Ex-SNP leader Alex Salmond to stand for UK parliament

[Lite Beer]

Ex-SNP leader Alex Salmond to stand for UK parliament

Former SNP leader Alex Salmond is to stand for a seat at Westminster at next May's General Election, the BBC understands.

He will contest the Gordon seat held by retiring Lib Dem MP Sir Malcolm Bruce.

Mr Salmond stood down as SNP leader and Scotland's first minister after the "Yes" campaign was defeated in September's independence referendum.

He is expected to confirm his decision when he addresses a meeting in the constituency on Sunday morning.

Read More: http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-30364575

-- BBC 2014-12-06

[siampolee]

Methinks the electorate will indeed bestow upon him the accolade he so richly deserves.

Some have greatness thrust upon them

However in Salmods case it will be, '' some will have greatness thrust up them.''

http://ts1.mm.bing.net/th?&id=HN.608005651090572318&w=300&h=300&c=0&pid=1.9&rs=0&p=0

[RustBucket]

That's fine so long as it is a seat taken away from Labour.

[Baerboxer]

A good example of why Sottish MPs at Westminster should be excluded from matters that only effect England.

[Chicog]

To be expected really. Sounds like he was unemployable elsewhere.

His "cautious" $113 a barrel is looking slightly silly now.

[7by7]

I suspect he was expecting a peerage when he resigned as leader of the SNP and when that didn't come he now sees this as the only way of staying on the gravy train.

Doubtless the good people of Gordon will foil his plan.

The Scots seem to like the SNP when it comes to purely parochial matters, but don't like sending them to Westminster.

[NanLaew]

Arguably the most significant player in British politics in the immediate post-Thatcher era. He hasn't stayed the course this long by being someone's favoured son or wearing an old school tie.

He has been representing Gordon, East Aberdeenshire and Banff & Buchan constituencies in the north-east of Scotland as an elected Westminster MP and Holyrood MSP since 1987, never having lost an election and only yielding seats in pursuit of party leadership. The likelihood of the "good people of Gordon" not returning him to Westminster is slim to none. Of course some say he should challenge for a seat from one of the few, Central Scottish constituencies that did vote 'Yes' for Scottish devolution, but that would be a brief candle of victory and lend nothing towards the long game of seeking more independence from London.

Despite his quest to return to Westminster being seen by the less erudite as more Scottish MP's meddling in English affairs, he will bring direction and leadership to the newly forged debate about British regional devolution from London. The current sitting coalition opened a can of worms when they desperately started offering concessions to Scotland at the 11th hour. Despite losing the Scottish devolution vote, I would wager Salmond was pleasantly surprised to see how several English regions quickly grasped the previously reviled 'where's mine?' concept spawned by Scottish regions when Holyrood's handouts were up for grabs.

Even the Welsh have realized that having bi-lingual road signs isn't quite enough.

[steve187]

what an hole

[Bwanatickey]

So is he contesting Gordon Browns old seat?

Love to see him win that.

[MAJIC]

Salmond with a case of sour grapes,because he didn't win the YES vote,wouldn't you know he is back for revenge and will use his SNP Hit men to do his dirty work!

Salmond is not a man of vision, I guess he hasn't been told,English Politicians are to have no say in how Scotland is run i.e not from Westminster! And England wants no Scottish vote in Westminster! seems pretty fair!

[MAJIC]

So is he contesting Gordon Browns old seat?

Love to see him win that.

So would I, Gordon Brown was a proper peoples Politician, while Salmond is just a rabble rouser,intent on busting up the union,so he can be President of Scotland,he's a sad, bitter old boy,and should be pensioned off before he does serious damage to Scotland.

[MAJIC]

I suspect he was expecting a peerage when he resigned as leader of the SNP and when that didn't come he now sees this as the only way of staying on the gravy train.

Doubtless the good people of Gordon will foil his plan.

The Scots seem to like the SNP when it comes to purely parochial matters, but don't like sending them to Westminster.

Just when you thought Salmond was dead and buried, he arises from the ashes of defeat,and will most likely emerge to be an even bigger stranger to the truth than he has been in past decades, it's strange how losing to the peoples wishes for a NO vote,can affect the career politicians Ego's so deeply!

[bkk_mike]

Gordon is named after the area, as in Gordon Highlanders which was a regiment that was based at Bridge of Don, which is a part of Aberdeen that is included in this seat.

