Alex Salmond hits the stage at the Edinburgh Festival

ALEX Salmond has revealed his dream guests for his Edinburgh Festival chat show – Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un.

The former First Minister is embarking on a run of Fringe appearances today, with his sell-out show billed as a mixture of chat, anecdotes and celebrity guests.

Last night, he insisted the US president and North Korean despot would have made the “perfect combination” to join him on stage.

“I was tempted to ask Trump, and put a Tweet out,” he joked. “Can you imagine the entourage from each? It would be absolutely fabulous.

“The fight over the camera angles for the hairlines. It would have taken years to get the thing stage-managed. It would be brilliant.”

Mr Salmond insisted it was “an extraordinary consequence of the manipulation of the democratic process that somebody like Donald Trump could end up the most powerful man in the world”. He added: “The further he puts his big flat feet into things, the more difficult it gets just to be funny about it. Because the consequences are clearly not.

“I was asked before he became President what I thought people should do, and I said Antarctica might be a great place to go.”

Alex Salmond: Scotland will be an independent country within four years

Ahead of his first festival show, the former SNP leader – who lost his seat to Conservative Colin Clark at June’s election – said he wouldn’t dish the dirt on his time in office.

But he admitted: “There are things you can’t say in office, that you can say out of office.”

He was saddened that his father Robert, who died at the age of 95 earlier this summer, wouldn’t be there to watch him on stage.

The former MP also refused to rule out a return to politics – and insisted Scotland could leave the UK within four years.

“I think Scotland will become independent,” he said. “I think that was rendered inevitable when the Scottish Parliament was established. Sooner or later the parliament will become an independent parliament.

“The timing has always been the interesting thing. The outcome of the Brexit vote will dictate the timing of the referendum, and will dictate the timing of independence.

“If Brexit’s a soaraway success, if it’s the most amazing thing that’s happened since sliced bread, then I think that will postpone an independence referendum.

“But I don’t know anybody who thinks that now.

“Therefore, I think the referendum will be at some point in the next three, four years depending on the transition period of Brexit – and I think the result will be yes.”

Alex Salmond Unleashed runs from today until August 27 at the Assembly Rooms.

While Mr Salmond remained tight-lipped over his surprise guests, he said the show could include singing – but definitely no dancing.

He added: “Politicians who try to do stand up fall down. So it’s not stand up. It’s stories, and hopefully people will see the fun.”