hurt beyond belief.”
Mr Cameron said there was “panic” when the turnout in the referendum – which took place almost exactly five years ago on September 18 2014 – was put at almost 85%, the highest in UK history.
He recalled: “After Clackmannanshire declared at 1.30am with a solitary majority for no, I went to bed but I didn’t sleep.
“The lead we were taking started closing overnight. But sure enough, after 4am the No votes kept rolling in.
“Two of the happiest hours of my life followed. Everything was going to be OK.”
Scots voted by 55% to 45% against independence, with Mr Salmond announcing within hours of the result being declared that he would be stepping down as SNP leader and first minister.
The former first minister said that Mr Cameron’s “comments about me seem rather mild compared to the venom he has reserved for his erstwhile Tory chums”.
READ MORE: Alex Salmond probe: MSPs seek clarification on court payments
He added: “The extract from his book shows how rattled David Cameron was in the final stages of the 2014 campaign, lying awake at night worrying about what the Queen would think of him if there was a Yes vote!
“In reality David wasn’t a great negotiator and the Scottish side achieved most of what we wanted from the Edinburgh Agreement of 2012, hence his petulance even now about the negotiations. Cameron’s response was to increasingly let George Osborne do his thinking for him.
“In the end Cameron squeaked through only by combining with the other unionist parties and promising Scots near federal powers in “The Vow”; the same type of powers which he previously had refused to even countenance as a possibility. Inevitably these promises were broken by Westminster, which is why five years on independence has become the majority position in Scotland.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article