Salmond’s leap
Both the Scottish and Welsh nationalist parties will choose new leaders this summer. They face big choices
POLITICAL leaders usually quit when they are ill or have just lost an election. They are not noted for cheerily giving up just when their prospects of power are looking brightest. Dafydd Wigley's recent decision to step down as leader of Plaid Cymru, the Welsh nationalist party, was understandable—he has just undergone heart surgery. But Alex Salmond's announcement this week that he was resigning as leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP) took most people by surprise, not least his own party; most of his would-be successors are on holiday with the Scottish Parliament now in summer recess.
This article appeared in the Britain section of the print edition under the headline “Salmond’s leap”
From the July 22nd 2000 edition
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