Christopher Hitchens on the SNP (New Statesman 6 June 1975)
December 20, 2011 by David Torrance
Chameleon on a Tartan Rug
Christopher Hitchens
The referendum produced some fairly extraordinary campaign slogans, from the egregious ‘Leave the Market and Join the World’ to the Young Tories’ tasteful evocation of Belsen victims. But the most unusual so far, and surely the hardest to chant at a rally, is: ‘No to the EEC. On anybody else’s terms.’ Some will recognise, in the deliberate ambiguity of this effort, the hand of the Scottish National Party.
During the course of their annual conference in Perth last weekend, this nuance both annoyed and escaped Mr Donald Stewart, leader of the SNP Parliamentary Party and MP for the Western Isles. ‘Why should the position of the Nationalists be anything other than an uncomplicated “no”?’ he demanded. ‘Has the Scottish National Party been fighting for 50 years to return decision-making to the Scottish people only to hand it on a plate to the Brussels conspiracy?’ Stewart is famous as a fundamentalist and uncomplicated man himself, but it is an open secret that many members of his party leadership are quite happy with any result. The ideal, of course, would be for a Scottish ‘no’ and a UK ‘yes’, because then they could claim Scotland had been shanghaied by Sassenach votes.
True, opinion polls showed a narrow ‘yes’ north of the border, with only Lothians deciding against. But at the very least there will be a very respectable ‘no’ vote in Scotland, where the Establishment does not command the awe which it does among English voters. In any case many SNP leaders have long since decided that they would rather negotiate with Brussels over the head of Westminster than spend any more time asking for ‘London concessions’. They even plan to ask for seating at the Council of Ministers and a veto in its proceedings, which while far-fetched at least sustains the impetus which other Market forces will probably have lost.
In Scotland the Labour and Tory parties are in great disarray, with the Conservatives running third to SNP in total votes, and Labour only 150,000 votes ahead of it. Every crack and creak in the British economy strengthens the Nationalist view that they should ‘quit the sinking ship’. There were ironic jeers and cheers last weekend when a conference speaker pointed out that the Government White Paper had assured voters that ‘English common law will not be affected’ by the EEC.
It does not really matter to them which way the referendum goes: they will still have the initiative. Of course they are wildly opportunist, with a ‘something for everyone’ strategy that reminds one of a chameleon trying to blend itself into a tartan rug. But the disagreements are carefully handled and concealed. Their leading contact in the business community, Douglas Crawford MP, was unwise enough to leak a document drawn up by merchant bankers and businessmen which virtually described an independent Scotland as a tax-haven tied to the English pound. This overt affirmation of petty-bourgeois aspirations was too much for delegates who roundly condemned such frankness. They also condemned the small but significant group who had gone for trial a few weeks before under the title ‘Army of the Provisional Government’. But the readiness of even a tiny few Scots to use violence in pursuit of nationhood is a straw in the wind.
The clear hope of the anti-devolutionists is that the political differences among Nationalists will make themselves felt before independence can be achieved, rather than after, as the SNP envisage. The Assembly concession has this possibility partly in mind. But past experience suggests that, as in the case of the Highlands and Islands Development Board, expectations once raised are hard to defuse. Which is why the Left in Scotland has been forced to look to its laurels. A recent ‘Red Paper’ on every subject from literature to oil, and including devolution and land, uses ‘Scotland’ as its term of reference and tried to give a socialist character to the nationalist upsurge. Numerous radical journals, from community efforts like the West Highland and For William Free Presses to Calgacus and Scottish Marxist are also attempting to cut with the grain.
Recently, one of the more right-wing SNP leaders was given the job of organising the annual Bannockburn commemoration. Addressing a meeting, he appealed for funds and efforts in order to ‘make this the best Bannockburn ever’. A dour silence was ended by one delegate saying: ‘Second best, ye mean.’ The referendum is only a hiccup in the rapid transformation of Scottish politics.
ENDS
Great Scottish Speeches
March 30, 2011 by David Torrance
Adam Smith (?)
