Alex Salmond has delivered an emotional eulogy at his father’s funeral in which he said: “Dad was like a stick of rock; Lithgae through and through.”
The father of the former SNP leader, Robert, died at the age of 95 on June 5 at the Erskine Home for ex-servicemen.
Around 150 mourners gathered at St Ninian’s Craigmailen Church in Linlithgow today to bid a final farewell to the father-of-four.
In the heartfelt eulogy, Mr Salmond said: “My dad had strong opinions. Once he adopted a position, he stuck to it.
READ MORE: Father of former First Minister Alex Salmond passes away aged 95
“As a petty officer in the navy, he was nicknamed Joe because of his trenchant defence of the Soviet Union.
“Three weeks ago in Erskine Home, he repeated the same simple point to me: ‘We would have been feenished without Russia’.”
He also described how his father’s politics were “simple,” adding: “He believed in Scotland. The apocryphal tale of an incompetent Labour canvasser in the 1962 by-election inadvertently breeding a whole generation of SNP supporters, candidates and First Ministers is more or less true.
"Here's tae us, Wha's like us. Damn few, and they're a' deid."https://t.co/68Fza8Rih2
— Alex Salmond (@AlexSalmond) June 15, 2017
“However, once Dad had decided then that was it, although for the next quarter of a century he was unable to put his posters up at home because of my mum’s stubborn allegiance to the Conservative interest and her threat to put up a Tory one beside his.
“Think of the shame of it, a Tory poster in Preston Road.”
Rounding off, he said: “What remains is perhaps only his favourite toast which we shall do again at the Rose Club with glasses fully charged: ‘Here’s tae us, Wha’s like us. Damn few, and they’re a’ deid.”
Speaking shortly after the death of his father last week, Mr Salmond said: “Dad, a passionate SNP supporter for more than half a century, always took a keen interest in elections.
“However, he was really proud of all of his children’s achievements.”
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