Alex Salmond has signalled a return to frontline politics as he insisted the British establishment has never been more fractured.
The former first minister said he was waiting for the starting gun of a second independence referendum before returning to the fray.
He argued the SNP's political opponents in the UK had never been weaker, while Britain's isolation in Europe was "truly meaningful" for the next Yes campaign.
But a Scottish Conservative spokesman accused him of "ignoring the inconvenient facts that a majority of the population in Scotland still want to be part of the United Kingdom, and there has been no shift in that position for some time".
Speaking at an SNP branch meeting in Edinburgh's upmarket Morningside area, Mr Salmond insisted the case for independence would be "virtually unanswerable" if UK ministers pushed ahead with their flagship Brexit Bill.
The legislation was overwhelmingly rejected by MSPs at Holyrood earlier this week amid fears it represented a "power grab" that undermined devolution.
Mr Salmond said he would return to the political fray as soon as a second referendum was called – jokingly dubbing his pledge "the declaration of Morningside".
READ MORE: Salmond to remake case for independence
He said: "The declaration of Morningside is this. I have got no immediate political ambitions. I'm very happy doing what I'm doing at the present moment.
"I'm happy writing articles, doing video blogs, I'm happy doing TV programmes and all the rest of it – I'm happy doing the stage shows.
"But the day and the hour that Nicola [Sturgeon] fires that starting gun, I will be on my marks and ready to go for the Yes campaign."
He said the case for independence would be boosted if the Scottish Parliament's Brexit vote was ignored.
He added: "I think it would leave it in a fundamentally strong position, with the ball in the penalty spot and waiting for Nicola Sturgeon to kick it into the net."
READ MORE: Nicola Sturgeon running "one-person" government, says Jim Sillars
Mr Salmond lost his seat to the Scottish Tories in last year's General Election following a swing of 20 per cent against him.
He went on to front a sell-out Edinburgh Fringe show, Alex Salmond Unleashed, before launching his own chat show on Russian TV channel RT in November.
But the programme has been heavily criticised amid claims it legitimises RT's propaganda output, with Nicola Sturgeon revealing she would have advised against the move "had I been asked".
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel