Meeting of the Parliament

Meeting date: Tuesday, October 2, 2018

Official Report 1162KB pdf

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Motion of Condolence

The next item of business is one that we would all prefer not to be holding: a motion of condolence following the death of our former Presiding Officer and colleague Sir Alex Fergusson.

Alex and I started together, both of us enjoying the privilege of being elected to Parliament as part of the first intake of members in 1999. He came to this place having lived a life outside politics, and he never lost his real-world take on the issues that were before us. Alex was both impassioned and knowledgeable on matters relating to rural Scotland, and in particular on issues affecting the south-west of this country. Allied to his natural good humour, intelligence and approachability was the fact that when Alex spoke, people listened.

This is still a relatively young Parliament, but when we look back at events of significance in its development, among them will undoubtedly be Alex’s election as Presiding Officer in 2007. It was a year in which the people of Scotland decided to elect our first ever minority Government—a situation that gave rise to new political challenges to match the changing political dynamic. In such uncharted waters, the Parliament needed someone who could be trusted, who was fair and balanced and who was liked and respected across the parties—and, of course, we turned to Alex. However, as I alluded to earlier, Alex was not a career politician; he did not seek high office. He got into politics later than most out of a sense of duty and service, and to give voice to the issues and causes in which he believed. At Westminster, on the election of their chosen Speaker, members of Parliament play out a little scene in which the successful candidate is dragged reluctantly from the green benches to the Speaker’s chair. With Alex, that was no metaphorical enactment or political playlet but the reality of his sense of duty winning out over his own political priorities. With Parliament at an impasse, Alex agreed to accept the role of Presiding Officer that had been thrust upon him.

As the evidence of his time in office reveals, this Parliament demonstrated its wisdom in electing him. After all, it takes a special talent to navigate the Parliament’s first minority Government, to vote down a £33 billion budget bill, notoriously to mix up a football semi-final cup draw, and constantly to break to uninformed correspondents the disappointing news that he was not responsible for picking the Manchester United first team. Many of us not only admired Alex’s many qualities and talents but would be proud to emulate his example and end up by leaving this place with more friends than when we were first elected. When news came of Alex’s untimely death, I was struck not only by the kind words of fellow MSPs but by the fondness with which he was remembered by parliamentary staff; from those who worked alongside him in his private office to clerks, researchers, and information technology and other support staff, it was apparent that the feelings of shock and sadness were not exclusive. Kind words for a man who had always had a kind word for those he met—a true gentleman.

In saying goodbye to Alex, Parliament is saying goodbye to a good friend who made a great mark on this place. Our thoughts and prayers are very much with his wife, Merryn, and his wider family, whom we are honoured to have with us in the public gallery today.

Goodbye, Presiding Officer. Goodbye, Alex. Thank you very much for your service and friendship.

14:09  

Presiding Officer, at August’s memorial service for Sir Alex Fergusson, which you attended along with your predecessors, the Deputy First Minister and many others who are here today, we came together to commemorate a life well lived—a life of public service, of duty and of profound decency.

Today, we come together again, and it is right and fitting that Parliament should meet to remember one of its own—our third Presiding Officer; the first whom we have lost, and a politician who served here for 17 years and who was, I think it is fair to say, not just respected, but loved.

At that remarkable memorial service in Kirkcudbright parish church six weeks ago, it was impossible not to be very moved by the stories that came flooding from people whose lives had been touched by Alex. David Mundell, the Secretary of State for Scotland, described him as “the most thoroughly decent” man he had had the good fortune to meet, to befriend and to have instruct him in the ways of sheep farming.

The wonderful eulogy by Alex’s brother, John, captured not just the panic of Manchester United fans on social media at the announcement of Alex’s passing, but all the humour, humanity and truly terrible driving habits of the man. We heard from Alex himself, who told us, in his own words, to belt out the hymns that he had chosen for the service and how, in his final days, he was without regret or bitterness. He had gone but, on that day, his humanity breathed on gloriously.

