Alex Salmond hailed as 'giant of a man' as hundreds gather for memorial service
dailyrecord.co.ukFormer prime minister Gordon Brown and Scottish First Minister John Swinney were among those who remembered a “giant of a man” during a memorial service for Alex Salmond.
Tributes were paid to the former Scottish first minister, who died suddenly in North Macedonia in October at the age of 69.A private family funeral has already taken place, with Saturday’s memorial service in Edinburgh held to celebrate his love of Scotland and his commitment to the cause of independence.
But while some 500 people, including family, friends and politicians from across the spectrum attended the service at St Giles’ Cathedral, his successor Nicola Sturgeon was not present.A rift between her and Mr Salmond – who she had previously described as her mentor – developed during her term as SNP leader.
Ms Sturgeon attended the funeral of Scottish comedian Janey Godley in Glasgow on Saturday morning.Her successor, Mr Swinney, was met with boos as he arrived at the service – held on St Andrew’s Day – with at least one person in the crowd outside on the Royal Mile shouting “traitor”.
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