Hansard

I associate myself with and commend the First Minister’s remarks.

On behalf of myself and the Conservative Party, I send our deepest condolences to Susan and all of Jeane’s family, friends and colleagues, and her wider party.

I am touched that Susan asked me to say a few words this afternoon about Jeane. I apologise if these words, in part, repeat some of the remarks that I made in the Parliament shortly after we heard of her passing.

It fell to me to welcome Jeane into Government when she first became a minister, which was a happy duty. I look back on what I said then and notice that Jeane’s mother’s tribute to her daughter was that she had a voice “that could sell coal”. Coal was not what she went on to sell, but she always spoke with tremendous authority and vigour, which was deeply impressive. She brought to the job considerable experience of the outside world, which the Parliament recognised and appreciated.

People will know that I used to do those welcome speeches for ministers, and I must say that I relished the prospect. I enjoy good parliamentary performance and I used to love how Jeane would sit—very still and quiet. She did not allow herself to be noised up. There would be these—probably from me—very theatrical performances from elsewhere in the chamber, with members thinking that they were lambasting her. She would stand up quietly at the end and would always begin by saying, “So…”, and then she would eviscerate every argument that those members had made. I quite often looked across just to exchange a twinkle in the eye, because I knew what she had done. She did it with tremendous effect because she was supremely well briefed and very committed to the job that she did—never more so, in my experience, than in the way in which she engaged directly with the women who were affected by transvaginal mesh.

The Transvaginal Mesh Removal (Cost Reimbursement) (Scotland) Bill was Jeane’s bill, which Humza Yousaf was to take into legislation at the start of this session of Parliament. It provided for the transport of women to the United States, so that Dr Veronikis in Missouri could surgically remove the mesh that, in many cases, they had been told had already been removed. That opportunity was not extended to women anywhere else in the United Kingdom. It was a bill that Jeane embraced and took forward.

I remember one constituent, Lorna Farrell, who went to the steps that Sylvester Stallone ran up in the “Rocky” movie. She got out of her wheelchair, free of mesh, staggered up those steps and stood at the top, thanks to Jeane. Jeane made a difference, and there are women all over Scotland, and their families, who will be forever grateful for what she did.

Let me finish with this final reflection. Decades ago, I sat at a private dinner for the then Prime Minister during the height of the Falklands war. I was sitting next to Alec Douglas-Home and asked him what it was like to lead in a crisis. He said:

“Well, the first thing is the duty of others to offer constructive support.”

I try to remember that and I tried to provide that support when the Covid pandemic fell.

He also said something that I never forgot:

“Other politicians may wish they occupied the desk. Other politicians might think it would all have been better if they had been in charge. Other politicians might lambast and say, ‘That was ridiculous,’ but, for the Prime Minister, the First Minister and the woman in the hot seat, they are making life-and-death decisions. Some of them represent a burden they carry with them for the rest of their lives. They do not walk away from it. It is something they feel, because they had to take decisions—very brave decisions—that had fundamental consequences. That is a real sense of duty.”

I say to Susan: Jeane made a difference. She had a sense of duty, and this Parliament—and everyone in it—should be grateful for her work, the job that she did and the legacy that she leaves behind. [Applause.]

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