Alex Salmond says Charles Kennedy’s heart wasn’t in the Better Together campaign during the independence referendum

Alex Salmond has said he does not think Charles Kennedy’s heart was in the Better Together campaign during the independence referendum.

He made the remarks to the BBC while paying tribute to Mr Kennedy within hours of his death being confirmed – with his comments attracting a backlash from some on social media.

Mr Salmond stated: “In terms of the independence campaign, I don’t think his heart was in the Better Together campaign.

“His heart would have been in a pro-European campaign – that’s the campaign that Charles would have engaged in heart and soul.”

The former SNP leader went on to say Mr Kennedy was “an interesting, complex character, but above all an outstanding communicator and a fine human being”.

Mr Kennedy’s leadership had been tested when he opposed the Iraq war and he had passed the test with “flying colours”, Mr Salmond said.

“When it came to a decision where the establishment was facing one way and the people were facing another way, he took the side of the people,” he added.

“He had the common touch and people loved him for it and I think the fact he had frailties. I don’t think it damaged his reputation with the public because lots of people have frailties, lots of people have weaknesses and the fact that Charles had them to a certain extent made him all the more human.”

But his comments on Mr Kennedy’s involvement in the pro-UK Better Together group were branded “snide political jibes” by some on Twitter.

In one post, MattTweets11 said: “Charles was a decent man and unlike Alex Salmond served for his constituents and not his own ego.”

Labour supporter Mike Dailly, of the Govan Law Centre in Glasgow, tweeted: “It’s times like this we can be grateful Nicola Sturgeon replaced Alex Salmond as First Minister of Scotland.”

In the run-up to the vote on independence, Mr Kennedy called on the pro-union campaign to broaden its appeal.

In March last year, the former party leader told the Scottish Lib Dem conference in Aberdeen that Labour had characterised the debate as being “Salmond versus Scotland”.

Mr Kennedy is reported to have said: “I don’t think that’s the tone we are looking for. A lot of Scots probably think Alex Salmond is on the side of Scotland whether they agree with his ideas or not. So it’s a bit stupid to pose it as Salmond versus Scotland.”