Alex Salmond's explosive temper 'was sometimes out of control'
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Alex Salmond had an explosive temper and would leave staff in tears from his ‘outbursts’, a new documentary reveals.
Former first minister Nicola Sturgeon said Mr Salmond, who was SNP leader, would get ‘out of control’ and was difficult to work alongside.
She also admitted to being personally 'in turmoil' during the Holyrood inquiry into how harassment complaints about Mr Salmond were handled by the Scottish Government.
It comes as Mr Salmond admitted he ‘seriously doubts’ he will ever be on speaking terms with Ms Sturgeon again following the explosive breakdown of their friendship.
Their relationship fractured when Mr Salmond faced harassment allegations from his time as First Minister, which led to a criminal trial where he was cleared of all charges, and a long-running Holyrood inquiry into the way the Scottish Government handled the complaints.
Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon have had a spectacular fall-out
Speaking in the second episode of the two-part BBC documentary, Salmond And Sturgeon: A Troubled Union, Ms Sturgeon said concerns were raised about some of Mr Salmond’s past behaviour with staff.
Ms Sturgeon said: ‘His temper sometimes was out of control, ran away with him. You know, Alex was a tough person to work for.’
Reflecting on the SNP entering power in 2007, she said: ‘Those of us who had worked with him for so long were so used to how he was. I think when we went into government and the civil service were kind of seeing it for the first time there was maybe a sense of actually, what we just learnt to put up with wasn’t actually always acceptable.’
Ms Sturgeon admitted that she and others in the SNP had learnt to 'put up with' his unacceptable behaviour prior to the SNP entering government in 2007.
Former SNP minister Linda Fabiani also said she had been left in tears the first time she experienced one of Mr Salmond’s angry outbursts.
In contrast, Mr Salmond said that ‘the atmosphere in that government could not have been better’.
In an interview for the BBC documentary, the former First Minister said he regrets how the relationship with his protégé and successor broke down but does not expect it to ever be rekindled.
Mr Salmond said: ‘I don’t really do hurt feelings very much but it is a big regret that Nicola and I are no longer on speaking terms, and I seriously doubt that it is going to improve.
‘Now that’s a great pity because I’d indicate that you shouldn’t say anything is forever but that’s the way it looks and that’s just the way it’s going to be.
Former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon told the BBC her predecessor had an 'explosive temper'
‘We’ll just have to let the past take care of itself.’
The pair formed the most formidable political duo of the devolution era when they served as first minister and deputy first minister of Scotland between 2007 and 2014.
But complaints about Mr Salmond’s conduct while in office, both to Scottish Government officials and to the police, led to a bitter split between them.
Mr Salmond successfully took legal action against the Government for its handling of the investigation into him, while he was also cleared at the High Court in Edinburgh of allegations of sexual impropriety.
A Holyrood inquiry into the handling of complaints against Mr Salmond called both the former first minister and Ms Sturgeon - who was at that point still serving in the role - to testify in two marathon sessions.
Mr Salmond accused those at the highest echelons of the Scottish Government of a plot against him, something Ms Sturgeon called 'absurd'.
The final report found she had misled the inquiry over a meeting with Mr Salmond in her home in 2018, where he was left with the impression she would 'intervene' in the process if necessary.
The then first minister, however, was cleared of breaching the ministerial code and beat a vote to oust her.
Ms Sturgeon said: ‘The whole thing was really difficult. My overwhelming sense was I had to allow any investigation to take its course.
‘That didn’t mean I wasn’t in turmoil inside.’
She also revealed her fury at having to deal with questions about Mr Salmond’s decision to host a TV show on RT soon after she became First Minister. She said: ‘I was trying to get to grips with being First Minister, leader of the party. He was a veteran, an elder statesman, he had been First Minister and he knew how difficult the job was. Shouldn’t he have tried a bit harder to ensure that managing his ego was not something that landed on my desk?’
The saga around the handling of complaints against Mr Salmond, which the Court of Session said was 'tainted with apparent bias', made the Scottish Government look 'incompetent', former first minister Humza Yousaf told the documentary.
The process led to Mr Salmond being awarded more than £500,000.
The two-part series will be on BBC iPlayer from Tuesday, as well as being broadcast on the BBC Scotland channel on Tuesday and Wednesday.
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