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Scottish Independence Result: 11 People Who Nearly Lost Us Scotland

11 People Who Nearly Lost Us Scotland
Asa Bennett
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Two Scottish independence referendum Yes supporters hold a Scottish Saltire flag up outside the
ASSOCIATED PRESS

Scots may have voted no in the independence referendum but it was hardly a textbook campaign from the Better Together team, with the poll much closer than anyone anticipated when the historic vote was called in 2011.

While ultimately successful, leader of the no camp, Alistair Darling, faced repeated calls to step aside while David Cameron was criticised for doing too little too late in the campaign, raising questions over whether he would stay as prime minister after the vote.

But Darling and Cameron would hardly have been the only people to blame had Scotland slipped away...

11 People Who Almost Lost Us The Union
The man who fronted the campaign to stay together(01 of08)
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Alistair Darling has struggled against Scottish first minister Alex Salmond due to his lack of charisma (with the exception of the first TV debate). (credit:Jeff J Mitchell via Getty Images)
This ex-Premier who waded into the debate(02 of08)
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Tony Blair urged Scots not to "rip up the alliance between our countries", and was attacked by his predecessor Sir John Major for helping the nationalists.
Sir John argued that Labour had helped the SNP by "demonising the Conservatives and, by implication, the English." (credit:David Cheskin/PA Archive)
This Tory ex-PM who gave the SNP an enemy (03 of08)
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Thatcher helped the Scottish Nationalists by effectively giving them a Tory bogeywoman to unite against.Alex Salmond told the BBC in 2013 that the "economic and social bedlam" she caused led to the "overwhelming desire among the people of Scotland to escape".
This prime minister who stuck his beak in...(04 of08)
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Despite refusing to debate Salmond, fearing that his appearance would give him political capital, Cameron still waded into the debate and spoke out numerous times. (credit:BEN STANSALL via Getty Images)
The tennis star who finally spoke out...(05 of08)
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Andy Murray broke his silence with a last-minute declaration of support for the Yes campaign, attributing his decision to the "negativity" of the pro-union campaign.
Given the pre-referendum polls had signalled the No campaign was ahead, could Murray have sparked an eleventh hour surge for independence? (credit:WILLIAM WEST via Getty Images)
The army general who invoked the war dead (06 of08)
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Lord Richard Dannant, former chief of the general staff, was accused by armed forces veterans of being "outrageous" for using the deaths of service-personnel as a reason to vote No.
The ex-PM who said Scotland could be irrelevant(07 of08)
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Sir John Major was branded "woefully out of touch" by Scottish Nationalists after warning that Scotland would trade "real influence" for "possible irrelevance" under independence. (credit:Matthew Lloyd via Getty Images)
And the TV presenter who mocked 'tramp' Scotland(08 of08)
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The controversial Top Gear presenter may have sparked some special Caledonian fury when he said that Scottish independence would rid England of "North Sea oil, the sub base at Faslane [and] all tramps." (credit:Joel Ryan/Invision/AP)

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