Part I
With the ink dry on the Scotland Act and the referendum passes by the narrowest of margins it was not essentially clear how when the new Parliament would convene. When would the first elections be? Thoughts turned to Westminster. While the government narrowly survived the vote of No Confidence thanks to the last minute support of the SNP it was looking rather bleak for Labour electorally by the time the expected autum election rolled on. The SNP pushed the government to set a timetable for implementation which it did. The first elections would take place in the first week of May 1980.
As expected Mrs Thatcher and the Conservatives won the October election and entered office. Despite internal opposition there was very little they could do about it and the party quietly geared up for the upcoming election.
SNP leader William WolfeThe SNP had held their own in 1979 and leader William Wolfe was confident of winning a seat in the new Assembly. He picked West Lothian and quite fancied his chances in the seat he has first contested in '62. It seemed an even better prospect as sitting MP Tam Dalyell had no interest in contesting it for the Scottish Assembly.
The Conservatives seemed at first keen on letting local government Tories stand for the party, but George Younger was keen to make an impression. A few behind the scenes meetings later and the 37 year old MP for Edinburgh West, James Douglas Hamilton found himself as party leader in Scotland for the upcoming Assembly elections.
The Liberals nominated Inverness MP Russell Johnston.
And Labour. Well Labour had to draw up some rules first! Rev Geoff Shaw, the choice floated just a year earlier had died in 1978. The idea of appointing a Strathclyde Regional Council bigwig was quietly ditched when the party realised how serious the other parties were taking the Assembly. In the end it came down to a choice between the Lanark MP Dame Judith Hart and the sitting MP for Caithness and Sutherland Robert Maclennan. Maclennan won by the slimmest of margins. It was a decision they later came to regret.
More soon.
