WHAT a difference a month makes.

Until the Holyrood election, the SNP Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill – himself a former defence lawyer – had acquired respect and a solid reputation within the Scottish legal fraternity.

Seen as someone who grasped the finer legal details of his brief, as well as the political dimension, he had racked up Brownie points by steering some of the most complex legislation of the last four years through Holyrood, abolishing short sentences for petty crime, and freeing the Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi on compassionate grounds in defiance of worldwide hostility.

But his explosive comments about the UK Supreme Court in the wake of it quashing the murder conviction of Nat Fraser in late May have changed all that.

In particular, his threat to withdraw Scotland’s share of funding from the court as “he who pays the piper calls the tune” appalled many lawyers, who saw it as undermining the court’s independence.

Alex Salmond’s subsequent angry remarks about the court, its Scottish deputy, Lord Hope, and human rights lawyer Tony Kelly sealed the impression of a government trying to browbeat judges who delivered unpalatable decisions.

Solicitor Advocate John Scott, an expert on human rights, said Salmond and MacAskill had squandered a huge amount of goodwill built up by the SNP Government in a remarkably short period of time with their “cheap” personal attacks.

“I think the Megrahi decision played well with the legal profession, as did trying to scrap short-term sentences,” he said. “Many lawyers saw the futility of short-term sentences and welcomed a more honest approach. Now they’ve lost a lot of that goodwill.

“The fact that the Faculty of Advocates and the Law Society of Scotland put out a joint statement [criticising Salmond] showed the extent of that. Uniting the legal profession against them is something that has happened remarkably quickly. The only way to draw a line under it is to apologise.”

Ian Smart, a past president of the Law Society of Scotland, said he agreed with some of Salmond’s complaints about the Supreme Court becoming a “back door” appeal court in Scottish criminal cases with a human rights element, but the First Minister had not done himself any favours. Smart said: “If he’d apologised, it would all be over.

“You can’t underestimate how unprecedented it is, in the micro-politics of the legal profession, to have a joint statement from the Faculty and the Law Society. It’s like the chairs of Rangers and Celtic agreeing. The profession is speaking with a single voice, there’s no minority position. This is about respect for the rule of law.”

One of the few still defending Salmond in public is leading QC Paul McBride, who said the opposition attacks at First Minister’s Questions on Thursday were “borderline hysteria”.

He said: “I think the way he’s has been treated this week is fairly appalling. He’s entitled to offer his views in the same way Lord Hope did [in a newspaper interview], the Law Society did, and the Faculty did. The idea that a politician offering his view somehow attacks the independence of the judiciary is not realistic.

“He offered his view on the constitution of the country he had just been elected leader of. Why should he apologise for exercising his right to freedom of expression? Lord Hope used his.”

But McBride is an isolated voice: when he had to pull out of a debate on the Supreme Court last week, the organisers had to cancel it because they couldn’t find anyone else to defend the government line.

“It would have been easier to get speakers to defend Colonel Gaddafi,” said one source close to the event.

SALMOND’S blunderbuss approach has not only damaged his standing with the legal profession. While many voters will have shared his revulsion at prisoners cashing compensation cheques, many will also have noticed Salmond’s dark side – the temper tantrums, the personalised attacks and the tyrannical streak he was meant to have shed as First Minister and would-be statesman.

Salmond’s wrath and insistence on unbending loyalty are legendary in the SNP. Many MSPs and even some of his ministers privately refer to him as the “Dear Leader” after the North Korean despot Kim Jong-Il.

One SNP source said: “The control freakery in the party is unbelievable. It comes direct from Alex Salmond and then filters down to every level.”

Smart, who helped found the Scottish Labour Action movement in the 1980s, added: “It’s a problem for Salmond and the SNP. They’ve worked hard to overcome the Scottish nationalism of 30 years ago that said Scotland was a uniquely blessed country with uniquely wise people, and said Scotland should be a modern European democracy. They’re in danger of throwing that away.

“Plus, you’ve got to consider how [a reputation for anger] harmed Gordon Brown. People don’t like bad-tempered politicians.”