It might have been a difficult race if Malcolm Bruce was staying on as he's been the LibDem MP for over 30 years, and is still personally popular. Historically it used to be a seat fought between the LibDems and the Conservatives, but the SNP came second last time around.

As for the House of Lords, both Alex Salmond, and Gordon Brown have said they're not interested in being Peers).

I don't think people in England realise how far Labour's vote is imploding in Scotland. Expect the SNP to have far more MPs than fringe parties like UKIP.

I also don't think they realise just how good a politician Salmond is.

[7by7]

Salmond is doubtless a good politician (if that is not an oxymoron!)

Willing to use any underhand trick or deceit to get his way, even when his and his party's sole raison d'etre has been roundly rejected by the Scottish people.

Only one person has ever entered the palace of Westminster with honest intentions; Guy Fawkes!

Edited December 8, 2014 by 7by7

[Rogie]

I don't think people in England realise how far Labour's vote is imploding in Scotland. Expect the SNP to have far more MPs than fringe parties like UKIP.

I agree that is quite possible, maybe likely.

It is looking unlikely the Conservatives will take enough seats to form a majority in 2015. The most likely outcome, under normal circumstances, i.e. those prevailing up to and including the last election in 2010, would be a Labour win.

Opinion polls have the Lib Dems doing extremely badly. Some of their votes seem to have gone to the Green Party, others votes to God-knows-where. UKIP are attracting votes from disillusioned former Tory and Labour supporters. The SNP has its tail up under its new woman leader. If the SNP take enough seats in Scotland, mostly at Labour's expense, and UKIP take more votes from former Conservatives than Labour, they may be in a position to hold the balance of power should Labour fall short of a majority.

As an Englishman, I was pleased the Scots voted to remain as a part of the UK, but now I'm concerned too much power is being conceded to Scotland at the expense of England and Wales.

I really wouldn't want a Labour:SNP Coalition.

I also don't think they realise just how good a politician Salmond is.

I really don't know enough about Salmond's past political performance, prior to the independence referendum. Despite serving 23 years (from 1987 - 2010) as a Westminster MP he never registered on my radar, so as far as I know he didn't do much (although to be fair there probably isn't much your average MP from a minority party can do).

I'm not sure how you would define a 'good' politician. Probably any politician who keeps his nose clean could be considered good. Nick Winterton was a great constituency MP for Macclesfield, but because he put his constituents first he never received any ministerial office. His successor has been a PPS (Parliamentary Private Secretary) most of the time since his election in 2010. He is a 'good' man, as men go, but will posterity decree he turned out to have been as 'good' an MP as his predecessor ?

Edited December 8, 2014 by Rogie

[englishoak]

A good example of why Sottish MPs at Westminster should be excluded from matters that only effect England.

A very good example.

[NanLaew]

A good example of why Sottish MPs at Westminster should be excluded from matters that only effect England.

A very good example.

Look mum! Two shallow puddles!

[7by7]

Your point is, NanLaew?

Ever since the union of the two parliaments, Scottish MPs have been able to vote on purely English (and Welsh, and Irish, later Northern Irish) matters.

Only Scottish MPs have ever been able to vote at Westminster on purely Scottish matters.

How can this be fair?

[NanLaew]

Is there any evidence that the minority of Scottish MP's that have bothered to vote on non-Scottish matters have done so in sufficient numbers to influence anything south of the border?

Maybe that little thorn in your side was negotiated by the proverbial canny Scot who realized that Scotland would fast become a vassal state to England when comparing sheer number of voters in each country?

For those that simply wish that the Scots were no longer part of the Union, you only have to look at what English lawmakers did to prevent the seeds of independence being planted in 1979. After enlisting support from both Scottish and Welsh national parties to shore up a slim-to-none parliamentary majority in 1976, the then Labour government summarily dismissed Scotland's yes-voting majority at the 1979 referendum on the dubious amendment that not enough people had voted.

There was some joy in Scotland when Jim Callaghan lost the subsequent general election when the SNP parties withdrew its support. Then it was the Conservatives turn to bury the whole independence idea while using the Scots as guinea pigs for a certain unsavory legislation. In the meantime, Scotland's industry suffered from Thatcherite policy, along with other deprived and depressed areas of England. These are the same areas that have recently woken up to the idea of autonomy from London; an idea nurtured by the subject of this thread.

