Meeting of the Parliament 03 February 2026 [Draft]
Even though it seemed that Jim Wallace had lived many lives in one, he was taken from us far too soon. I worked for Jim as the party’s chief executive during the first Scottish Parliament elections, and then with Jim when I became a parliamentary colleague and then leader.
There was so much that I learned from Jim. The first thing was his appetite for detail. When I was first appointed to the job, I visited him and the rest of the Scottish MPs at Westminster. I discovered them in a meeting room, immersed in the papers of the Scotland Bill as they drafted endless, copious amendments to it.
Fast forward a year to the consultative steering group. While other leaders delegated the task to other people in their parties, Jim stepped forward to craft the procedures and standing orders of this place.
I could not get it. I wanted to win votes, not to make rules, but Jim knew that the shape of this Parliament would leave an impression far more enduring than any short-lived campaign.
Although Jim had an affinity for the law and procedure, he understood the essential element of politics, which is good relationships. During the coalition agreements, we had a grand procedure called the dispute resolution procedure. People thought that it was a grand committee that would meet periodically, but it was just Jim and Donald Dewar, because they trusted each other implicitly. There were wars almost every week between the Liberal Democrat and Labour groups, but every single problem was solved by that group. That endured into a sound relationship with Jack McConnell, who spoke so movingly about Jim on the radio last week. They all trusted one another implicitly.
Finally, there was Jim’s calm, respectful resilience. Jim endured many political crises through his 13 years as party leader, six years as Deputy First Minister, five years as a UK Government minister and 43 years as a parliamentarian in three different Parliaments. Most politicians would have copious amounts of baggage as a result of those experiences, but such was the mark of his success that he went on to occupy the position of moderator, which is probably the closest to God that you can get in the Church of Scotland.
Last year, following the memorial service reception for George Reid in this Parliament, with a fierce storm raging outside, I took the unusual step of skipping canvassing in Fife that day. Instead, I joined Nicol Stephen, Jeremy Purvis and Jim for a very long lunch. I am so glad that I did. We shared memories, we traded gossip, and we laughed and we laughed and we laughed.