ALEX Salmond has said his successor Nicola Sturgeon cuts “a sad almost reduced figure” as the public war of words between the two former SNP leaders intensified.
Sturgeon’s former mentor was asked about her closing the door on Salmond’s reported hopes to rekindle their friendship.
Sturgeon told a Fringe audience in Edinburgh on Thursday Salmond was “somebody that I don’t want to have in my life”.
Asked about her comments on Good Morning Britain on Friday, Salmond responded: “Well, I mean, it is sad. I saw Nicola’s interview and she does cut a sad almost reduced figure.
“But the reality is she led independence into a cul-de-sac, she’s left her successor with a difficult, almost impossible legacy, and she’s under police investigation.
“I mean, I don’t know who’s advising Nicola at the present moment, if anyone, but I’d have thought a period of silence might be a good policy, but it is very sad.”
Salmond and Sturgeon were once close colleagues but cracks began to show once he stepped down as first minister and she took the reins.
He continued to enjoy a large public profile which occasionally put him at odds with the party leadership.
Sturgeon was thought to be furious when she heard Salmond would produce a talk show for Russia Today, which ran from 2017 to 2022.
In 2018, he resigned his SNP membership after he was accused of sexual assault and attempted rape. He was eventually acquitted on all charges.
He went on to found the Alba Party and told the New Yorker magazine in 2021 he could “destroy” Sturgeon if he wanted to.
