ALEX Salmond is undoubtedly one of the most significant politicians in modern Scottish history.

Some would argue the most significant.

When, aged 35, he took over as leader of the SNP in 1990 their most recent election result was three years earlier.

The party took three MPs to Westminster and earned 416,473 votes.

In Glasgow, the party polled little more than 40,000 votes.

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Salmond understood that to be a success the SNP had to break Labour’s stranglehold on Glasgow and the working class west of Scotland.

When he resigned in 2014, more than 1.6 million people voted yes in the independence referendum and Glasgow defied Labour and voted yes.

Less than a year later, after he handed over to Nicola Sturgeon, the SNP won 56 out of 59 Westminster seats and all seven in Glasgow.

In the Glasgow seats, where for years they had not even been close to Labour, the SNP vote had rocketed to more than 160,000.

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If the benchmark for a leader in any walk of life is to leave the organisation in better shape than when they took over no one can argue with his success.

Ultimately, Alex Salmond may have fallen short of achieving his dream and ambition of leading Scotland to independence but he did far more than anyone to get them to the stage where it was even thought possible.

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In the 1980s the SNP was little more than a sideshow in the UK contest between Labour and the Tories.

In Glasgow, Labour’s domination was as guaranteed as rain on fair Friday.

The successes in by-elections, both in Govan, were significant and spectacular, but short-lived.

As soon as it came to the business of choosing a government at the next General Election, yellow switched back to red.

To travel from that to a party in government and firmly established as the dominant party in Glasgow and the west of Scotland at successive elections is a remarkable feat.

It is difficult to imagine that transformation would have happened had Alex Salmond not been front and centre, leading the SNP.

At the first Holyrood election in 1999 the SNP won 35 MSPs and four in Glasgow.

This was significant as it provided a foothold in the city to build on to challenge Labour’s dominance.

In positioning the SNP at the centre left he was able to offer an alternative to Labour when voters became disillusioned and push independence to the top of the political agenda.

After just two Holyrood elections, and on his return as leader, the SNP became the biggest party in 2007.

Four years later the Salmond-led SNP did what no other party or leader managed before or since.

They won a majority at Holyrood which the electoral system was designed to prevent.

That paved the way for the referendum and the peak of the SNP as a phenomenal mass membership party.

Much has happened since and Salmond’s reputation has been damaged, some would say ruined.

Accused of several counts of sexual offences, tried and found not guilty, the repercussions for Salmond and the SNP have been deep and lasting.

Court action against the Scottish Government over its investigations and estrangement from the SNP and the leadership he helped nurture, led to Salmond being marginalised and setting up a new party, Alba.

His political legacy, however, is undeniable.

The SNP is still in Government, support for independence remains stable but the SNP is a shadow of the machine it was when Salmond was at the apex of a triangle of power with John Swinney and Nicola Sturgeon.

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This year it polled 724,758 votes in the General Election, half of what was managed in 2015.

Salmond had a strong team behind him when the SNP took office.

But over the preceding years it was his leadership, personality and political nous that helped modernise the party to the position where it was relevant and attracted emerging political talents.

Without Alex Salmond, it is debatable whether Nicola Sturgeon would have become the successful, formidable and capable politician and leader she clearly became in her own right.

Alex Salmond loved the theatre of politics. He was a showman, he understood the opportunities and when to take them.

And he loved the stage.

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Westminster was the big stage and while he wanted to take Scotland out of it, it is clear he revelled in being a part of it.

From his budget intervention in 1988 when he was suspended from the Commons to his return in 2015 he was a force to be reckoned with in UK politics.

When future Scottish history books are written you can guarantee Alex Salmond will loom larger than most.