Sir Alec Douglas-Home (speech urging a ‘no’ vote in the 1979 devolution referendum)
Alex Salmond (speech during 1992 Usher Hall debate on Scotland’s future)
Alex Salmond (speech on winning 2007 election)
Alick Buchanan-Smith (speech supporting devolution in 1976)
Andrew Carnegie (on wealth)
Arthur James Balfour (1910 speech on British foreign policy)
Billy Graham (sermon to 1955 rally at Ibrox Stadium)
Calgacus (‘Scotland free or a desert’)
Charles I (speech prior to his execution)
Charles Kennedy (speech at 2001 general election rally)
David Hume (?)
David Kirkwood (speech at 1917 Labour Party conference)
David Steel (‘rocky road’ leader’s speech in 1976)
Donald Dewar (speech at John Smith’s funeral)
Donald Dewar (moving second reading of Scotland Bill, 1998)
Donald Dewar (speech at opening of Scottish Parliament)
Duchess of Atholl (maiden speech in House of Commons)
Duke of Edinburgh (?)
Edward Heath (Declaration of Perth, 1968)
Edward Rosslyn Mitchell (speech opposing prayer book, 1928)
Florence Horsbrugh (1936 speech proposing the Debate on the Address, the first woman to do so)
Frederick Douglass (black American social reformer, 1843 speech in Dundee)
George Buchanan (1942 Commons speech)
George Cunningham (speech proposing amendment to 1979 devolution referendum)
George Galloway (opening statement to US Senate)
George MacLeod (1954 General Assembly speech opposing nuclear weapons)
George Reid (2003 Scottish Parliament speech opposing war in Iraq)
Gordon Brown (resignation speech, 2010)
H H Asquith (resignation speech as Liberal leader, Greenock, 1926)
H H Asquith (Paisley by-election speech, 1920)
Hamish Henderson (peace address, 1950)
Harry Hopkins (speech in Glasgow pledging US support during war)
Helen Crawfurd (speech during Glasgow rent strike, 1915)
Henry George (American political economist, 1884, Edinburgh)
Henry McLeish (resignation speech/speech supporting free personal care)
Holy Willie’s Prayer (Burns poem)
Hugh MacDiarmid (‘a political speech’, 1968)
Iain Gray (2010 Labour conference speech)
J M Barrie (‘Courage’ rectorial speech, 1922)
Jack McConnell (?)
James Connolly (speech in Dublin, 1914)
James Douglas-Hamilton (speech opposing Act of Settlement)
James Ramsay MacDonald (speech prior to becoming first Labour Prime Minister, 1924)
James Renwick (last speech, 1688)
James Wilson (High Court, 1820)
Jean Brodie (speech on being sacked)
Jenny Geddes (‘daur ye say Mass in my lug’)
Jim Sillars (House of Commons, 1988)
Jim Telfer (1997 ‘Everest’ speech)
Jimmy Reid (UCS ‘no bevvying’ speech)
Jimmy Reid (‘rat race’ Glasgow rectorial speech)
Jo Grimond (‘towards the sound of gunfire’ conference speech)
Jock Stein (Lisbon, 1967)
John Bannerman (maiden speech, House of Lords)
John Buchan (1932 Commons speech on Scottish Home Rule)
John Buchan (1927 maiden speech, House of Commons)
John Knox (1550 sermon)
John MacCormick (1950 Glasgow rectorial speech)
John Maclean (speech from the dock, 1916 or 1918)
John Major (‘save the union’ 1992)
John McAllion (speech against warrant sales?)
John P Mackintosh (speech on Scotland and Wales Bill, 1976)
John Reith (House of Lords speech opposing commercial television, 1952)
John Smith (1993 Commons speech on Queen’s Speech)
John Smith (final speech, 1994)
John Wheatley (1923 speech on Housing Bill)
Keir Hardie (1901 Commons speech on a ‘socialist commonwealth’)
Keir Hardie (1892 maiden speech in House of Commons)
Keith O’Brien (2004 speech to General Assembly)
Kenyon Wright (Scottish Constitutional Convention speech, ‘we say yes and we are the people’)
King Charles II (1650 apology to Scottish parliamentarians)
Lord Balmerino (1746 speech prior to execution)
Lord Belhaven (speech opposing union of England and Scotland, 1706)
Lord Birkenhead (1923 Glasgow rectorial speech, ‘glittering prizes’)
Lord Glencorse (1857 speech in defence of Madeleine Smith)
Lord Rosebery (tribute to Robert Burns)
Lord Rosebery (‘a clean slate’, 1901 Chesterfield speech)
Macbeth (‘is this a dagger which I see before me?’)
