Former first minister Alex Salmond has been remembered as not just the political leader who took Scotland “so close to his dream of independence”, but as a “dear friend”.<br /><br />Tributes were paid to the 69-year-old at a funeral service on Tuesday following his sudden death in North Macedonia earlier this month.<br /><br />The former SNP leader, who later went on to set up the Alba Party, had been speaking at a conference in the country when he suffered a heart attack.
