If Scotland Goes

First Minister of Scotland: Alex Salmond

Politics: Salmond on his critics, cricket and independence

By Alec Russell and Mure Dickie

The office of the First Minister of Scotland is dominated by a painting reminiscent of the Socialist realist works of the early years of the Soviet Union. Under a leaden Glasgow sky, two sombre men brandish a giant saltire, the Scottish flag, framed around an angelic blonde girl.

She is clutching a sprig of rowan, “a symbol of hope” says Alex Salmond. He points with a flourish to a small word at the bottom of the picture, cras, Latin for tomorrow, before pausing for effect. It is one of the few moments he draws ...