For me, the most telling contribution was the comment that was relayed from one of Alex’s medical staff, who said that they had watched the family around him in his final days and had seen a great closeness and love between them. What a legacy.

We are so pleased to be able to welcome to the Parliament his wife, Merryn; his mother, Auriole; his brother, JG; his sister, Henrietta; and his youngest son, Christopher. We thank you for lending Alex to us, even for a short time. It was time well spent.

For the Scottish Conservatives, Alex’s death has left a huge hole, but it is right to say that he was first and foremost a parliamentarian, and today all in this Parliament mourn him together.

It is fitting, too, that today we welcome 60 pupils from Dalbeattie high school, which is in Alex’s patch. As a champion of the region and of young people’s interest in politics, he would have loved to have seen them all here.

Alex was not a career politician. He was a farmer, who took over management of the family farm in Barr in Carrick in 1971, but he soon got involved in life beyond the farm gate. As former MSP Murray Tosh, his close colleague and friend, has observed, he felt that his beloved south-west of Scotland had its own distinct interests that needed to be represented more effectively, so it was from his lived experience that his political career began.

Characteristically for a Scottish Conservative, his first attempt to get into politics failed when he stood for the South Carrick ward in 1995, but he had got the bug, and when, in 1997, the devolution referendum was passed, he decided to stand for this new Parliament. He was always a committed devolutionist. It was something that he was to pursue all his career, including as a member of the party’s Strathclyde commission, which, in 2014, recommended a series of wide-ranging increases in the Parliament’s powers.

In the 1999 election, he did not win his constituency, but was elected on the party list. As one of 129 new MSPs, he soon stood out. The Scotsman diarist Rab McNeil coined for him the name “Hercules”, thanks to his fine public bearing and his star turn alongside Alex Johnstone in the annual tug of war. The ribbing was always affectionate, and when Alex retired in 2016, Rab was to declare:

“It’s a great shame he is retiring because, for a Tory, he came heavily disguised as a human being.” [Laughter.]

I couldn’t possibly comment.

Alex stood out in other ways, too. He did not go in for personal attacks and had fine relations with Alasdair Morgan, the Scottish National Party MSP who had beaten him to the Galloway and Upper Nithsdale constituency. However, people soon learned not to mistake his personal courtesy for weakness. On the issues that mattered to him, he was tough and uncompromising. As David Mundell said last month, when foot-and-mouth disease hit in 2001, Alex emerged as the most dogged and best-informed challenger of the Scottish Executive’s handling of the crisis. That was because, in private, he spoke every day to individual farmers and businesses from all over Scotland, listened to their concerns, offered support and connected them to people in power.

In 2003, that hard work paid off when he won the Galloway and Upper Nithsdale seat. Four years later, after another session putting the interests of his constituents first, he increased his majority from 99 to 3,333. It was 2007, the SNP had just won the election by a single seat, and neither the SNP nor Labour was able to give up an MSP for the vacant post of Presiding Officer, so Alex was sounded out. His first concern was whether, in that job, he would still be able to represent his constituents. Having been assured that that was the case, he took the job on.

Faced with an unprecedented minority Government, his courtesy, wise judgment and steeliness were to stand him in good stead, whether in reprimanding the then Labour MSP George Foulkes for unparliamentary behaviour—there are always small pleasures in politics—or in dealing with SNP ministers to ensure that the business of government kept going.

Alex Fergusson was a fine representative of Parliament outside it, too. In 2009, he took a delegation of MSPs to New Zealand. During the visit, the group was informed that it was due to go to a marae—a sacred place in Maori culture—where it is standard practice for the Maori hosts to sing to their guests and for the guests to respond in turn. As a man of music and a folk singer of some renown, Alex was not going to let that challenge go missing. I am told that he hustled Ted Brocklebank, Ross Finnie, Rhoda Grant and Sandra White into a kind of “Scotland’s Got Talent” outfit, with Alex demanding that they spend the entire evening practising how to sing psalm 23—because he always did like a shepherd. I am told that the Scottish Parliament choir’s rendition the following day was, indeed, spectacular.

