The political titan that was former first minister of Scotland Alex Salmond

Alex Salmond has died at the age of 69.

The former first minister of Scotland was first elected to Westminster in 1987 as the SNP MP for Banff and Buchan - a position he retained until 2010.

In 1990, he successfully defeated Margaret Ewing in the SNP leadership contest and would go on to campaign for Scottish devolution in 1997.

In 1999, after the establishment of the Scottish Parliament as a result of devolution, he led his party through the first Scottish parliament election and became MSP for Banff and Buchan as well as leader of the opposition - with Labour in power.

A year later, Mr Salmond quit as SNP leader amid a series of high-profile fallouts with party members and was replaced by current first minister John Swinney.

In 2001, he then stood down from Holyrood in order to lead the SNP group at Westminster.

Following a disastrous 2004 European parliament election for the SNP, Mr Swinney stepped aside as party leader with Mr Salmond re-elected with overwhelming support from the party's members.

Following a highly effective campaign in the 2007 Scottish election, the SNP gained 20 seats, giving the party a total of 47 seats in Holyrood - one more than Scottish Labour.

Although the party didn't have an overall majority, new Gordon MSP Mr Salmond became first minister of Scotland in 2007.

In the 2011 Scottish elections, the SNP secured the first outright majority in the history of the Scottish parliament, and Mr Salmond won a second term as first minister while MSP for the new constituency of Aberdeenshire East.

In 2012, Mr Salmond signed an agreement with then British prime minister David Cameron to hold a referendum on Scottish independence in 2014.

The historic event - which would have seen Scotland break away from the rest of the UK - took place on 18 September 2014 and saw more than two million people (55.3%) vote No and 1.6 million (44.7%) vote Yes.

Following the defeat, Mr Salmond stepped down as first minister and SNP leader and was replaced by Nicola Sturgeon.

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