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Over-simplification is a
risk worth taking in matching the internal changes in the Scottish
National Party with the pattern of change in Scotland as a whole in the
1960’s.
A restlessness was
beginning to take hold of the electorate. Something new was desired but
few could discover quite what! Macmillan had his catch phrase, "The
wind of change" and Harold Wilson coined, "The white heat of
technology".
Within the SNP new forces
and new possibilities were stirring. Gordon Wilson, a lawyer with a
great deal of political energy, got going "Radio Free
Scotland" and, as a portégé of Arthur Donaldson, set out a
redrafting of the Party’s constitution, with the desire of making it
more in keeping with the demands of a growing membership and a more
professional outlook.
James Halliday was
Chairman from 1956 to 1959, with Dr McIntyre as President. Arthur
Donaldson became Chairman in 1960 and, while the presidency still was
retained by Dr McIntyre, it was made clear - and he accepted it - that
the Chairman was the executive head of the Party.
Both in terms of the
realities of the Party organisation and the facts of ability and time to
cater for the tasks ahead, this was the right decision and, happily, the
mutuality of respect of Arthur and Robert contributed to smooth
relationships.
While the SNP was gaining
support in general elections, by-elections gave them the best
opportunity to exploit the growing discontent with the government of the
day
The death of the Labour
Member for Pollok early in 1967 presented such an opportunity to
capitalise on the dissatisfaction with Labour’s achievements. In the
1966 general election, Labour had increased its majority and had come
forward with seemingly dramatic schemes for national recovery, based on
a close inter-relationship between industrial and commercial needs and
economic policy. Like most economic plans, it looked good on paper, but
governments do not - and perhaps should not -have the means to carry out
such interventionist schemes.
While few in the Pollok
constituency could have read Labour’s schemes, many, particularly
those in the vast housing schemes of Househillwood, Nitshill and Pollok
were beginning to cavil at the lack of amenities and opportunities
provided in the areas.
After an intense campaign
to which Labour devoted considerable resources, including the efforts of
several Cabinet Ministers and the unhelpful intervention of the Prime
Minister, Harold Wilson (with his stricture on licences for
"Barking Dogs" aimed at curbing unruly members of the
Parliamentary Labour Party which was not helped by the fact that the SNP
candidate, George Leslie, was a vet determined to put down Labour) the
campaign resulted in a victory for the Tories by 2,201 votes over
Labour. But, in the public mind, it was an SNP triumph and the Party’s
supporters celebrated in boisterous fashion, indeed, in over-boisterous
fashion in the mind of the defeated Labour candidate, who was left to
shield his wife as they exited from the Pollokshaws Burgh Hall after the
count, the Labour Party officials having left the scene hurriedly to
close their Party’s election headquarters.
Worse was to come for
Labour at the end of the year, Tom Fraser, the Labour MP for Hamilton,
had resigned his seat to take up the Chairmanship of the North of
Scotland Hydro-Electric Board. This meant a by-election in what looked
like a safe Labour seat with a majority of 16,576 over the Tories. As in
all by-elections, the choice of candidate is important. In this case,
the local SNP organisation’s views were apparently given scant
consideration by the hierarchy, and the choice of Winifred Ewing, a
Glasgow solicitor, former university lecturer and secretary of the
Glasgow Bar Association, was made. Robert McIntyre’s views on this
matter appear to have been crucial. He knew Mrs Ewing and was impressed
by her ability considering her to be an excellent candidate for the
by-election fight.
Dr James Lees was
prominent in the organisation of the campaign and a considerable degree
of credit is due to him.
The eventual result was
astonishing. To come from nothing, having failed to contest the seat in
1966, to obtain 18,397 votes and a majority of 1,799 over Labour, was
nothing short of magnificent although it could be considered that there
were some special features in operation, e.g. the electorate’s dislike
of having to vote again due to the Labour Member going off to another
job (in what now maybe classed as a quango) and the seriousness of the
economic situation, exemplified by the timing of the decision to devalue
sterling two weeks after the by-election result.
But none of this can take
away the effect of Winnie Ewing’s victory on Scottish politics. She
was young, aged 38 at the time, and extremely articulate, in sharp
contrast to Labour’s candidate, Alex Wilson, an ex-miner, and much
more in harmony with the spirit of the times. The Hamilton victory made
the SNP truly marketable in political terms and the wave of publicity
which engulfed Mrs Ewing brought many new adherents to the Party making
it possible to mount a major campaign in the 1968 local elections. This
had some short run benefits, but the inexperience and lack of expertise
of many who gained office did considerable damage later on.
Having made such an
impact in Pollok and Hamilton, it is natural that there was room to
misinterpret the signs, but results in the following years should have
alerted the Party to the situation. Labour held the Gorbals constituency
in Glasgow in the 1969 by-election, although the SNP forced the
Conservatives into third place. This suggested that the bandwagon was
slowing. Further evidence of this tendency was exhibited by the result
of the by-election in South Ayrshire when Jim Sillars was elected for
Labour with a majority of 10,886, down only 1,167 from that achieved in
1966. In the general election of 1970, the SNP contested 65 seats and
polled nearly 300,000 votes: but there were 42 lost deposits. Hamilton
was regained by Labour with a majority of 8,582 and the Party’s sole,
but important, consolation came in the result from the Western Isles
when Donald Stewart finished first by 726 votes.
Absence of a strong
parliamentary presence was to have an important effect on two main
issues of the time in which the SNP claimed a distinctive approach -
North Sea Oil and gas and membership of the European Community. |
