Former first minister Alex Salmond has donated his entire fee from a speech given to American bankers to four Scottish charities.
The ex-SNP leader – who is bidding to become the new MP for Gordon at the general election – addressed a Bank of America Merrill Lynch financial sector lunch in London last month.
The Wear it Pink breast cancer charity, Alzheimer Scotland’s Football Memories project, the new Scotland’s Bairns charity and the Mary Salmond Trust – set up in memory his late mother – will each receive £2,500.
Mr Salmond said: “I’m delighted to be in a position to help these deserving causes. They all do the most fabulous work.
“The Wear it Pink campaign has been of outstanding success in raising awareness of breast cancer.
“Indeed, the parody Twitter site ‘Angry Salmond’ has become legendary in using a picture of me promoting this campaign.
Christina McKelvie, the SNP MSP who persuaded Mr Salmond to wear a pink beret and glasses, said: “This is a great gesture by Alex. Little did I think when I encouraged the then-first minister to ham it up by wearing pink that the picture would go viral on his parody site and we would end up with a great donation to this worthy cause”
Henry Simmons, chief executive of Alzheimer Scotland, said: “We are absolutely delighted by Mr Salmond’s support of our Football Memories project.
“It has had an amazing impact in communities all over Scotland and makes a huge difference to the people with dementia who take part, as well as their families.”
Liz Wallace, of the Mary Salmond Trust, said: “This is another outstanding donation from Alex. It will allow us to pursue the work which has already seen almost £100,000 of financial support for 239 youth causes and community groups across the north-east of Scotland.”
Habib Malik, a trustee of the Muslim Heritage Trust, said: “Alex kindly helped us launch the new Scotland’s Bairns initiative last month in the Scottish Parliament.
“It is typical of the man that he should step forward with one of the first major donations to a campaign which will promote solidarity and understanding among all of Scotland’s bairns.”