He was born on Hogmany in 1954 and one of my first times standing at a polling place for council elections I encountered his parents, who lived just across the road, as they came to cast their votes for our main opponent that day.
As I spent more years going around the doors of Linlithgow I would encounter more of his former school mates both at Linlithgow Primary School and Linlithgow Academy. Some were very supportive of Alex and his agenda, others less so. However, it was always interesting as many of these people actually volunteered their thoughts on the then leader of the Scottish National Party to the Lib Dem canvasser/candidate on their doorsteps.
There were also encounters with Alex on the campaign trail, never in Linlithgow and Falkirk East sadly but in some of the by elections up at down the country.
One morning I was out campaigning for the Dunfermline and West Fife by election in a housing estate and had already encountered a Labour team already which included later leader Kezia Dugdale. Both our teams had heard a SNP loudspeaker going around the area with what we thought was a pre-recorded message from Alex. That was what I thought until a few minutes later emerging from one of the paths linking the streets into a large communal parking area I came across the car with the loudspeakers attached, only to see the SNP leader sat in the passenger seat with a microphone in his hand. That estate certainly was getting a lot of activity and focus from the three main parties that day.
As I spent more years going around the doors of Linlithgow I would encounter more of his former school mates both at Linlithgow Primary School and Linlithgow Academy. Some were very supportive of Alex and his agenda, others less so. However, it was always interesting as many of these people actually volunteered their thoughts on the then leader of the Scottish National Party to the Lib Dem canvasser/candidate on their doorsteps.
There were also encounters with Alex on the campaign trail, never in Linlithgow and Falkirk East sadly but in some of the by elections up at down the country.
One morning I was out campaigning for the Dunfermline and West Fife by election in a housing estate and had already encountered a Labour team already which included later leader Kezia Dugdale. Both our teams had heard a SNP loudspeaker going around the area with what we thought was a pre-recorded message from Alex. That was what I thought until a few minutes later emerging from one of the paths linking the streets into a large communal parking area I came across the car with the loudspeakers attached, only to see the SNP leader sat in the passenger seat with a microphone in his hand. That estate certainly was getting a lot of activity and focus from the three main parties that day.
While I disagree with much of what Alex stood for, he certainly had charisma and under him the SNP did what many felt was impossible in 2011 and gained a majority of members of the Scottish parliament under the additional member system.
He flitted between Westminster and Holyrood throughout his political career being MP for Banff and Buchan from 1987-2010, concurrently MSP for Banff and Buchan from 1999-2003, MSP for Aberdeenshire East 2007-2016, MP for Gordon 2015-2017. He led the SNP for over 20 years during to 10 year spells 1990-2000 and 2004-2014 and was the first SNP First Minister of Scotland from 2007-2014.
He reigned from the SNP, who he'd joined in 1973 when he attended St Andrews University, in 2018 to fight allegations of sexual misconduct allegations. He was found not guilty of all the charges levelled at him. But he subsequently fell out with his pordigy Nicola Sturgeon and formed the Alba party in 2021 but failed to win a seat as the party's lead candidate on their North East Scotland list, the party returned no MSPs.
He'd been married to his wife Moira since 1981 but the couple had no children, my thoughts are with her at this difficult time.
He flitted between Westminster and Holyrood throughout his political career being MP for Banff and Buchan from 1987-2010, concurrently MSP for Banff and Buchan from 1999-2003, MSP for Aberdeenshire East 2007-2016, MP for Gordon 2015-2017. He led the SNP for over 20 years during to 10 year spells 1990-2000 and 2004-2014 and was the first SNP First Minister of Scotland from 2007-2014.
He reigned from the SNP, who he'd joined in 1973 when he attended St Andrews University, in 2018 to fight allegations of sexual misconduct allegations. He was found not guilty of all the charges levelled at him. But he subsequently fell out with his pordigy Nicola Sturgeon and formed the Alba party in 2021 but failed to win a seat as the party's lead candidate on their North East Scotland list, the party returned no MSPs.
He'd been married to his wife Moira since 1981 but the couple had no children, my thoughts are with her at this difficult time.
