LOVE him or loathe him it is impossible to ignore him.

Alex Salmon has been the most talented politician of the devolution era.

After the sad, untimely death of Donald Dewar, Henry McLeish was then forced to resign for something considered a scandal, and Jack McConnell was defeated in an election.

So Mr Salmond is the only First Minister so far to leave office at a time of his choosing.

It is argued all political leaders end in failure and he did ultimately fail in his quest for independence with the referendum, but how will Alex Salmond be remembered?

He has presided over the biggest programme of public sector cuts in living memory, with teachers, nurses, doctors and council workers complaining their organisations are at breaking point.

During his time in office youth unemployment rocketed to levels that threatened to write off an entire generation akin to the early years of the Thatcher government, before it began to improve.

An early promise to scrap historic student debt was quickly abandoned and the lower school class sizes pledge also went awry.

Poverty remains a blight in communities across the country and there is still a shortage of affordable housing.

He managed to maintain the council tax freeze, provide free prescriptions and free university tuition throughout his time in office, and in the last few years unemployment has fallen, employment has risen and the youth figures especially have seen progress. New hospitals have been built and the trunk roads network in Glasgow area has benefited from investment.

For each of the above there are two sides to the story and when there have been failings the blame has been firmly and loudly laid at the door of Westminster.

When there has been good news it has been even more loudly claimed as a success.

Then there is the referendum, lost by a clear majority, but with a yes vote of 45% beyond the SNP's wildest dreams seven years ago.

He has taken the SNP from a party little more than a protest vote in the early 1990s to Scotland's governing party.

He took the independence movement to a point where with weeks to go until the vote, people all over the UK believed there was a real possibility of Scotland going it alone.

And he gets to hand over to his chosen successor, when he decided it was best to do so. All of the above points to the undoubted talent of Alex Salmond.

He managed to win successive elections. In Government he is able to act like an opposition leader, in failure he can claim success and in defeat he can claim some form of victory.

Whether you love him or loathe him, in modern day politics the man is a genius.