Hansard

Presiding Officer, I am here under false pretences. I understood that that was to be Christine Grahame’s final speech, and yet I now gather that there are to be more final speeches than Frank Sinatra had farewell concerts.

I am very happy to contribute to today’s debate, not just because Christine Grahame and I are the oldest members of our respective parties—I will not say that we both have one foot in the grave, but we are nearer to that than to having one foot at primary school, or to being like Ross Greer, whose best school days still lie ahead. It is a pleasure to contribute in the final debate to be led by Christine Grahame, which is on an issue that she is passionate about.

I have come to know Christine Grahame particularly well over the past five years, as we have served together on the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body. We have found, to our surprise, that, from time to time, perhaps because of our lifetime experience, we have the same view on issues that come before the SPCB, sometimes to the disquiet of the other members. I am no better at technology than Christine Grahame is, so, unfortunately, it is always down to Maggie Chapman to plug Christine Grahame in and to try to get her up to speed with the agenda, which she usually manages about halfway through the meeting.

Christine Grahame has brought to the chamber this fantastic personal concern for animal welfare, which is one of those issues that sits far higher up in the public’s consciousness and on the public’s agenda than is often the case with issues on the political agenda. All of us who are of a certain age probably remember Harold Macmillan lamenting the fact that, when the Russians first put a monkey into space, all the great powers of the world were devastated and concerned about what it meant that Russia was in space whereas all that the people who wrote to Harold Macmillan were concerned about was what happened to the monkey. Similarly, I remember Mrs Thatcher saying, when she was dealing with high unemployment, that people did not write to her about that but about lead weights in swans. As I said a moment ago, personal concern for animals has been much closer to the public’s heart than many other issues.

The corporate body’s proceedings during Covid were often interrupted by guest appearances from Mr Smokey, the much-loved cat in Christine Grahame’s ownership—maybe “ownership” is too bold a word to use for a cat. I am less of a cat person than a dog person. I remember a very wise woman telling me that dogs are very transparent, playful and charming, just like men, whereas cats are more like women in that they are less of all those three things. Mr Smokey was a great passion for Christine. I saw a card the other day that said, “If cats could text, they wouldn’t.” However, I know that Christine Grahame has a great passion for animals of all kinds. I recall her, Margo MacDonald and Mary Scanlon forming a cross-party friendship in that regard in the Queensberry house lounge, over not a bottle of whisky but a bottle of wine—each. In my experience, such cross-party friendship has been Christine Grahame’s example as a parliamentarian.

I have watched Christine Grahame speak in all sorts of debates where she has had to go and research the topic. I have watched her bring thoughtful contributions to the chamber. I have watched her challenge members of her own party just as much as she has challenged those in the Opposition parties. She has done all that indefatigably, and I doubt that she will be in any sort of retirement for very long. I expect that we will hear far more from her, and I look forward to doing so.