Exactly one year on from his death, this weekend’s SNP conference should be dedicated to Alex Salmond’s memory. Instead, the name of the greatest leader in the party’s history will barely be whispered.

And even then, such is the Stasi-like paranoia that grips this deeply dysfunctional organisation, those daring to mention him will be looking back over their shoulders to ensure they haven’t been heard by the SNP’s Matalan army of secret informants.

The reasons why Mr Salmond has virtually been written out of SNP history are rooted in those 2020 court proceedings against him which ended with his acquittal on all 13 charges. Millions of pounds had been spent by Police Scotland over several years as they interviewed hundreds of witnesses.

It’s doubtful that many people in public life have ever been more thoroughly investigated.

As such, it’s reasonable to infer that no person accused of criminality in the public realm has ever been more innocent than Alex Salmond. If there had been even a bat-squeak of criminality attaching to his conduct it would have been found and made clear to the jury of his peers.

So confident had some of the party hierarchy and their chosen media glove puppets been that a guilty verdict would be reached that they had difficulty accepting Mr Salmond’s overwhelming innocence.

In my view, SNP apparatchiks, all of whom relied on the absolute patronage of Nicola Sturgeon, sought to re-try him in public. The words of some commentators........

© Herald Scotland