Analysis: Growing warmth for a leader with big ambitions for Scotland

AFTER the historic victory for the SNP in May, Alex Salmond could almost have told his party that it should abandon independence and still received rapturous applause – almost, but not quite.

This was a speech from a leader whose members believe he is leading them to a goal many thought they would never see. It is difficult to believe that within minutes of him being elected leader, or National Convener as it was then called, of the SNP in 1990, his opponents were predicting he wouldn’t last a year. He was elected then because he was respected. Now, they love him. In part, he has delivered, but there is more to it – a warmth and affection that was not there two decades ago. The hall was not just packed; if delegates hadn’t booked a seat or got into the main hall early, they were in a one of the overspill rooms and, in fine democratic SNP tradition, this meant MSPs and ministers too.

James Halliday, Salmond’s predecessor from the 1950s, launched his memoirs at the conference. Its cover has a photograph of all delegates at the 1956 conference and the back has a photograph of the 69 SNP MSPs. Suffice to say there are more people on the back than the front of the book. Many in the hall remember the wilderness years. Yet this was not a triumphalist speech. Indeed, references to the SNP’s May victory were few.

This was the speech of a First Minister as party leader. Littered with public policy statements, its theme was “nae limits”, whether applied to Scotland’s constitutional journey or making the most of the limited powers currently at his government’s disposal. Salmond is always comfortable talking about energy policy, whether it is energy-efficiency measures, tackling fuel poverty or North Sea oil prospects. He ranged widely over policy initiatives.

But there was also a fair share of party politics. The Prime Minister’s Etonian education was gratuitously mentioned, something that now seems only possible in Scottish politics. But Salmond’s real challenge was for Labour and the Liberal Democrats. Will they endorse the new Claim of Right?

The SNP won in 2007 because Labour was tired and had little to offer. It won in 2011 because it had oozed confidence and competence. As this speech showed, a new battle front has opened up. Salmond sees divergences opening up in the aspirations of Scots compared with the rest of Britain. His passing mention of a “social contract” hints at this. His government seeks to defend social rights that were established before and since devolution, so far as Holyrood’s powers permit. It sounds familiar – remember “stopping Thatcher at the Border”? – but this time there is a Scottish Parliament with a formidable First Minister who has nae limits to his ambitions for Scotland.

• Professor James Mitchell is Head of School of Government & Public Policy, Strathclyde University