00:00I remember an evening which I just suddenly had this overwhelming sense of impossibility.
00:06I can't get this to the point it needs to be at.
00:10It's so unwieldy, it's so difficult, and I just remember having what I can only describe as a panic attack.
00:18I was sobbing on the floor of my office at home, and just my heart was racing.
00:23And it was at this point that Alex Salmond was really showing very little interest in the white paper.
00:30He really didn't engage in the work of the drafting or the compilation of the white paper at all.
00:36He was the leader, he was first minister, and he hadn't read it.
00:40He hadn't read it, this crucial run-up?
00:43He hadn't read it, he'd maybe read bits, I don't even know if he'd read bits of it.
00:46I knew I was going to have to sit him down and say, look, you're going to have to read this,
00:49and you're going to have to tell me now if there are bits you want to change, because it has to be signed off.
00:53He told me he was going on a trade mission to China.
00:56I don't think I'd ever felt as much cold fury at him as I did in that moment.
01:02It just seemed to me like an abdication of responsibility.
01:06I'll see you guys in the next video.
Comments