Salmond’s darkest day could be yet to come

For years Scotland has been waiting to see when his luck would run out – well, now it has. Alex Salmond: gambler, tipster, political animal and First Minister now has another moniker: author of the country’s first scomnishambles.

Yesterday marked, without doubt, the First Minister’s worst day in office. First, he lost two MSPs. Left-wingers Jean Urquhart and John Finnie announced they were leaving the SNP because of the party’s conversion to Nato. That decision, taken at SNP conference last weekend, has alienated many left-wingers in the party because they see it – rightly – as part of Salmond’s attempts to take the SNP into the moderate, centre ground of Scottish politics.

But the resignation of the two MSPs leaves Salmond, who came to power with a comfortable majority, holding on to power at Holyrood. His original majority of five was weakened with one of MSPs, Tricia Marwick, became Presiding Officer and another, Bill Walker, was suspended amid domestic abuse allegations. The