Typically, Alex did not see the role of Presiding Officer as a full stop, so in 2011 he insisted on staying on as a constituency MSP. His personal connection and affinity with the south-west ensured that, in an election in which the SNP swept the board, Alex was re-elected for a third time.

As a former head of the Blackface Sheep Breeders’ Association, he was appointed as president of the Royal Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland in 2012—something in which I know he took immense pride. Two years ago, fittingly he was knighted in the Queen’s birthday honours for a life of unceasing public service.

Even as he was falling ill earlier this summer, that service continued. As a patron of the Galloway National Park Association, he continued to campaign for Scotland’s third national park, and I very much hope that, with the campaign continuing, the creation of such a park in Galloway might be a legacy for him.

Three weeks before he died, he was still commentating. When two of our Scottish Conservative group wrote a joint piece from opposite sides of the debate, backing a compromise deal on Brexit, Alex took to Twitter to declare:

“What a welcome and sensible dose of straight up no-nonsense common sense. More please!!”

He knew full well at that point that he would not see the Brexit negotiations conclude, but he was still engaged, still passionate and still urging the practical and realistic way forward. My word! We could do with more Alex Fergussons, right now.

For all his titles and honours and appointments, Alex was simply a good man. He was a lover of sport; of music; of Burns; of a decent meal, glass of wine and a whisky; of family and friends; and of his community. He was a man who knew that we are nothing unless we uphold the ties that bind us, and who understood that common courtesy is important, that passionate debate is vital and that politics is about service to others, and not to one’s self.

At the wonderful memorial service in August, we were all reminded that he was also a family man who was so proud of his three sons and of his wider family—a family who gave him a send-off to remember.

The example and the humanity of Sir Alex Fergusson will stay in our hearts for some time to come. We offer his family our deepest condolences in their loss.

I move,

That the Parliament expresses its deep sadness at the death of The Rt Hon Sir Alex Fergusson DL; offers its sympathy and condolences to his family and friends; appreciates his wide contribution to public life, particularly his distinguished tenure as Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament, and recognises the high esteem in which he was held by colleagues from all parties and the principled, dedicated and considered way he represented the people of Galloway and West Dumfries.

[Applause.]

14:18  

On behalf of the SNP and the Scottish Government, let me join in support for the motion in Ruth Davidson’s name. Like all of us across the Parliament, I was very saddened to hear of Sir Alex Fergusson’s passing, and I am glad that his family are able to join us today to hear us pay tribute to a very special human being.

As we have heard, Alex came to front-line politics relatively late in life. Before his election, he had a long, distinguished and successful career as a farmer. That experience of farming and land issues undoubtedly contributed to his decision to enter politics.

In 1999, he was part of the initial intake of MSPs to the Scottish Parliament. Those of us who were privileged to be elected to that first Parliament were all acutely aware that, whatever our differing political views, we had a duty to ensure that we helped to create a Parliament that lived up to the expectations of all those who had campaigned for it, and a Parliament that was able to prove the sceptics wrong. Few members of that first Scottish Parliament embodied that spirit better than Alex.

My personal memories of Alex when I first got to know him are of someone who was just as concerned about upholding the reputation of this Parliament as he was about advancing his own political beliefs. He had the particular gift of being able to argue his own case with rigour—and he did so—while remaining on the friendliest of terms with political opponents across the chamber.

That served him well during the early years of the Parliament, when he was a distinguished convener of the Rural Development Committee. His period as committee convener coincided with the aftermath of the foot-and-mouth outbreak in 2001 and the passage of the Protection of Wild Mammals (Scotland) Act 2002 on hunting. It says a huge amount that his handling of those and other sensitive issues served only to enhance his reputation. Colleagues on the committee recall how he was always willing to put on and take off his political hat, reminding different parties of the bigger picture and highlighting to MSPs that being political opponents did not have to mean becoming political enemies. Perhaps all of us would do well to remember that in the times in which we live today.

