Hansard

On behalf of the Scottish Labour Party, I want to associate all my colleagues with the First Minister’s comments and put on record our deep sorrow at the passing of Sir George Reid, who was a public servant of remarkable skill, intelligence and commitment.

George Reid led a life that was dedicated to serving the people of our country and committed to making Scotland a better place. Many MSPs will have warm memories of George’s time in this Parliament. Although that will be especially true of Scottish National Party members, that will not be exclusively the case. I know from lots of stories from those who served alongside Sir George how respected he was across every party in the Parliament.

George served diligently, including as Deputy Presiding Officer and later as Presiding Officer, but his time in this Parliament was only one tiny part of a remarkable career. George’s remarkable life took him far from his Clackmannanshire home to places around the world, from America to Armenia, always in the service of others.

After graduating from the University of St Andrews, George embarked on a career in journalism, in the course of which he worked for the BBC and Granada Television, as well as many of Scotland’s flagship newspapers. Given that he was a person of strong political convictions, it was not long before George made the move into front-line politics. George was a committed Scottish nationalist. He joined the SNP as a young man when the party had little support in the country, and he was later elected as part of the SNP wave that was produced by the twin elections in 1974. He served his Clackmannanshire and East Stirlingshire constituents diligently over the turbulent years of the late 1970s, which included the rise of the Tories under Margaret Thatcher and the winter of discontent.

After leaving the Parliament in 1979, George returned to journalism, this time marrying his professional expertise with his vast experience of the world. George will be remembered as being a Scottish nationalist, but he was without a doubt an internationalist, as well—a man who cared deeply for the freedom and safety of, and justice for, all his fellow citizens, wherever they were across the globe. It was in that role that he performed some of his most lasting and important work. As has been mentioned, he produced the groundbreaking reports on the Ethiopian famine that awakened the world to the struggles and horrors that were being inflicted on the people of that country. Those reports moved so many people across the world that they led directly to Live Aid and the beginning of famine relief. After that, he worked for the International Committee of the Red Cross in Geneva. His work on supporting victims of the 1988 Armenian earthquake resulted in George receiving state honours from Armenia and the USSR.

When the campaign for devolution was won, George was ready to return to politics and to serve the people of Scotland. Sadly, I did not have the honour of serving in the Parliament at the same time as George, but I had the honour and privilege of meeting him on a number of occasions. What I remember most about Sir George is that, despite not being in the same party as me, he was nothing other than warm, compassionate and encouraging. I know that that was the case with many young people—and maybe older people—he met in politics across the years. He was always warm, always compassionate and always encouraging. That is the man we will remember so fondly. Indeed, it is that George—intelligent, patriotic, compassionate and warm—the Parliament and Scotland mourn today.

I again share the Scottish Labour Party’s condolences on the death of Sir George Reid. Our thoughts are with Dee, Morag, his family, his many friends and the many colleagues who knew him and loved him so dearly. [Applause.]