Tom Gordon

HE usually does it across a desk or staring into a camera, but now Alex Salmond has revealed he also fancies doing it standing up.

The former First Minister has said he likes the idea of conducting interviews vertically, in the style of the Danish TV drama Borgen.

A key part of the show, which followed the rise and fall of a female Prime Minister and is a favourite of Nicola Sturgeon, was a fictional TV station on which interviewees were quizzed standing round an elevated table.

Salmond said: "I thought that wouldn't be a bad format to try it in a news programme, you know, the standing up. We don't normally do that. I actually thought that's not a bad format."

Salmond revealed his preference for the Copenhagen position in a controversial interview with GQ magazine, a full transcript of which has now been released by the Scottish Government.

Asked if he liked the programme, the then First Minister said he thought it had "lost impetus" once the main character was no longer Prime Minister, but he did enjoy "the stand-up" part.

One of the other TV formats used in Borgen - an election debate in which multiple party leaders stood in a row - later featured in the UK general election.

Elsewhere in the interview, conducted last year by Tony Blair's former spindoctor Alastair Campbell, Salmond revealed his personal dislike for the editor of the Daily Mail, Paul Dacre.

Asked about Dacre, Salmond joked: "A close personal associate of mine."

Campbell said: "You don't like Dacre; please tell me you don't like Dacre."

Salmond replied: "I don't like him, no."

Salmond made no secret of his distaste for the fiercely pro-Union Daily Mail and Daily Telegraph during the referendum campaign, and reporters from the papers were excluded from his resignation press conference after the No vote.

However Salmond was much warmer in the interview about the media tycoon Rupert Murdoch, whose Scottish Sun newspaper endorsed the SNP in the general election.

"I think he is a remarkable guy," Salmond said.

When it was published last year, the interview proved hugely controversial, as Salmond said he admired "certain aspects" of Vladimir Putin's leadership despite the President Russian President moving troops against Ukraine to annexe the Crimea.

Salmond said: "Well, obviously, I don't approve of a range of Russian actions, but I think Putin's more effective than the press he gets. You can see why he carries support in Russia.

Asked, "Do you admire him?" Salmond replied: "I admire certain aspects. I mean, he has restored a substantial part of Russian pride and must be a good thing."

Criticised for the remarks, Salmond later told the Scottish Parliament: "I had in mind the restoration of Russian pride, given that I was speaking in the aftermath of the Sochi Olympics."

The full transcript makes no reference to the Winter Olympics in Sochi.

The script was released after a freedom of information ruling in favour of the Sunday Herald.