Alex Salmond blasted the unionist parties for being “bad losers” after they’d won the referendum vote.
And he poked fun at their leaders David Cameron, Ed Miliband and Nick Clegg describing them as the ‘Three Amigos’ “grumpy, upset and annoyed”.
Reflecting on the aftermath of the referendum vote the former First Minister observed that while his party the SNP were looking like winners, the unionist parties were looking like losers.
“And it was us who lost the battle,” he said.
He counts off on his fingers the resignation of Johann Lamont and the short-lived “marriage of convenience” between Cameron, Clegg and Miliband as examples of how the other parties don’t know how to move forward.
* Read the second instalment of Alex Salmond’s interview only in Friday’s Courier
He stresses that the SNP is the only party in a strong position.
“The SNP, even now three months later, are actually the only party who have adjusted to the post-referendum world,” he said.
“The unionist parties don’t know if they’re going to celebrate their victory or whether they’re going to implement their Vow.
“They are going at the pace of the slowest ship of the convoy.
“They look grumpy, upset and annoyed that people in Scotland and Scottish people haven’t just laid down and said: ‘That’s OK then’.
“The winners of the referendum, the unionist parties the ‘Three Amigos’ they look and sound like losers, and pretty bad losers at that.”
There’s a pause while Mr Salmond shakes off this bad feeling towards his opponents and turns back to the task in hand how to get Scotland what it has been promised.
He is measured and calm as he explains why he considers his resignation part of the SNP’s winning formula.
You can sense the disappointment he feels that he is no longer First Minister, but he speaks just as passionately about doing his best for his country.
“Obviously, I loved being First Minister and I regret not being First Minister, but that’s not a regret of my resignation,” he explains.
“I’m now more convinced than ever, given what’s happened over the last three months, that it was absolutely the right thing to do.
“We lost the referendum, that had to be acknowledged. But what I’m interested in now is what Scotland could win out of the process. We are now in a position where we’re on the cusp of snatching victory from the jaws of defeat, which ain’t bad.”