Tributes: Lord Wallace of Tankerness
(1 day, 10 hours ago)
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Lord Purvis of Tweed (LD)
My Lords, many of us aspire to be a good politician, to do good and to be a good person. More times than not, we fall short. Jim Wallace was a good man who saw it as his role in life to do good things. He did, and they will last. With great sorrow, we have been denied the opportunity of hearing a valedictory speech in this House from Jim. He would have been characteristically modest. We can perhaps be a little immodest on his behalf for a now profoundly missed absent friend.
After his early political days in the lowlands of Scotland, he triumphed in its most northerly part. When he was elected, many said he was the MP for Jo Grimond’s seat, but in short order we referred to it as Jim Wallace’s Orkney and Shetland. As MP, MSP and Peer, he saw serving in Parliament as the means by which good things can be done, not the end in itself. He was what a parliamentarian should be.
When speaking in Parliament Hall on the day of the opening of the Scottish Parliament in 1999, Jim was achieving his ambition and the dreams of many in delivering what Gladstone could not a century before. He said to all those newly elected MSPs:
“As the people’s representatives we should never forget the hopes kindled by this historic opportunity”.
He approached his role to meet those hopes as the first Liberal in office since the Second World War with zeal: land reform, law reform, social reform, education reform, prison reform—radical but workable—and all have endured, none reversed. Jim was a reformer, but he knew that for reform to last, it had to be done well. He said of the new Holyrood:
“Our Parliament must be open and inclusive—willing to consult and willing to listen”.
That sentiment embodied his own approach to politics.
Jim could be exceptionally partisan, though, but only with football. A determined Blue Nose—supporter of Glasgow Rangers—he was dutifully, but distractedly, carrying out one of his last duties as Deputy First Minister before being succeeded by my noble friend Lord Stephen in May 2005 at the launch of the Promoting Unst Renewable Energy project, on a day ironically too windy for anything to work. He was distracted, as it was unknown to him who was winning the Scottish league. But as his then private secretary subtly gave the thumbs up during the non-switching-on event, Jim then became, in the words of his private secretary, “the happiest I’ve ever seen him”.
Jim was a very confident Liberal, but very comfortable with others who were not. He felt that co-operating with others did not diminish his position or dilute his beliefs. Rather, it allowed progress to be made for the better end. Agreement with others, for Jim, was to get traction and longevity. We all knew that reaching agreement was Jim’s strength, but he approached it always from a granite set of principles. I once discussed a tricky time in the Scottish Parliament on a controversial law reform measure, and he said to me, “The test is when you defend the human rights of the people you hate”. Although that word was never associated with Jim, his words have become my test.
When he gave the first Charles Kennedy Memorial Lecture, he mourned the loss of a great friend prematurely. In the lecture, he remarked on their close friendship that
“there was much camaraderie, much political discussion and analysis, even intrigue—and much fun”.
The same for us with you, Jim.
Jim was literally admirable, with a political determination tempered by real kindness, and a seriousness of purpose sweetened by wry humour. Jim would tell of his period as Justice Minister in 2002, when Nelson Mandela visited the Lockerbie bomber in jail and, at a global press conference, criticised the way he was being kept, and by extension Jim himself. On hearing the rather worrying condemnation of Jim by the world’s most venerated man, his teenage daughter said, “Did Nelson Mandela just attack Dad? That’s cool!”
Engaging in a policy discussion with Jim was a thrilling and quite often intimidating experience. He had a prodigious intellect, phenomenal memory, confidence of argument and the ability to deploy cutting wit, like a sharpened sgian dubh. You needed to be on your game or your game was lost, as I learned on too many an occasion. I would start off fully confident with my argument and not long after accepting an early defeat, I would just pour us lots more whisky, enjoy the man and admire his abilities so comfortably worn. Those in law, civil service and politics would see the same. He excelled in company, while never dominating it. For those of us who knew him well, his ability to doze off mid-discussion, awaken and display his remarkable acuity as before was a skill to behold.
Jim loved serving as Moderator and said that he was more in awe in addressing the Kirk’s General Assembly than any of the three parliamentary Chambers he had mastered. On taking office as Moderator, he said:
“At all levels, and not least in our upper echelons, we should be ready to take risks to do what is right”.
