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DERMOT MURNAGHAN: A short time ago the former Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond announced he plans to stand as an MP again at the next election and we can speak to Mr Salmond right now, he’s joined me from Ellon in Aberdeenshire.  A very good morning to you Mr Salmond, so your appetite for politics is undimmed?  

ALEX SALMOND: Undimmed but the people of Scotland’s appetite for politics is undimmed as you have seen in the remarkable weeks since the referendum with the surge in enthusiasm, the surge in membership of the SNP and indeed the Green Party, so if that enthusiasm is undiminished in Scotland I don't think it’s possible to stand on the sidelines therefore I have declared my candidacy today.  

DM: But there are those who are saying, come on, you lost that referendum, you lost it fair and square, you lost it by quite a margin, it’s not coming back in your political lifetime.  You said you’re not going to revisit in a generation, you’ve worked hard, isn’t it time for you to enjoy yourself in other spheres?

ALEX SALMOND:  Well if you may remember, the day I resigned as First Minister I said I thought that Scotland could still win from this process.  I thought that because we were given some promises, commitments, vows during the referendum campaign and there is a real determination amongst people in Scotland, not just yes voters incidentally but certainly yes voters but quite a lot of no voters as well, to see these promises and commitments redeemed, hence the Westminster elections is a first opportunity to make sure that happens and in politics, Dermot, you march to the sound of gunfire.  

DM: Okay, so now you are trying, what is it, a backdoor route then to independence or a more long term route?  What’s the strategy here, you win a lot more seats in Scotland, you march down to maybe the sound of drums rather than gunfire to Westminster and you do a deal there to get closer and closer to independence.

ALEX SALMOND: Well we do and make sure that what Scotland was promised, which I can remind you was home rule, Devo-max, by Gordon Brown’s near federalism, is actually what’s delivered.  What’s on offer so far doesn’t come close to that and therefore in the expectation that Labour and Tory, Tory and Labour, heavily twins of Westminster, will only deliver to Scotland what they’re forced to do, perhaps it’s time to use the Westminster elections to apply that pressure, to rumble them up in Westminster and make sure that Scotland has delivered what we were promised during the referendum campaign.  That seems entirely reasonable to me.  

DM: But how do you exercise that power, it’s a bit of a gamble isn’t it on how the cards fall after that general election and no one really knows but if it’s a Conservative majority or some kind of Conservative UKIP coalition, you’re going to be sitting there effectively twiddling your thumbs.

ALEX SALMOND: Well life’s a gamble of course and politics is never certain but there does seem to be a reasonable prospect of a balanced or hung parliament and certainly the Scottish National Party will have a lot more MPs than UKIP will, we might have more than the Liberal Democrats and ourselves and our progressive allies would be in a very strong position in such a balanced parliament.  Now Nicola Sturgeon has already laid out what her parameters are, we won’t deal with the Tory party in any shape or form, informal or formal, they are not trusted in Scotland but there are a number of other permutations and if we have that strong group of MPs then we can secure what Scotland was offered in the referendum campaign and indeed we can strike a blow for progressive politics across these islands.

DM: So you’re talking about doing a deal with Labour if they are the largest party.  Now do you think turkeys vote for Christmas?  If Labour ultimately set you on the route to independence they are going to cost themselves an awful lot of Scottish MPs.

ALEX SALMOND: Well of course we’ll see how many Scottish MPs Labour are left with in May, they may not be losing all that much if we read the opinion polls as they are now but the people of Scotland will decide how many SNP representatives they send to Westminster, what they can be certain of is that every single SNP representative will be an additional point of pressure on the Westminster establishment to concede Scotland what we were promised and what we were pledged and vowed during the referendum campaign.  Also looking at last week’s Autumn Statement, continued austerity, public spending back to relative levels of the 1930s compared to the economy, a continued assault on the poor and vulnerable – that’s why we need progressive politics in this country so there is a lot of enthusiasm behind the SNP candidature and a lot of hope and expectation that we can wield a substantial influence at Westminster.  As I remember it, back in the day we managed to make quite a noise in Westminster when we only had a few MPs, just think of the influence we could yield if we have a lot.

DM: Okay, and I just want to rewind to the reasons you’re standing.  In the speech you just made half an hour or so ago you mentioned Gordon Brown, the guarantor of extra powers for Scotland riding off into the sunset with that announcement that he is going to stand down from parliament.  If he was still standing would you not be?

ALEX SALMOND: Not necessarily but I think it’s a fair point to make.  I mean Gordon did say he would be the guarantor of the extra powers that were to be delivered to Scotland.  Now he’s retired from politics.  He has also described the major proposal of the Smith Commission on income tax as, quote, ‘a Tory trap’ so whatever Gordon was thinking of when he promised near federalism to the Scottish people, it clearly can’t be what’s in the ‘Tory trap’, as he says, of the Smith Commission.  Therefore if Gordon is not going to be the guarantor, and clearly he can’t be as a retired person, then of course we have to be our own guarantors, our own guardians of what was offered to Scotland and then it is up to the people of Scotland to send people to Westminster who are going to ensure that Scotland has delivered to us what we were promised in the referendum campaign.  That seems to me, as I say, entirely fair, entirely reasonable and I think we’ve got the determination to make sure it happens.

DM: And on the campaign ahead, as you said there with the sound gunfire or whatever and taking on in particular Labour, that they might have a lot fewer seats, why are you not going into the heart of that battle then?  You’re taking on a Lib Dem seat, shouldn’t you be standing in the West of Scotland against a Labour candidate?

ALEX SALMOND: Well with the sound of gunfire, I was quoting Joe Grimond of course which seems kind of appropriate given I am hoping to take a seat which is currently held by the Liberal Democrats but can I also point out that this is the same seat largely as my existing seat in the Scottish parliament.  The north east of Scotland has been my political home right through my political life and I would never countenance representing anywhere else but the good folk of the north-east of Scotland.  There is a kind of loyalty in politics and if people show loyalty to you then you should show that in return, hence I want to be an MP for the north-east of Scotland.

DM: Mr Salmond, great to talk to you, thank you very much indeed.  Alex Salmond there – what’s the name of the river, Mr Salmond, it looks great?

ALEX SALMOND: The river is Ellon has a tremendous raft race called the Ythan Raft Race and what I’m going to do, Dermot, is I’m going to invite you – because I hope to be the constituency member of parliament for here – to that raft race and I’m going to see you sail down this river triumphantly in the very near future.  

DM: Yes, as long as you don’t put a hole in the raft!  Thank you very much indeed, Alex Salmond there. That’s a date if you’re elected.