Alex Salmond: A man of surprises

A month ago, he flatly declared: "If nominated I'll decline. If drafted I'll defer. And if elected I'll resign." No ambiguities there.

Now, on the eve of the nominations closing, he has entered the ring. Nicola Sturgeon has abandoned her bid to become the party leader and hitched her bandwagon to the Salmond campaign in the hope of becoming his deputy.

The MP for Banff and Buchan since 1987, Alex Salmond has shown himself to be a man of surprises.

In 2001, he held onto his Westminster seat in the General Election, which was hardly a shock given the bedrock of nationalist support in the north east of Scotland.

What was surprising was that he stood at all. He had previously, widely and loudly, announced his retirement from the House of Commons to concentrate on the Scottish Parliament.

Dawn of devolution

His volte-face in remaining at Westminster was not the only surprise he had unleashed; his resignation as leader of the Scottish National Party in 2000 was equally unexpected.

True, the SNP had suffered some troubled times, but Mr Salmond had successfully led the party into the new political dawn of devolution for Scotland.

During his 10-year tenure he had repositioned the party significantly, defining it as more social democratic and pro-European.

Alex Salmond with SNP backer and film star Sean Connery

In July 2000, a number of political pundits suggested Mr Salmond would reshuffle his front-bench team, but few could have predicted he would include himself in any changes.

Reacting to his resignation, the then Secretary of State for Scotland, Dr John Reid, said: "Alex Salmond's decision to stand down at this juncture obviously comes as a surprise."

That sentiment was echoed by the then First Minister, Donald Dewar, who said: "Like everyone else I am surprised at the news."

The 49-year-old is said to be a tough, intelligent and hard-working politician, unafraid to speak his mind.

Ejected from chamber

In particular, he aroused controversy when he opposed Nato action in Kosovo during the 1999 Scottish election campaign.

Eleven years earlier he had interrupted the chancellor's Budget speech in protest at cuts in income tax rates and the introduction of the poll tax in Scotland - for which he was thrown out of the chamber for a week.

After leaving St Andrew's University, the young Mr Salmond became an economist, first for the civil service then specialising in oil for the Royal Bank of Scotland.

The MP is a seasoned political campaigner

He also wrote extensively for the daily and specialist press on politics, fishing, oil and economics.

Active politics beckoned and in 1973 Mr Salmond joined the SNP and became a member of its NEC in 1981 and elected vice-convenor of publicity in 1985.

By 1987 he was on the road to the leadership. That year he was elected MP for Banff and Buchan, as well as becoming deputy leader, and in 1990 he won the leadership of the party.

A new chapter looks set to be written in the political of life of the charismatic Mr Salmond.

When he stepped down in 2000 he said he had no complaints or regrets and saw his 10 years at the head of the party as a "rare" privilege.

That rare privilege could come his way again.