I WAS much saddened to learn the recent news of the passing, aged 77, of Duncan J MacPherson — long-standing stalwart and former local councillor for his home area of Fortrose.
From the family farm to the golf course and then ultimately onto the Convener's Office of Highland Regional Council he was a diligent and thoroughly decent man. The Ross-shire carried a suitably prominent obituary in last week's edition, but this week allow me to add some reflection of my own.
When I was first — and most unexpectedly — elected as the local MP, back in 1983, I found myself on the most steep of learning curves. Aged 23, this quite unknown quantity was pitched into full-scale parliamentary and constituency life. You had to learn fast and think on your feet. Those first two years were the most absorbing and demanding in terms of information consumption which I have ever experienced. People, places, issues, personal life turned upside down — it was a rollercoaster.
Against that sort of backdrop you soon learn to appreciate guidance and advice. And I wasn't short of either, to an extent that I was not again to experience until the day I became party leader, sixteen years later. One thing you had to work out rapidly was the distinction to be drawn between good advice and bad advice.
Duncan, in my experience, gave good advice. I suspect that he hadn't voted for me back in 1983 and I never asked him directly if he ever voted for me subsequently. But in a way that didn't matter. His primary concern was to establish and maintain effective working relations with this new, young MP — both as a local councillor and, in time to come, as Council Convener. He always listened and he never once patronised. I was grateful for both. We got on well and our joint efforts felt worthwhile and properly motivated. That's the benchmark I've tried to follow since.
There was only one serious point of disagreement over the years, and it certainly proved to be a fundamental one. When the then Conservative government decided to reform Scottish local government into single tier authorities the argument soon took hold about what to do about the Highland Council area. The Districts were to go; the nub of the controversy was the case for a single Highland Council or a split into a North Highland and South Highland two-council solution. I was for the two council model, Duncan and his team at Regional HQ in Inverness (backed by my neighbouring MP, Sir Russell Johnston) favoured the single-Council option. It proved to be a fierce fight, turning a little unpleasant at times, with yours truly ending up on the losing side.
The rest, as they say, is history. What was never in doubt, in my mind to this day, was that Duncan argued his case with such tenacity out of a genuine conviction that the single Council body would prove the more effective for the Highlands as a whole. And some time later, as the dust settled, we buried the hatchet. We went on to make successful common cause in other areas — one of the most satisfying being the campaign to save the West Highland sleeper services.
In my early months as MP we shared the platform as panellists at a "Matter of Opinion" evening in Cromarty. Cruise missile deployment was a big talking point at the time, and a divisive one as well. The issue came up, the argument raged. One local resident gave the view that such was his support for nuclear defence that he would happily have a cruise missile sited in his back garden in Cromarty. Duncan leaned over to me, winked, and remarked, "Even Highland Regional Council wouldn't give you planning permission for that."
Amongst the many characteristics that I both liked and admired about Duncan was his ability to keep a sense of humour throughout. My sincere condolences go out to his widow Vivian and children Niall and Lynne.
Return to April Articles & Speeches.
Return to Articles & Speeches.