Alex Salmond funeral to be addressed by former SNP colleagues of late first minister

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The funeral service for Alex Salmond will be addressed by two of the late first minister's closest political allies, it has been announced.

Kenny MacAskill, the acting Alba Party leader, and SNP MSP Fergus Ewing will both deliver eulogies at Strichen Parish Church on Tuesday morning.

Both politicians were key members of Salmond's inner circle at the time he led the SNP to its breakthrough election victory in 2007.

MacAskill would later quit the Nationalists and join his lifelong friend in launching the breakaway Alba Party in 2021.

Salmond died from a heart attack aged 69 earlier this month while attending a conference in North Macedonia.

A private service attended by close friends and family will be held near his home at Strichen Parish Church, followed by a burial at Strichen Cemetery. A public memorial is to be held at a later date.

Christina Hendry, daughter of Salmond's sister Gail, will also deliver a eulogy at the service.

Salmond's body was previously flown home to Scotland on a flight paid for by the billionaire philanthropist Sir Tom Hunter.

His coffin was greeted by members of his family, acting Alba Party leader Kenny MacAskill and a lone piper.

A group of Scottish independence-supporting bikers then led the cortège to a funeral home in Fraserburgh.

Salmond was twice leader of the SNP and oversaw the transformation of the independence movement.

He led the Nationalists into power at Holyrood for the first time in 2007 and delivered a landslide election victory in 2011.

The scale of the second election win convinced the UK Government to agree to a referendum on Scottish independence in 2014, which saw Scots vote 55 per cent to 45 per cent in favour of remaining in the Union.

Salmond resigned his SNP membership in 2018 after he was first accused of sexual harassment by two civil servants.

He repeatedly denied wrongdoing and was cleared at a trial in 2020 after more women reported historic incidents of sexual assault or harassment.

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