Those traits received fitting recognition in 2007, when Alex became the Scottish Parliament’s third Presiding Officer. At the time of his election, his predecessor George Reid said:

“You have just elected a decent and honourable man to head this house.”—[Official Report, 14 May 2007; c 11.]

George’s remark was borne out completely by Alex’s time in office. As the Presiding Officer noted, Alex was the first Presiding Officer to serve during a period of minority Government. As I am sure you recognise, Presiding Officer, that is not always a straightforward task. However, he was highly effective in his role. SNP members who sat on the Parliament’s business bureau during those years talk about the important role that Alex played in banging heads together behind the scenes whenever that was necessary. Above all, he fostered trust among the parties’ business managers, which in turn enabled them to chart a way forward in which everyone had a voice.

In public, in the chamber, Alex always chaired proceedings with calm authority and scrupulous fairness. That meant that, even in circumstances that could have been contentious—for example, when he used his casting vote to defeat a budget bill—all sides understood and respected the reasons for his decision, even if it might have taken the then Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth some time to realise that he understood and respected the Presiding Officer’s decision. The approach that Alex took was a major factor in the success of the third session of Parliament.

Alex also ensured that back benchers were given as much of a voice in proceedings as possible, and he was not afraid to put his foot down when that was needed. I am sure that I am not the only front bencher here today who can remember developing a strange sixth sense, if I had perhaps gone on a bit too long in my answer—which I rarely do, of course—that Alex was peering over his glasses at me, telling me to get on with it.

As Presiding Officer, Alex was always a fine ambassador for Scotland, as Ruth Davidson noted. For example, he played a very important role in supporting and strengthening the Parliament’s relationship with the Malawi Parliament. In Alex’s final speech in the chamber, he said that being Presiding Officer

“was a privilege and an honour that came close to that of serving the people first of the South of Scotland, then of Galloway and Upper Nithsdale, and latterly of Galloway and West Dumfries.”—[Official Report, 16 March 2016; c 226.]

The order of priorities is telling; Alex’s sense of duty to his constituents ran throughout his parliamentary career. In 2011, he became the first Presiding Officer to stand for re-election. The fact that he won the redrawn Galloway and West Dumfries constituency says so much about the effectiveness with which he served his constituents, and the affection and respect that he earned as a result.

Even after stepping down from Parliament, Alex continued to campaign on issues such as creating a new national park in the Galloway forest. Sir Alex Fergusson made a major contribution to Scotland as a whole, but there is no doubt that he was a particular champion of the south-west.

It is often said that political parties are like big extended families. That is certainly how I feel about my party. In that spirit, we all recognise that Scottish Conservative members have lost one of their most revered and respected family members. However, across the chamber, we have all lost a colleague and a friend who will be noted in future years as having played a pivotal role in the early period of the Scottish Parliament.

That said, no one will feel his loss more than his family. As we mourn Alex’s passing and mark his many achievements, we also offer our condolences to Merryn, lain, Dougal and Christopher and, of course, to his mother and brother, who have joined us today. I hope that the tributes that they hear today from across the chamber will give them not only some comfort, but a justifiable feeling of immense pride. [Applause.]

14:25  

I rise on behalf of the Scottish Labour Party to pay tribute to Sir Alex Fergusson and to support the motion.

A son of the manse, Alex Fergusson made his mark in the first days of the Parliament by moving a motion to introduce a time for reflection. I went back to look at his inaugural speech in that debate, in which he said:

“I strongly believe that with the new Parliament we have a new beginning. I see no reason why we should not have a new all-embracing form of contemplative thought or prayer as part of our parliamentary procedure.”—[Official Report, 18 May 1999; c 50.]

The Fergusson motion was duly passed by 69 votes to 37, with 15 abstentions.

Alex Fergusson began in Parliament as he meant to go on—making a great impression and a great difference. On 24 November in the first year of Parliament, on the Mound, in a debate on land reform, he began by declaring four interests. He said:

“I am a landowner, a landlord, a farmer and a member of the Scottish Landowners Federation.”

