TRIBUTES poured in for former first minister of Scotland Alex Salmond after his sudden death on Saturday.

The 69-year-old died of a suspected heart attack during lunch after delivering a speech at a conference in North Macedonia.

Mr Salmond served as Scotland’s first minister from 2007 to 2017 and led the Scottish National Party twice: from 1990 to 2000, and from 2004 to 2014. 

As Scotland’s first pro-independence first minister, he oversaw the independence referendum in 2014 but resigned after his campaign lost. 

After he quit, Mr Salmond fell out with his successor Nicola Sturgeon over how her government handled sexual harassment complaints made against him. 

He later set up the Alba Party, aiming to deliver a “supermajority” for Scottish independence in Holyrood. He also went on to host shows on RT and TRT.

In one of his last tweets, Mr Salmond criticised the British government’s policy on Israel, noting that it was “eerily reminiscent of a previous Labour prime minister’s open-ended commitment of some 20 years ago to stand with the USA on Iraq ‘come what may’.”

Scottish First Minister John Swinney credited Mr Salmond for taking the SNP “from the fringes of Scottish politics to becoming the government of Scotland.”

Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar described him as a “central figure in politics for over three decades” and said his contribution to the Scottish political landscape “cannot be overstated.”

Independent MP Jeremy Corbyn wrote on X: “He was formidable, determined and principled to his core.

“We will miss his tenacity and humour most.”

Thomas Morrison, Scottish secretary of the Communist Party of Britain said: “One does not have to have been an Alex Salmond fan to acknowledge he was a formidable performer which was clear from his debating skills in the Scottish Parliament.

“However he had moved politically rightwards since his days in the 79 Group in the early 1980s.

“To his credit he supported the abolition of university tuition fees, scrapping of prescription charges, and supported renewable energy. He also supported devolution in the face of opposition hard line separatist fundamentalists.

“His rightward shift ensured there was no serious campaigning which would combat the politics of austerity through control of the Scottish economy allied to working class unity of the British working class.

“While he was cleared of the sexual misconduct allegation made against him he was said to have behaved inappropriately towards women staff.”