Alex Salmond was one of the great politicians of his time. Its impact, not just on Scottish politics but across the UK, cannot be overstated. And he was my friend.
He and I entered Parliament together in 1987, Alex as the SNP member for Banff and Buchan and I as the member for Boothferry in Yorkshire.
Over the next 23 years, we had our share of disagreements and our opinions often diverged dramatically. Even so, we became firm friends. He possessed a fierce intellect and I spent many nights fighting with him.
His training as an economist meant that I had a proper fight on my hands when we debated some of the issues of the day. And between us we undoubtedly drank a lot of whiskey and a lot of wine during these sessions.
In fact, he seemed to have infinite stamina and little need for sleep.
Alex Salmond and David Davis became close friends after they both entered Parliament in 1987
Just four years after being elected to Parliament, Alex had already pushed to secure leadership of the SNP and it was under his leadership that this minority group became a formidable force in Scottish politics.
After the referendum, we were together again in the House of Commons, usually, but not always, on opposite sides. We carried out the interview rounds on the night of the EU referendum, on opposite sides of course, but the most notable feature of the evening was the interviewers' frustration when we were able to predict almost exactly what the outcome would be after just a few results.
Alex teased me that I could have had much better odds on my winning bet during the night. Sometimes we were directly on the same side. In the Iraq War, for example, we were co-signatories to a motion calling on Tony Blair before the House of Commons following the Chilcot Inquiry.
It was the only thing Theresa May asked me to reverse when I entered the Cabinet, so Alex has maintained his ability to get me into trouble.
He resigned from the SNP in 2018 in the face of allegations of sexual misconduct over his time as prime minister.
It was, in the words of Fergus Ewing, the “scandal of our age”. However, in the end, Alex was vindicated.
The Court of Session ruled that the Scottish Government's handling of complaints against him had been unlawful and that he had engaged in a process tainted by prejudice against him.
After such bruising legal battles, many would have understood if Alex had called it a day, knowing he had already changed the face of Scottish politics.
But in 2021, he re-entered the political arena, joining the newly created Alba Party as its leader.
He and I have worked closely over the past few years. I was frankly very angry at the treatment he received and used the privilege of the House of Commons to expose some of the deceptions and encourage Holyrood to reveal the grotesque misbehavior of the Scottish Government.
Perhaps my best memory is the ten days we spent together at the Edinburgh Festival, in the debate series The Ayes Have It – it was a delightful and enchanting experience, I think, for everyone, and one that will live on in my memory of him.
His death occurred the day before I met with him to discuss the next round of dealing with the Scottish Government's malevolent actions against him and the failure of the rule of law in Scotland.
I will continue, in his memory, the battle to ensure justice is served. And it will be Alex Salmond's victory when we achieve the protection of privilege for the Scottish Parliament, when we achieve a proper separation of powers between the Executive and the Scottish judicial process, and when we impose for the first time a duty of candor on Scottish citizens. Government.
Many politicians are driven by events. Not Alex. He was a man who led events and will continue to do so after he leaves.
His life is a testament to his unwavering belief in the right of the Scottish people to determine their own destiny.
We will miss him greatly and Scottish politics will be much worse off without his towering presence.
