John Smith is one
of the many “might-have-beens” in British politics. Recognised as outstandingly
able, he succeeded Neil Kinnock as Leader of the Labour Party in 1992, began a
reform programme only to die prematurely in 1994. His Glasgow-oriented circle
included his close friend Donald Dewar
and his legal guru Derry Irvine,
both of whom achieved substantial distinction in their own right.
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| John Smith 1938-94 |
John Smith was the son of a headmaster and was brought up in
Ardrishaig, a loch-side Highland village to the south of Lochgilphead in Argyll
and Bute. He went to Dunoon High School (the
alma mater of Lord Mackay and George Robertson) and entered Glasgow University
in 1956 to read History then moving on to Law graduating in 1962. He was a keen
debater, winning the Observer Mace
competition in 1962: student debating saw him befriend Donald Dewar and Derry
Irvine. He practiced as a solicitor for a year but soon after joined the
Scottish Bar; he eventually became a QC in 1983.
Smith had joined the Labour Party in 1956 and his rise in
its ranks was meteoric. A moderate Gaitskellite, he contested two elections in
the 1960s and entered Parliament representing North Lanark (later East Monklands) in 1970. Against the Party line he
supported the Roy Jenkins group in voting in favour of EEC entry in 1971. Not
wanting to be side-lined as a Scottish law officer, he declined the
Solicitor-Generalship of Scotland
offered by Wilson
in 1974 instead becoming a Minister in the Department of Energy.
A more substantive office was as Minister of State in the
Privy Council Office under Michael Foot in Callaghan’s government and there he
piloted the controversial Devolution bills for Scotland
and Wales
through Parliament. His performance impressed and in 1978 he joined the cabinet
as Secretary of State for Trade until Labour lost office in 1979.
In Opposition Smith took on the Shadow Energy and then Trade
portfolios. At Trade he shone when Thatcher’s government in 1986 got tied in
knots over helicopter orders at Westland
and Smith gave offensively over-confident Leon Brittan a particularly hard
time. Smith had a deceptively genial and moderate air but his tongue was
scathing, as was that of his colleagues Donald Dewar and Robin Cook. Smith was
not a memorable platform orator but his restrained, probing style suited the
House of Commons and that was where his triumphs most resounded.
When Labour lost the 1987 election Neil Kinnock promoted
Smith to Shadow Chancellor. A year later Smith ominously had a serious heart
attack and was incapacitated for 3 months. He gave up rich food, cut down his
alcohol, went on a diet losing more than 2 stones. He took to hill-walking in
his beloved Highlands and scaled 108 of the
277 Scottish “Munros” (mountains over 3,000 feet).
As Shadow Chancellor he had a major parliamentary success in
1989 twitting his opposite number Nigel Lawson over his disagreements with Mrs
Thatcher’s economic adviser Alan Walters. Smith sang a parody of the soap
signature tune “Neighbours” to the
amusement of the House. Both Lawson and Walters soon resigned.
After Thatcher resigned in 1990, the fortunes of the Tories
revived initially under the calming leadership of John Major. Smith may have
damaged Labour’s prospects by saying Labour would raise the top rate of income
tax to 50%. In the event, the Tory majority of 102 was reduced to a still
workable 21 at the 1992 election. Kinnock resigned and John Smith became Leader
of the Labour Party and Leader of the Opposition.
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| Donald Dewar |
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| Derry Irvine |
After the ERM debacle, he characterised Major and Lamont as
“the Laurel and Hardy of British politics” and he was derisive of Major’s
policies later invoking the TV comedy “Some Mothers Do ‘Ave ‘Em”. As Party
Leader he abolished the trade union bloc vote and committed Labour to the
introduction of a Scottish Parliament. Sadly, to the shock of the nation, Smith
suddenly died in London
of a heart attack in May 1994, at the age of 55. He was buried on the sacred island of Iona, his close friend Donald Dewar
being a pall-bearer and the only politician invited. Smith died before his full
potential could be realised but his moderate views and rational instincts did
much to make Labour electable, Tony Blair reaping where John Smith had sown
-------------------------------
Donald Dewar
(1937-2000) devoted the greater part of his career to the concerns of his
native Scotland.
Born in Glasgow,
he was the only child of a distinguished consultant dermatologist. Secondary education
at Glasgow Academy
was followed by Glasgow
University with an MA in
History and an LLB in Law by 1962. He was very active in student debating and
Labour politics and his close friendship with John Smith dates from this time.
He unsuccessfully contested Aberdeen South against long-established Lady
Tweedsmuir in 1964 winning the seat in 1966. He duly became PPS to Labour
theoretician Anthony Crosland, but their chemistry did not gel.