For Jim, the risk would be calculated, prepared for, researched and tested, but that preparation did not dent the determination for boldness of thought and action. He led my Scottish party; he led government, he led the Kirk and in law. He also led these Benches, not by diktat—Jim knew this to be a futile exercise for a group of Liberals—but through intellect, argument, respect and a reasoned, methodical approach. We were lucky to have a colleague we admired, but one who made it easy to love him too.
John Buchan wrote of another great Scot words which are also appropriate for Jim:
“perfectly honest, perfectly fearless, and perfectly true”.
I grieve for Rosie, Clare and Helen and the grandchildren, who will have so many years ahead without Jim, but I say with love that we are ever so grateful that you allowed us to share Jim in our lives. Jim was a good politician and a good person who strove for and did good. The country is better, and lives are improved as a result of what he did. He was the best of examples of how politics can and should be the most honourable of callings. His faith was deep and he knew that, when his time had come, he would be going to a good place. That time is the wrong time—far too soon a time—but that place is now extremely lucky to have him.
The Lord Privy Seal (Baroness Smith of Basildon) (Lab)
My Lords, I think the noble Lord, Lord Purvis, made a very powerful, heartfelt tribute. In his words, we all pictured the man that we grew to admire in this House. Paying tribute to friends and colleagues who have passed is never easy. When their passing is so sudden, unexpected and before their time, our sense of loss is profound. We had no idea that, when Jim spoke in the House last December, it would be the last time we heard him here. Lord Wallace was widely respected and held in great affection, and his loss is acutely felt.
Early last year, he spoke on the House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill. As a long-standing elder and a former Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, he played an active, helpful role in the Church of Scotland (Lord High Commissioner) Bill. One was a controversial Bill, and the other had the support of the entire House; yet his approach and tone were exactly the same in each—thoughtful, level-headed and wise. Indeed, in that great way Jim had with words, he ended his contributions on the Church of Scotland Bill with a reference to the historic stain that the Bill removed, allowing Roman Catholics to hold the office of High Commissioner. He was looking forward to playing an active role as a member of the Joint Committee on Human Rights, where his legal background and sound judgment would have been a real asset.
A true believer in devolution, as we have heard, he was always willing to work across party boundaries and engage more widely to make progress. The noble Lord, Lord Robertson of Port Ellen, spoke with admiration of how they worked together to meet the challenge of bringing the Scottish Constitutional Convention to a consensus—no easy feat. The disparate nature of the various parties, churches and civil society meant that this was not going to be easy, and Jim’s acute political and legal skills, alongside his gentle, engaging manner, made for a formidable combination. They succeeded because they were of one mind, and I am told that they even decided the size of the Scottish Parliament over the late Lord Campbell of Pittenweem’s dinner table.
Earl Howe (Con)
My Lords, on behalf of these Benches I add my tribute to the late noble and learned Lord, Lord Wallace of Tankerness, and extend our sincere condolences to his wife and children, his friends, and indeed those colleagues closest to him in this House.
Lord Wallace’s extraordinary record as a dedicated public servant was not only long-standing but wide-ranging. Coming to political consciousness in his early teens, he campaigned for the Scottish Liberals in the 1970s, eventually being elected to the other place to succeed, as we have heard, Jo Grimond in representing the islands of Orkney and Shetland. He went on to lead the Scottish Liberal Democrats, helping to design the blueprint for devolution and steering the party through the 1997 referendum campaign.
In the new Scottish Parliament, he was appointed as the first ever Deputy First Minister, and indeed served on two occasions, as the Leader of the House mentioned, as Acting First Minister during that early heady period of home rule. Later, following his translation to your Lordships’ House—a place he termed “the Elysian fields of British politics”—he earned a further crown when he succeeded the noble Lord, Lord McNally, as leader of the Liberal Democrat Peers.
