Breakaway comments feed ‘Yes’ inclinations

Mrs Clinton admitted that she would “hate” Britain to “lose Scotland” while last week Mr Obama said he believed that the United Kingdom appears to have “worked pretty well”.

Alex Salmond maintained both politicians would do well to appreciate Scotland’s “thrawn-ness”, while comments made by Pope Francis in a Catalonian newspaper were more warmly received as he suggested that countries breaking away from larger states should be considered on a “case-by-case basis”.

The leader of the Roman Catholic Church told La Vanguardia: “There will be cases that will be just and cases that will not be just, but the secession of a nation without an antecedent of mandatory unity, one has to take it with a lot of grains of salt and analyse it case by case.”

Former US secretary of state, Mrs Clinton, who on a tour to promote her memoir and is believed to be preparing for a presidential run in 2016, was clear in expressing her preference. “I would hate to have you lose Scotland. I hope that it doesn’t happen but I don’t have a vote in Scotland.”

On how influential the comments were likely to be for voters, Mr Salmond said: “I suspect that insofar as it is influential, it is helpful to the Yes side. I don’t know if Hillary or the president of the US are familiar with the Scottish word thrawn. It doesn’t mean stubborn, it basically means Scots don’t like being told what to do.

“I think Scottish thrawn-ness means it will be a boost for the Yes side.”