The 'enemy' will soon be back inside the Westminster camp.

[MAJIC]

Salmond is doubtless a good politician (if that is not an oxymoron!)

Willing to use any underhand trick or deceit to get his way, even when his and his party's sole raison d'etre has been roundly rejected by the Scottish people.

Only one person has ever entered the palace of Westminster with honest intentions; Guy Fawkes!

Well arguably Oliver Cromwell did better than most,and gave us the Parliament as we basically know it today,

[MAJIC]

Your point is, NanLaew?

Ever since the union of the two parliaments, Scottish MPs have been able to vote on purely English (and Welsh, and Irish, later Northern Irish) matters.

Only Scottish MPs have ever been able to vote at Westminster on purely Scottish matters.

How can this be fair?

It's not and is long overdue for a wrong to be put right!

[Mosha]

Stephen Sakur when talking to David Blunkett said Labour were at 29% in the latest polls and sinking.

[daveAustin]

Stroll on, I thought we'd heard the last of this douche. Salmond, Salmond, Salmond, Scawtland, Scawtland, Scawtland, blah, blah, blah... it gets on your wick! Kick him out of the England, send him to Zimbabwe; him and Mugabe, two peas in a pod!

[7by7]

Is there any evidence that the minority of Scottish MP's that have bothered to vote on non-Scottish matters have done so in sufficient numbers to influence anything south of the border?

Without going back through 300+ years of records, which I'm not going to do, I don't know.

However, it is not a "minority of Scottish MPs that have bothered to vote on non Scottish matters." It is all Scottish MPs told how to vote by their party. Have you never heard of the three line whip?

Regardless of how often the votes of Scottish MPs have influenced the making of English only policy; the mere fact that they are capable of so doing is manifestly unfair.

[Mosha]

Isn't it SNP policy to abstain on England on;y matters? I thought I'd read it somewhere. I can't find it, although I did see a forecast of 5 Scottish Labour MPS at the next election.

[7by7]

As the SNP currently have only 6 out of a total of 59 Scottish seats, whether they abstain or not is not going to make much difference.

Two recent examples of how Labour used the votes of their Scottish MP's to effect English only matters;

In establishing foundation hospitals and agreeing student tuition fees – both controversial policies which do not affect Scotland – Scottish votes were decisive in getting the measures through.[11] The vote on foundation hospitals in November 2003 only applied to England – had the vote been restricted to English MPs then the government would have been defeated.[12] Had there been a vote by English MPs only on tuition fees in January 2004, the government would have lost because of a rebellion on their own benches.[13] Students at English universities are required to pay top-up fees, but students from Scotland attending Scottish universities are not. The legislation imposing top-up fees on students in England passed by a small majority of 316 to 311. At the time, the shadow education secretary Tim Yeo argued that this low majority made the passing of the law "completely wrong" due to Scottish MPs voting to introduce tuition fees that Scottish students attending university in Scotland would not have to pay.

[NanLaew]

So Scottish Labour MP's were corralled by their London-based paymasters to support their sabotage a few mandates affecting England? That is the fundamental argument for the claim that the current setup in 'unfair'? I would tend to agree. But Scottish Labour, like the Scottish Conservatives will shortly be consigned beyond the margins of any UK political influence.

I guess that's what happens when the London-based institutional party quorum treats their MP's from the 'vassal state' with contempt. They did it with both Scottish and Welsh nationalist parties too.

The SNP are not Scottish Labour, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Labour London. The SNP don't even have a plan to exploit the current parliamentary voting privilege that is in debate here.

[JockPieandBeans]

As the SNP currently have only 6 out of a total of 59 Scottish seats, whether they abstain or not is not going to make much difference.

You might just find that the SNP forms the next coalition Government with the Labour Party.

Watch this space.

[Steely Dan]

Isn't it SNP policy to abstain on England on;y matters? I thought I'd read it somewhere. I can't find it, although I did see a forecast of 5 Scottish Labour MPS at the next election.

Yes, five Scottish Labour MPs, I heard that too. The danger is that Salmond and the SNP become kingmakers in a hung parliament and extract devo max from Labour and various other demands as loopy and left wing as Michael Foot's old Labour Party. Should that happen the English would happily vote for Scottish independence. Hopefully instead we will have UKIP holding the Tories over a barrel, we shall see.