As a junior Minister, I had the privilege and pleasure of working alongside Jim during the years of coalition government, when he served as Advocate-General for Scotland—a role for which he was surely typecast. He was at all times—even at stressful times—modest, calm, congenial and genuinely collegiate, as well as politically and professionally sure-footed. Those skills were born of an acute intelligence. He possessed a wonderful knack of getting straight to the nub of a matter and setting out his arguments in a very few words, without ever seeming impatient. As has been noted in several obituaries over recent days, he was someone who was genuinely liked by people of all political persuasions and who was known for his ability never to let party get in the way of constructive dialogue and co-operation. In these more polarised times, we would do well to learn from his example.
It is those qualities, evidenced in his political career, that help us to understand Jim Wallace the man—someone whose values, as he said himself, were grounded in his religious faith. His father was an elder at Annan Old Parish Church and he was an elder and member of the choir at St Magnus Cathedral, Kirkwall. In 2021, he served the Church of Scotland as the Moderator of its General Assembly during the pandemic and, for this period, set aside his political affiliations. With the death of Jim Wallace, the Liberal Democrat Party and this House have lost a very valued friend and colleague. He will be greatly missed.
The Earl of Kinnoull (CB)
My Lords, with a heavy heart, I rise on behalf of these Benches to pay tribute to the noble and learned Lord, Lord Wallace of Tankerness, and to extend our condolences to his wife Rosie and family. His courtesy and genial nature were at the core of his approach to everything in a record that spanned many decades and had many facets.
We were the third legislative chamber to benefit from his wisdom and gentle approach. As has been noted, he arrived off the back of great success in the Commons and at the Scottish Parliament. He also proved a most canny coalition government partner in Scotland. He became Scotland’s first Deputy First Minister in 1999, having negotiated various Liberal Democrat priorities into that first Scottish Government’s programme. In the Holyrood election of 2003, Liberal Democrat polling numbers actually rose—which has not always been their experience following a period of coalition.
Jim remained as Deputy First Minister and was again able to negotiate his priorities into the coalition agreement of that second Government. After stepping back from front-line Scottish Government and standing down as an MSP, he came here. Here I pause, as I reflect on Jim as a man of faith.
The Church of Scotland has had a Moderator since 1562. John Knox was the first, although I am not sure Moderator was the right word for him. Moderators generally serve for a year. In 464 years, there have been only three Moderators who were not ministers of the Kirk, one of whom served for only a month.
As the noble Earl, Lord Howe, said, Jim was our Moderator in 2021. A photograph at the opening of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland that year shows four obviously very happy people at the front door of Assembly Hall in Edinburgh. They were the Queen’s representative that year, who was Prince William, and Jim, Rosie and Nicola Sturgeon. To be able to bring warm and genuine smiles to those faces simultaneously was surely Jim’s magic and some improvement on John Knox’s approach. Needless to say, his year was a great success.
Jim had become Moderator because of his capacity as an elder of St Magnus Cathedral in Kirkwall. This brings me to Orkney. Not far from Kirkwall is Tankerness. As said, Jim represented Orkney for 18 years in the Commons, for eight years in the Scottish Parliament and, frankly, for another 18 years here in our Parliament. In Orkney he was immensely popular and passionate.
Here I will take a loop, in that, about three years ago, I went to buy a set of bagpipes in Glasgow. In the bagpipe shop, I met someone who had been born in Orkney and is a very well-known piper in Scotland. Indeed, I had gone to that bagpipe shop because he was an Atholl Highlander, so I could get a discount. He immediately asked, “Do you know Jim Wallace?” so I said, “Yes, absolutely”, and he told me just how popular Jim was in Orkney. He was immensely popular, he was passionate and he was a genuine Orcadian.
I close with his words, said in December in St Magnus Cathedral at the 50th anniversary celebrations of the Orkney Islands Council:
“So what do I conclude from my experiences of representing Orkney and working with councillors and successive governments? In a nutshell it is that people matter”.
That is good guidance for us all.
The Lord Bishop of Manchester
My Lords, from these Benches, I associate my comments and condolences with those who have previously spoken. Lord Wallace was kind, welcoming and generous to new Bishops joining this House. Both he and his wife Rosie are extraordinary people. He in particular made a significant impact on shaping the very culture and society in Scotland we see today across the whole trinity—if I may use a word dear to him—of law, politics and church. His two main belief systems were indeed the Church and politics. They supported each other, and although, as we have heard, he never served as a minister in the religious sense, he was ordained: he was an elder, and many across Orkney and beyond have reported how pertinent and encouraging his sermons and hominies were.
