ALEX Salmond has said it will be “sad” if he and Nicola Sturgeon never reconcile.
The two former SNP first ministers are not said to have spoken in four years, with Sturgeon telling Iain Dale at an Edinburgh Fringe event in 2022 that she did not think that would change.
Asked if her and Salmond could rebuild a friendship, Sturgeon replied: “Nope.”
At a 2023 All Talk event at the Fringe, Dale asked Salmond about the blunt comment from his former political ally.
“Could you imagine rebuilding a friendship with her in the SNP twilight home for the bewildered?” Dale joked.
Salmond in turn quipped that, in that situation, he would say: “Nurse, you’re here at last.”
He went on: “No, I would say [Sturgeon’s comment] didn’t discomfit me at all because I was completely oblivious to it. I was the only person in Scotland who wasn’t hanging on …”
“Which means you don’t read the newspapers, it was in every paper,” Dale interrupted.
“Well, nobody does, you should know that by now,” Salmond responded, adding: “You should never say never and it would be sad if that were the case, but there we are.
“And to be frank I think Nicola’s got more immediate things to worry about.”
Sturgeon is one of three SNP figures – alongside former party chief executive and her husband Peter Murrell and former party treasurer Colin Beattie – to have been arrested, questioned, and released without charge amid a police probe into SNP finances.
The All Talk event on Tuesday saw several references to the ongoing “Operation Branchform”, which is looking at how some £600,000 raised by the party for a second independence campaign was used.
Dale suggested that Sturgeon’s appearance on his show, which is due for Thursday, may be cancelled at the last minute due to the police investigation.
He told the crowd that if Sturgeon were forced to pull out, then broadcaster and former MP Gyles Brandreth would step in as a last-minute replacement.
