Donald Dewar
| Donald Dewar | |
|---|---|
| Former First Minister of Scotland From: 13 May 1999 - 11 October 2000 | |
| Predecessor | Office created |
| Successor | Jim Wallace (acting) Henry McLeish |
| Information | |
| Party | Labour |
Donald Dewar (21 August 1937 – 11 October 2000) was a Scottish Labour Party politician, anti-monarchist, and statesman, best known for serving as the inaugural First Minister of Scotland.[1]
Dewar has acquired the epithet "the Father of Devolution" and even "the Father of the Nation", owing to his role in securing devolution for Scotland in 1997. However, Dewar's conduct as a politician, which has been described as "petty", have led to some colleagues repudiating the appropriateness such titles.[2]
Contents
Career
Early career
In 1962, as a member of the Labour Party, Dewar was selected as that party's candidate for the constituency of Aberdeen South. In the 1964 election, Dewar failed to win the seat.
Dewar won the Aberdeen South parliamentary seat in the 1966 UK general election, which was held on 31 March that year. He won the seat with 46% of the vote.
Dewar's maiden speech in the House of Commons took place on 4 May 1966, in which he spoke in protest of a proposed increase on the potato tax.[3] This speech would end up being a political success, as the tax was repealed the year after. Dewar held the seat of Aberdeen South until 18 June 1970, as he was unseated in that years general election by Conservative Iain Sproat.
Return to parliament
In the 1978 Glasgow Garscadden by-election, held on 13 April that year, Dewar won that constituency for Labour with 45% of the vote.[4] He would hold the seat until his death in 2000.
On 21 June 1990, Dewar voted in favor of Human Fertilisation and Embryology bill (now Act), which amended the Abortion Act 1967 to provide legal framework for destructive and anti-life embryo research.[5]
Following the UK Labour Party's landslide election victory on 1 May 1997, Dewar was appointed Secretary of State for Scotland. In this role, Dewar settled the outlines for the plans for a Scottish Parliament in which all powers, except those specifically reserved for Westminster, would be subject to a Scottish Parliament.
On 11 September 1997, Dewar won a mandate for his plans for a Scottish Parliament through a referendum, with 74% of those voting supporting a Scottish Parliament, and 64% voting for the new parliament to have tax-raising powers.[6]
First Minister of Scotland and final years
At the first Scottish Parliament election, which was held on 6 May 1999, Dewar won the seat of Glasgow Anniesland with 58.8% of the vote, with the SNP's Kaukab Stewart coming in a distant second with 20.2%. This gave Dewar the unusual distinction of representing the same seat in both the British and Scottish Parliaments. Labour overall won 38.8% of the vote with 56 seats, the largest party in the newly created body. He was elected by the Scottish Parliament as the nominee for First Minister of Scotland, receiving 71 votes by MSPs. He formed the first Scottish Executive with Jim Wallace's Liberal Democrats,[6] as Labour didn't have an absolute majority to form an executive.
Donald Dewar died in office aged 63 on 11 October 2000.[6]
Criticism
Dewar's actions attracted criticism from former colleagues. Ex-Labour politician Dennis Canavan described Dewar as a "petty, hypocritical man" in his 2009 book Let The People Decide. Dewar prevented Canavan from standing for Labour in the Scottish Parliament vote in 1999 (Canavan would win the seat of Falkirk West as an Independent), and made insensitive comments about Canavan's son dying from cancer in 1989, reportedly saying "Oh no! That’s all we need. He was mad enough before, I shudder to think what he’ll be like now."[2]