Lord Wallace took his spiritual duties especially seriously, never compromising his faith to his other priorities, but notably fulfilling the Sunday elder’s duty at St Magnus Cathedral even during parliamentary election campaigns. I am not sure what his party machine thought of that, but as has been mentioned already, he once remarked that he found the Church of Scotland General Assembly more awe-inspiring to address than the House of Commons. I trust he is now debating in an even more inspiring chamber than any earthly one. While I am unconvinced that any of us on these Benches would be of quite the same view when comparing Parliament to the Church of England General Synod, it is perhaps that generosity which underlines why one political reporter notably described Jim as Scotland’s favourite uncle.
Lord McConnell of Glenscorrodale (Lab)
My Lords, I am very grateful for the opportunity to follow these eloquent tributes on all sides to my friend, Lord Jim Wallace, and to extend my sympathy to Rosie, Helen, Clare and the family following his tragic death last week. I am also very grateful to have spent four years of my life with him as my Deputy First Minister and for all that we were able to do together.
The then Jim Wallace co-led the Scottish Constitutional Convention with my noble friend Lord Robertson. I am sure he would agree that without the input, determination, pragmatism and principle of Lord Wallace, the Scottish Constitutional Convention would not have produced the scheme that became the Scottish Parliament and united Scotland behind the biggest constitutional change this country had seen since universal suffrage. He co-led the yes campaign in a referendum to secure that Parliament, and, in 1999, following the first elections to the Parliament, became its first Deputy First Minister.
In many ways, he co-led the cabinet that so many of us who are now here served in. He was partnered during that time to two shadow Secretaries of State for Scotland and a Secretary of State for Scotland. He was deputy to three First Ministers, a Minister for Justice and a Minister for Enterprise. He was acting First Minister on two occasions, and he was dependable, trustworthy and very, very good in the Chamber.
He passed the first legislation—I often claim to have passed the first legislation as Finance Minister in the Parliament back in 1999, and mine was the first planned legislation, but he was actually first, if we tell the truth. Following the walking free from Carstairs of a very dangerous man called Noel Ruddle in August 1999, a month into his job as Justice Minister, Jim Wallace had to prepare emergency legislation to close a loophole linked to the ECHR and deliver the Mental Health (Public Safety and Appeals) (Scotland) Act 1999. He did so with a calmness and a clarity that we all saw and recognised in this Chamber over recent years.
But that was only the start, because no other Minister carried as much change improving lives in Scotland in that first four-year Parliament. In his role as Justice Minister, he revelled in the opportunity to use the powers of the new Parliament to modernise Scottish law in a way that had been impossible for the absence of time here at Westminster in the decades previously.
He delivered more Bills than any other Minister in that Cabinet by a long way—from family law to court reform, judicial reform, land reform, freedom of information, adults with incapacity, investigatory powers, police and fire service reform, sexual offences and marriage reform. As Deputy First Minister, he was not afraid to lead and was willing to do things together, whether that was setting targets for renewables ahead of the rest of the United Kingdom or banning smoking in public places, as we did towards the end of his time as Deputy First Minister.
He had a great sense of duty, but he was also great fun. His colleagues tell a great story about him. There was a charity event at his local school in Orkney. Someone challenged him to have his legs waxed as a contribution to their fundraising. He agreed and, despite his screams, completed the task. The school received a big donation. The school pupil who had conducted the ceremony and tipped the wax across his legs was Neil Gray, who many years later became Health Secretary for Scotland. He has certainly had a few close shaves in recent years.
Lord Stephen (LD)
I first met Jim Wallace 43 years ago. I recognised him. He was standing at a bus stop outside the Station Hotel in Aberdeen. He was a 28 year-old newly elected Member of Parliament. I was a 23 year-old Liberal councillor. He had no idea who I was, but I introduced myself and offered him a lift to his public meeting. Off we went. On the way, he told me stories about the great Jo Grimond. Grimond had said that he would never trust a Secretary of State for Transport until he saw them coming to debates by bus or on the Tube. Little did I know during that 20-minute conversation that Jim Wallace would go on to have such a profound effect on my life and, more importantly, such a huge impact on the life of our nations.