I slightly knew Dewar at this time, helping his campaigns. He
was a conscientious intellectual, a fine speaker and moderate in his views. In
private he was an entertaining conversationalist, rather untidy sartorially and
happily married to his charming wife Alison. If he had a fault it was that of
many eloquent speakers: he found the sharp quip or telling phrase irresistible.
I remember him mortally offending his Labour loyalist agent, who had fought in Spain, asking,
all innocence “On what side did you fight?”
I recall making a snobbish remark about a Glasgow variety theatre audience and he
rightly took me to task – I came under withering fire.
He lost his Aberdeen seat in
1970 and spent 8 years as a solicitor to a children’s panel in Glasgow. This was a difficult time for him as
his wife left him in 1970 for Derry Irvine, taking their two children. It took
25 years and pressure from Tony Blair for him to exchange a civil word with
cabinet colleague Irvine.
He lived a solitary bachelor existence, steeped in his history books, becoming
an authority on 18th century Jacobites and on the Disruption, the
schism in the Church of Scotland in 1843 leading to the formation of the Free
Church. He returned to Westminster at a 1978
by-election winning the Glasgow
seat Garscadden (later Anniesland) against the resurgent SNP.
During Labour’s long wilderness years he was shadow Scottish
Secretary for 9 years as the Tories lost seats in Scotland to Labour and the SNP. He
championed Devolution, realising that Labour would otherwise be out-flanked by
the SNP, but was a firm opponent of independence. He fought off hard-Left de-selection
challenges.
When Labour lost the general election in 1992, his friend
John Smith thought Dewar needed a change and gave him the Shadow Social
Security brief and later he became an effective Chief Whip. Yet Scotland was
his love and he was delighted to be appointed Scottish Secretary by Tony Blair
when Labour swept to power in 1997.
He threw himself into the Scottish devolution legislation
and piloted it through Parliament. He was appointed First Minister of Scotland
in 1999 and was hugely proud when the Queen opened the first Scottish
Parliament since 1707. His term in office was beset by local problem issues and
complaints about the expense of the new Parliament building, but Dewar dealt
with these matters in his usual competent and transparently honest manner. He
had built up a deep residue of public respect.
Hard work took its toll and Dewar had heart problems.
Returning to the fray too soon he had a fall followed by a fatal brain haemorrhage
in October 2000. He was 63. His funeral at Glasgow Cathedral attended by Prince
Charles and the entire cabinet was almost a state occasion. Some had already
called him the “Father of the Nation” but Dewar himself scoffed at such
hyperbole; in a rare honour his statue was erected in Glasgow’s Buchanan Street.
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| Donald Dewar's statue in Glasgow |
---------------------------
Derry Irvine (1940- ) is
rather more elusive. He is the son of a roofer from Inverness
and his mother was a waitress. Like his erstwhile friends John Smith and Donald
Dewar, he was a keen debater at Glasgow
University where he read
Scots Law. He really blossomed when he went to Christ’s College, Cambridge to study
English Law winning a starred degree. After lecturing at LSE, he entered the
English Bar in Maurice Finer’s chambers and in 1981 set up his own chambers
with barristers specialising in employment and commercial law. One of his pupil
barristers was Cherie Booth (decidedly a legal star) and later Tony Blair (decidedly
not a legal star): the pair were to marry in 1980.
Irvine
became a legal adviser to the Labour Party, guiding it through the struggle
with hard-Left Militant and changes in its relations with the unions. He became
shadow Lord Chancellor, much favoured by John Smith and Tony Blair.
His tenure of the Lord Chancellorship between 1997and 2002
was notable for his introduction of the European Convention on Human Rights,
the cause of many subsequent problems, and for freedom of information
legislation.
Irvine
had become rich from his practice at the Bar and became known for his rather
effective rumbustious and haughty manner. He loved to eat and drink well and
his wife Alison avidly collected paintings. There was a sharp controversy when Irvine spent £650,000 of public money redecorating the
Lord Chancellor’s rooms at Westminster
- £59,000 on the Pugin wallpaper alone!
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| Irvine's notorious Pugin wallpaper |
He retired in 2003 and despite a 4-year estrangement, went
back to Alison in 2009. He maintained a grand house in Smith Square and a loch-side country
house in Argyll. For all his alleged pomposity, Irvine
was a powerful influence on the first Blair ministry: he had come a long way
from the rowdy debating sessions with Smith and Dewar at Glasgow University.
The office of Lord Chancellor has now been subsumed by the
new Justice Secretary and the old conflicts of interest between judicial and
political matters resolved. It is ironic that the last three holders of the
ancient office in its pomp (the office of Cardinal Wolsey, Thomas More,
Thurlow, Eldon, Brougham, Halsbury, Birkenhead et al) should have been Scotsmen - Lord Mackay, Lord Irvine
and Lord Falconer.
SMD
7.03.13
Text Copyright © Sidney Donald 2013
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