The widow of Alex Salmond – who avoided public life for more than 40 years – has dramatically broken her silence and condemned attacks on her late husband.
Moira Salmond, 87, said the attacks had caused her and her family “great distress, hurt and pain” and were “deeply unfair”. And she pleaded: “Let Alex rest in peace.”
In a powerful and deeply emotional public statement, she did not mention Nicola Sturgeon by name, but her plea came after Ms Sturgeon criticised Mr Salmond‘s conduct.
In an interview with the Financial Times, Ms Sturgeon – who succeeded Mr Salmond as Scotland‘s first minister in 2014 – said: “He would be really rough on people. Many times I intervened to stop him.”
And on women who brought harassment claims against him, she added: “I’ve seen the impact not just of what they believe happened to them initially but also the impact of the way he then behaved. It’s been pretty hard.”
Mr Salmond was acquitted in 2020 of all sexual assault charges made against him. During his trial, his defence argued that his behaviour was sometimes inappropriate but not criminal.
When he was first minister, Ms Sturgeon was his protege, close ally and deputy before succeeding him after the 2014 independence referendum. But they fell out spectacularly over the allegations against him.
In her dramatic statement, issued by lawyers representing her, Mrs Salmond said: “My late husband, Alex Salmond, died on 12 October 2024. His memorial service was only six weeks ago.
“I, and the rest of the family, continue to grieve. Life will never be the same for any of us.”
And then she said: “In recent days, it has therefore caused me and the wider family great distress to read the comments of those who seem determined to damage his reputation even in death.
“It is difficult for us to understand what motivates those interventions, especially when such comments are made in the knowledge that Alex cannot defend himself as he would certainly have done.
“Those attacking him must know that the law does not allow us, his family, to protect his reputation from being defamed now that he is gone.”
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Her statement continued: “Attacks by the living on the dead will seem to many as deeply unfair. My wish, and sincere hope, is that these attacks will now stop.
“I am therefore asking those involved to recognise that all they are doing is causing hurt and pain to his family. From this point on, please let Alex rest in peace.”
Shortly before Mrs Salmond’s statement, current First Minister John Swinney was asked in a BBC interview about Ms Sturgeon’s comments in the Financial Times about Mr Salmond’s behaviour.
He replied: “I think it’s pretty well documented that Alex could be quite brisk with people and sometimes we all witnessed that. And sometimes we all had to say look, that’s not on. And that’s the way it was.”
The Salmonds met in the 1970s when Moira was his boss at the Scottish Office in London. She worked in the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries when he joined as an assistant economist. They married in 1981.
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Some 17 years older than Mr Salmond, she has been described as one of the most enigmatic figures in Scottish public life. She stayed resolutely in the background and, until now, silent.
In her only interview, in 1990, she told the Sunday Post: “I’m no Glenys Kinnock. I married Alex, not politics. That’s his life and I am happy to be in the background. I share his convictions, but one politician in the family is quite enough.”
When he faced the sexual misconduct allegations she was said to have been furious that his former allies and colleagues turned against him in a case that ultimately resulted in his acquittal on all charges.
But despite her anger she remained at their home, a converted mill in Strichen, Aberdeenshire, during his court appearances, appearing only once by his side on the final day of his trial in Edinburgh.
Consistently shy of public appearances, there was one notable exception. When Andy Murray won Wimbledon in 2013 she pulled a large saltire from her handbag as she and her husband sat behind David Cameron in the royal box.
