Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

Alex Salmond sets out his terms for Ed Miliband

‘The alternative to doing a deal is not doing a deal’ – just prop him up and bleed him dry

‘Would you like a glass of pink champagne?’ asks Alex Salmond at 3.30 p.m., sounding very much like a man settling down for the afternoon. It’s Monday and Scotland’s former first minister has cause to celebrate. He spent the previous day musing on television about the price he’d demand for the SNP supporting Ed Miliband in the Commons, and his thoughts dominate the front pages. There’s plenty of outrage at the idea of the SNP toying with England, and outrage is just what he wanted. So champagne it is.

He has found himself an unlikely star of the Tory election campaign; the party this week released a cartoon showing him playing a whistle while Miliband dances. ‘I hesitate to offer any advice to Ed Miliband,’ he says, ‘but next time he gets teased or attacked by the Tories for getting into Downing Street with the support of the nasty Nats, he should say: “The Prime Minister has just conceded the election. We now know that I’m going to Downing Street, it’s merely a question of how I’m getting there.”’ Tory attacks need not be scary if ‘handled properly’, he says — Miliband just needs better advice.

He expects to be offering this advice fairly soon, especially if Miliband needs the SNP to assemble a majority in the Commons. Salmond’s successor, Nicola Sturgeon, has been busy destroying the Scottish Labour party, holding on to almost all of the 45 per cent of Scots who voted ‘yes’ last September. Polls suggest the SNP will take 39 of Labour’s 41 Scottish seats, becoming the third largest party in Westminster. In a hung parliament, they could decide who governs Britain.

What happens then? ‘Nicola is the party leader and makes these decisions,’ says Salmond, but she has ruled out any deal with the Tories.

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