THE GUARDIAN 🔵 Mourners honour ‘political genius’ Alex Salmond at Edinburgh service

The former prime minister Gordon Brown and the Scottish first minister, John Swinney, were among those who gathered at a memorial service for Alex Salmond after his sudden death in October at the age of 69.

Tributes were paid to Salmond during the service on Saturday in Edinburgh; held to celebrate his love of Scotland and his commitment to the cause of independence.

Among those to pay tribute was Kenny MacAskill, a longtime friend who served as the justice secretary under Salmond and helped him run the Alba party after the two men left the Scottish National party.

MacAskill, now the acting Alba leader, told the congregation Salmond had been a “giant of man” who was “an inspiration, a political genius”. “Most of all a man who had the cause of independence burned into his heart and seared in his soul,” he added.

The cause of independence was Salmond’s “guiding light, his north star,” MacAskill said, adding that “he came so close to achieving it”.

Recalling Salmond’s words from when he stood down as first minister that “the dream shall never die,” MacAskill concluded his address with the words: “Your dream shall be delivered.”

Attenders included Salmond’s widow Moira, as well as the Scottish Labour leader, Anas Sarwar, the former Labour first minister Henry McLeish and the Scottish Conservative leader Russell Findlay.

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The former Conservative Brexit minister and Salmond’s longtime friend David Davis gave a reading as did the former SNP government minister and MSP Fergus Ewing.

The Scottish folk singer Dougie MacLean performed his song Caledonia, while the singer Sheena Wellington led mourners in a rendition of Robert Burns’ classic A Man’s a Man For a’ That.

The Scottish duo the Proclaimers were applauded for their performance of Cap in Hand – a pro-independence song that features the line: “I can’t understand why we let someone else rule our land, cap in hand.”

Brothers Craig and Charlie Reid said: “We’re going to do this for Alex, with love and respect and eternal gratitude for everything you did for our country.”

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Christina Hendry described her “Uncle Alex” as a “political giant, a strong leader, a fearless campaigner” but also remembered his as a “dearly loved husband, brother and uncle”.

While she said he had been “the top man in Scotland,” he had “always made time for his family,” recalling how he phoned her brother on his birthday – the day after the Scottish independence referendum in 2014 – to apologise for not posting a card “as he’d been busy,” before telling them he would be “resigning in 10 minutes”.

She told the congregation: “As his family, we always felt loved no matter how far away he was or the time that passed before we saw him next.

“We always knew he was standing up for our country, and for that we were grateful.” Hendry continued: “The world will be a much quieter place without Uncle Alex, for Moira, for the wider family and for Scotland.

“Uncle Alex passing means a great loss for many. A loss of Scotland’s voice on the international stage. A loss of integrity in Scottish politics. And a great loss to Scotland’s independence movement. As a family it is likely a loss we will never get over.”

A private family funeral has already taken place. While around 500 people, including family, friends and politicians from across the spectrum attended the service at St Giles’ Cathedral, his successor Nicola Sturgeon was not present.