Extraordinarily, he went on to agree with a young, radical extra-parliamentary land reformer called Andy Wightman, who had condemned the proposed legislation for not going far enough. In the same speech, Alex went on to disagree profoundly with one Roseanna Cunningham, whose assertion the year before in the House of Commons that what was needed was

“the ultimate ownership of land by and for the people of Scotland”—[Official Report, House of Commons, 29 April 1998; Vol 311, c 247.]

he lampooned. He said:

“That system was tried by the communists—look what happened to them.”—[Official Report, 24 November 1999; c 884, 886.]

I also read his final contribution in Parliament, which was in the stage 3 debate on the Land Reform (Scotland) Bill, which is now the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2016. In that contribution, he said that he supported

“greater openness and transparency to land ownership.”—[Official Report, 16 March 2016; c 84.]

A few days after Alex Fergusson’s death, Colin Smyth and I visited the Mull of Galloway. It was a beautiful day, and we went to the Mull of Galloway experience. We climbed up the lighthouse, which has magnificent views of Ireland and the Isle of Man and back over the Rhins of Galloway. That land is now in community ownership, and that has brought with it a new energy and a new purpose. I could not help thinking that the fact that it had transferred to community ownership from state ownership—it was formerly owned by the Northern Lighthouse Board—would no doubt have pleased Alex.

Alex was a greatly respected member of the Scottish Parliament. That is demonstrated by the widespread support that he received when he put his name forward for the position of Presiding Officer. As others have said, he did not covet that position; he took it on out of a sense of public duty. When Holyrood magazine asked why he had wanted to become Presiding Officer, he replied:

“I didn’t! I had gone into the election in 2007 defending a majority of 99 against a strong SNP challenge. Having taken myself off ‘the list’ I was just relieved to be returned to parliament with a significantly increased majority—I had no thoughts of anything other than being the MSP for Galloway and Upper Nithsdale. So the role of Presiding Officer came and found me, not the other way round.”

In the same interview, he noted that he did not find it difficult to put to one side his party politics in taking up the role of Presiding Officer. In fact, he said:

“Not attending party conferences was, for me, one of the bonuses of the role!”

All the Labour MSPs—past and present—who I have asked say the same thing: he was good humoured, he was a gentleman and he was decent. If anyone was under fire from the media—which occasionally happens—he would offer words of encouragement and support. If he thought that a member had made a good speech, he would make a point of saying so. He was described by a former MSP as “collegiate”.

One member told me that, to some on the left of the Labour Party in those early days of the Parliament, the idea of joining a cross-party group founded by an old Etonian Tory was not an immediately obvious move to make, but as the new Parliament settled down that cross-party approach gained in pre-eminence, and remains a feature of the Parliament today.

Since leaving Parliament in 2016, Alex Fergusson kept himself busy, including by being the president of the Scottish Campaign for National Parks. He was particularly excited to be involved in making Galloway Scotland’s next national park. A Galloway national park would be a fitting legacy to him.

Alex Fergusson’s retirement was too short lived. There was much more that he wanted to do and much more that he could have done, but his was a life well lived.

On behalf of the whole Scottish Labour Party, I extend our deepest condolences to his wife Merryn, his three sons lain, Dougal and Christopher and their families, his mother Auriole, his sister Henrietta and his brother John. We thank them for sharing this gentle man with us. [Applause.]

14:31  

There have been a number of these occasions over the years, on which we gather together to discuss a motion of condolence for one of our colleagues who we have lost. They are always sad moments, but they are also moments of warmth. They certainly should be, because they recognise that, ultimately, at the end of the day, we are all human beings, and Alex Fergusson was someone whose humanity and warmth were always evident in how he did the job. Hostility and tribal point scoring were never his style.

There is also a particular meaning for us as we gather together to mark the death of a former Presiding Officer—it is the first time that that has happened—because the role of Presiding Officer is a particular service to the whole of Parliament. That service was probably enhanced in Alex Fergusson’s case because he had not craved the role.

