Alex Salmond was being put forward as a potential deputy prime minister in the heart of the UK Government after defeat in the 2014 independence referendum, according to diary notes by Alastair Campbell.
The surprise proposal was said to have come from one of Mr Salmond’s former aides in 2015, shortly after he announced he was running for a seat at Westminster.
Mr Salmond stood down as First Minister after the referendum but still held the Aberdeenshire East constituency at the Scottish Parliament.
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At the time, all eyes were on Labour leader Ed Miliband’s attempts to beat the Tory-Lib Dem UK Government – with mounting speculation an SNP landslide in Scotland could be key to a Miliband victory.
‘Alex really likes you’
Mr Campbell, former adviser to Tony Blair, was sounded out during a dinner with Aberdeen Asset boss Sir Martin Gilbert and Geoff Aberdein, a former aide to Mr Salmond.
According to a diary entry in February 4, Mr Aberdein said: “Alex really likes you.”
Mr Campbell wrote: “He said Nicola (Sturgeon) would be having mixed feelings re. Alex being in Westminster. But as the evening wore on – and he mentioned a couple of times that he had been speaking to Alex today – he raised directly the idea of Salmond as DPM in a Labour coalition government.
“After the Q&A with Martin, during which I said I felt Labour could win – and said why – Geoff said you don’t believe that, you know he can’t win a majority, but he might do it with Alex in there as No. 2. I said I would try to sus it out.”
Independence referendum
The conversation with Mr Campbell also dwelled on the days running up to the September 18 referendum the previous year.
Mr Campbell said he always thought the result would be “no”, but said Tory leader David Cameron’s actions since then meant a second vote would be “yes” to independence.
We’ve previously revealed Mr Campbell’s respect for the former SNP leader’s political skills – and how Mr Salmond asked him to join a post-independence negotiating team.
Extracts today, covering the aftermath, show how the SNP ended up looking like winners while Labour slumped.
Despite that, Mr Campbell noted Mr Salmond’s book was “getting panned” and thought he was “over-reaching” with claims he could hold the balance of power at Westminster.
The Conservatives went on to campaign with graphics of Mr Miliband in Mr Salmond’s pocket, in what was seen as an attempt to steer voters in England away from Labour.
At the election in May 2015, the Conservatives won a majority, Mr Miliband was out, and the SNP took nearly every seat in Scotland.