Let us, for one moment, set aside everything that Jim did in the Scottish Parliament. We will come back to that. Look only at his 18 years in the House of Commons as MP for Orkney and Shetland, as Chief Whip and in many Front-Bench roles. Then he spent 19 years in this House from 2007 until last week, as Minister and law officer, Advocate-General for Scotland, leader of the Liberal Democrats here and a year as Moderator of the General Assembly, when he stood down as a Liberal Democrat but never stopped being a liberal. All that—those 37 years alone—would amount to a remarkable political, parliamentary and Church career.
Of course, the Scottish Parliament was the pinnacle. From the start of his leadership of the Scottish Liberal Democrats in 1992, Jim moved steadily towards his pivotal role in shaping, delivering and then helping to lead the new Parliament. He worked very closely with George Robertson, now the noble Lord, Lord Robertson, with Donald Dewar and then, after Donald’s tragic death, with Jack McConnell, now the noble Lord, Lord McConnell. Jim had enormous respect for them all. The words of tribute from the noble Lord, Lord McConnell, have been even more poignant in the tragic circumstances of his own loss of his brother, which, by cruel coincidence, came on the very same day as Jim’s death. Our thoughts are very much with the noble Lord.
I had been elected to the other place in 1991 in a by-election and went to live during that time in a small room in Jim and Rosie’s London flat. Our friendship grew. Beyond politics, there were family visits to the Wallace home in Tankerness in Orkney. Jim was always great fun. Helen and Clare were young, and my children were even younger. They always called him Uncle Jim, and he would sing along to “Agadoo-doo-doo, push pineapple, shake the tree”, with the dance steps and the hand movements—I have the video. The low point in our relationship came in May 2000, when Jim presented the Scottish Cup to his team, Rangers, after they narrowly defeated my team, Aberdeen, 4-0. He was beaming as he handed over the trophy. I immediately sent him a text message encouraging him to smile less, but not using those words.
Jim met many remarkable people. He once hosted Kofi Annan at a United Nations dinner in New York and explained, of course, that he had been brought up in Annan in Dumfriesshire. Jim later ended the evening singing Burns songs and was delighted to discover that Kofi’s wife was called Nane. Obviously, out of respect, he said he resisted the temptation to sing anything with the words Nanannan.
Jim embodied the very best of politics, the very best of people He was courteous, collegiate and consensual, but with a strong and persuasive voice. He combined kindness with humility, authority with deep humanity. He held things together repeatedly at a time when the new Scottish Parliament was being tested to its limits, and he did more than that. He helped deliver many things, such as free personal care for the elderly, the abolition of tuition fees, a strong new freedom of information regime and PR for local government in Scotland. None of these things was easy.
Above all, it was not about the policies. Jim was about friendships, across all parties and places, about values and faith, and about family—most of all about family, Rosie and Helen and Clare, his brother Neil and, of course, his grandchildren Catriona, Ella and Adam. “It’s very special”, he said to me recently, “being a grandfather”. Jim Wallace, you too were very special, very loved, and you will be very dearly missed.
The Lord Speaker (Lord Forsyth of Drumlean)
My Lords, I would like to say a few words of my own in tribute to Lord Wallace of Tankerness, or Jim as he was known to his many friends both inside and outside Parliament and from all parts of the political spectrum. Lord Wallace lived a life of public service that stands as an example to us all, of dedication, hard work and love of his country. When he joined the House of Lords in 2007, after stepping down as an MSP, the deep emotional bond that this son of Dumfriesshire had forged with his island constituency was reflected in the title he chose for himself as Lord Wallace of Tankerness, of Tankerness in Orkney. As the convener pointed out, he was pretty popular there, achieving in the 1999 election for the MSP for Orkney a remarkable 67% of the votes.
Jim was a kind, devout and decent man and a good friend to me. At a time when politics is held in low esteem, he was a model of public service, a great parliamentarian both north and south of the border and one who adored this House of Lords. He was, as we say in Scotland, gathered much too early. He will be much missed and mourned by so many folk who held him in the highest regard. My most heartfelt sympathies go out to his wife Rosie and their loving family.