Hansard

It is my great privilege to offer the Liberal Democrats’ support for the Government motion and the Labour amendment. We offer our condolences to Gordon’s family and to everyone who is in the public gallery to pay their respects to that fine man.

I did not know Gordon very well and I met him only a few times. The time that I remember most was when I was wearing a ridiculous string vest and inappropriate footwear because I was about to run 2 miles on a treadmill, through the fug of a festive hangover, to build publicity for a Christmas day marathon that our mutual friend Rob Shorthouse was running in aid of MND Scotland. That one encounter sums up Gordon’s impact on Scottish society: he had an uncanny ability to talk people into things that they would not have otherwise done voluntarily. He was also able to pull off events and stunts at every level of Scottish society to raise awareness about his condition and the needs of those who suffered with him.

While Gordon’s body was failing him, he displayed a strength of character that represents the finest qualities of our people and, by so doing, he put motor neurone disease and the tragedy that it inflicts on more than 400 Scots each year on to household agendas and ensured that the subject was rarely out of the headlines.

Gordon revealed his diagnosis around the time of the international ice bucket challenge and, almost overnight, he took that as his own. Around Scotland, people took up the challenge for MND, such was their affection for Gordon, who had—rightly—become the poster boy for the campaign. The campaign and his personal journey raised more than £500,000 and touched the lives and hearts of millions of people—not solely through his crusade to raise awareness and bring resources to bear in the fight against motor neurone disease but through his dignified acceptance of the course that his illness took and its ultimate destination. He owned that reality, but he never let it define him.

It shows the measure of the man that, at the age of 29, he wrote:

“I don’t want pity ... It’ll be too late for me, but we must—and with your help we will—find a cure for the next generation.”

That speaks volumes about his character and his uncommon grace in the face of his own mortality. His example is a continuing comfort, not just to people in the MND community but to many people who are confronted with the reality of a diagnosis of a terminal illness of any kind.

As well as showing the bravery that is reflected in those words, Gordon showed a steely determination to deliver on the commitment to leave a legacy that would ensure that, when someone receives a diagnosis of motor neurone disease in the future, they might expect to beat the disease. To that end, beyond the colossal impact of his fundraising achievements, he captured the Scottish Government’s attention. To its credit, the Government has delivered a range of measures—particularly on MND nurses, as we have heard. I thank the cabinet secretary for the additional commitments that she made in opening the debate.

Motor neurone disease is classless and indiscriminate. It shreds function in the brain and spinal cord, and it does so with voracious and horrific speed. Until Gordon launched his fightback campaign, there was fairly low awareness of the condition in Scottish culture. His legacy is to have helped to reverse that deficit in public knowledge and to ensure that—again thanks to the good offices of the Scottish Government—research will take place to close the gaps in our clinical and scientific understanding of the condition. We heard about the PhDs and scholarships that will do that.

When I think of all that Gordon achieved, prior to and in the months following his diagnosis, I am reminded of the words of Bobby Kennedy, who said:

“Few will have the greatness to bend history; but each of us can work to change a small portion of the events ... It is from numberless diverse acts of courage ... that human history is thus shaped.”

Although his physical capacity was diminished, Gordon’s strength shaped events and will help to bring hope to and shape the futures of MND sufferers everywhere. Gordon’s life was all too short, but it was utterly inspiring, and he leaves the world and the cause for which he fought in better shape than he found them.

My thoughts and those of my party are with the people whom he leaves behind, some of whom are gathered here to celebrate his life. In particular, my thoughts are with his husband, Joe, and with my friends and colleagues in the Labour Party.