Every session of Parliament has been different. We had the beginnings of devolution and a coalition, a rainbow Parliament, a minority Government, a majority single-party Government and now we have a session that is dominated by constitutional change. The challenges for the person in the Presiding Officer’s chair are different on every occasion. There are new dynamics and expectations. However, what remains the same is the requirement that one of our number sets aside their political commitments, makes a wider contribution to politics and provides a wider service to Parliament as a whole.

Alex Fergusson faced those challenges in the first minority Government session. It was the make-up of that session that led to one of my most powerful memories of this place and a moment that I will never forget—I suspect that he never forgot it, either. The incident to which I am referring—others have already remarked on it—is perhaps the most dramatic moment handled by any Presiding Officer. It might be that, back in 2009, some had assumed that inter-party negotiations would all be stitched up in advance and that the debates in the chamber were mere performance, but when that year’s budget votes were tied—it was a perfect draw—Alex Fergusson, who was sitting in the chair that you are in today, Presiding Officer, was forced to place the casting vote to strike down the budget and I saw several shades of colour drain from his face. That is a moment that neither of us would ever have forgotten.

I thank Alex Fergusson for his service to Parliament. More than anything, I hope that he forgave me for the palpitations that I caused him that day. On behalf of the Scottish Green Party, I give my deepest condolences to Alex Fergusson’s family, friends and community. [Applause.]

14:34  

Alex Fergusson was a Conservative, of that there is no doubt. He was a one-nation Conservative and a caring Conservative. He was a Conservative who really believed in devolution; on the Liberal Democrat benches, we saw a Conservative who was as close to federalism as it was possible to be, and we think that he was ahead of his time.

In 1999, Alex was, like most MSPs, new to front-line politics. As David Mundell endearingly described at the memorial service, the press release was a new phenomenon for Alex. However, Alex took well to political life. The cheerful discussions about the news in politics, the travails of a Government or the scrapes of a political friend were all part of what made him special.

Alex was a servant to his constituents. In the earlier sessions of the Parliament, first as a regional member and then as a constituency MSP, he put rural issues on the front page. He was a voice for farmers at the height of the tragedy that was foot and mouth disease. Few people in rural Scotland, especially in the south of the country, were not affected by foot and mouth. Alex pressed the then rural affairs minister, my colleague Ross Finnie, on measures that the Government had to take at that most difficult of times. He was a champion when farmers needed a champion.

As Presiding Officer, Alex was an ambassador not just for this Parliament but for Scotland. Whenever Alex led an overseas visit, Scotland benefited from his immaculate manners, his personal skills and his sense of humour. Perhaps his fondest visit was the one when he led a delegation to New Zealand, returning to a country in which he had lived and worked.

While he was Presiding Officer, Alex stayed close to colleagues of all persuasions. He said that his time was all the richer for the deeper friendships that were built during those years. He was conscious that there was no majority in the 2007 to 2011 session of the Parliament, so there was all the more need to understand the mood of members—good, bad and indifferent. He was a force for stability in the Parliament at a time of great potential instability. He ensured that even when an Opposition member did not like what had happened, they might at least have a smile on their face.

Alex loved cricket. Who better than a former Presiding Officer to umpire the cricket match between MSPs and the press? Like all good umpires and Presiding Officers, he was not above making an observation on the quality of the MSP attack.

When Alex retired as Presiding Officer, he won his seat again. That was the first time that a Presiding Officer had done that, and it was no mean achievement after four years of having to be impartial.

In a world in which too many people take themselves all too seriously, a notable asset is a sense of humour—an ability to poke fun at colleagues and to laugh at one’s own misfortunes and those of one’s party. Alex had all that, and of the many reasons to mourn his passing, it is his sense of humour, above all, that we will miss.

Our thoughts are with Alex’s family, to whom I say: he was one of us, but, much more than that, he was yours, and we were lucky to know him. Thank you. [Applause.]

Thank you, colleagues. Before we move on to the next item of business, we will have a short pause.