Malcolm Muggeridge (1968 speech resigning as Rector of Edinburgh University)
Malcolm Rifkind (1979 speech moving repeal of the Scotland Act)
Margaret Thatcher (1982 Scottish Tory conference speech during Falklands crisis)
Margaret Thatcher (1988 ‘Sermon on the Mound’)
Margo MacDonald (Holyrood speech proposing right to die)
Michael Davitt (1887 speech on land reform in Portree)
Mick McGahey (1985 speech after miners’ strike)
Mick McGahey (1968 STUC speech on devolution)
Mick McGahey (1963 STUC speech opposing Polaris)
Nelson Mandela (1993 speech in Glasgow)
Noel Skelton (on a ‘property-owning democracy’, 1925, House of Commons)
Norman Willis (1988 TUC speech on Ford Dundee debacle, ‘never again’)
Pastor Jack Glass (sermon)
Paul Henderson Scott (1989 Dundee rectorial speech)
Paul Robeson (1960 Glasgow May Day rally speech)
Pope John Paul II (speech to the young people of Scotland, Murrayfield, 1982)
R B Cunninghame-Graham (Speech at Bannockburn rally, 1930)
R F Mackenzie (1974 speech on sacking as headteacher at Summerhill School)
Renton (‘it’s crap being Scottish’ speech from Trainspotting)
Rev James Barr (1927 speech moving Home Rule Bill in House of Commons)
Rev James Whyte (sermon at memorial for victims of the Dunblane massacre)
Richard Hamilton (Sanquhar Declaration, 1680)
Richard Rumbold (1685 speech from the scaffold)
Robert Boothby (1954 speech advocating a commission on homosexuality)
Robert Colquhoun (sermon from Sunset Song)
Robert Louis Stevenson (1873 address to the Speculative Society)
Robert McIntyre (1945 maiden speech, House of Commons)
Robin Cook (resignation speech)
Robin Cook (1980 Commons speech moving amendment to Justice Bill to decriminalize homosexual acts in Scotland)
Robin Cook (1996 Commons speech on the Scott Report)
Russell Johnston (1976 speech on the ‘fundamentals of Liberalism’)
Sir Alex Ferguson (1999 European Cup final)
Sir Archibald Sinclair (1938 Commons speech opposing Munich Agreement)
Sir Compton Mackenzie (1932 Glasgow rectorial address)
Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman (1901 speech opposing Boer War)
Sir John Cope (Battle of Prestonpans, 1745)
Sir Walter Scott (defence of Scottish legal traditions, 1807)
Sorley MacLean (speech in honour of Hugh MacDiarmid, Langholm, 1985)
Tam Dalyell (1977, ‘the West Lothian Question’)
Thabo Mbeki (speech to Scottish Parliament)
Thomas Carlyle (1866 Edinburgh rectorial address)
Thomas Carlyle (‘great men’, 1840 speech)
Thomas Chalmers (1843 speech following Disruption)
Thomas Johnston (1943 speech on hydro-electricity)
Thomas Muir (at trial for sedition)
Tommy Sheridan (2000 Scottish Parliament speech proposing abolition of warrant sales)
Tommy Sheridan (2006 speech after winning case against News of the World)
Wendy Wood (1961 speech to General Assembly of the Church of Scotland)
William S Burroughs (speech to 1961 International Writers’ Conference in Edinburgh)
William Gladstone (1879 Midlothian speech)
William McIlvanney (1987 speech, ‘stands Scotland where it did?’)
Willie Gallacher (Debate on the Address, 1935)
Willie Ross (speech opposing Nationalism, STUC, 1968)
Winnie Ewing (1967 maiden speech)
Winston Churchill (1941 speech at Glasgow City Chambers)
Winston Churchill (1908 Dundee speech on ‘Liberalism and Socialism’)
Salmond: Against the Odds review (from the Scots Independent Nov 2010)
November 5, 2010 by David Torrance
Reviewed by Paul Henderson Scott
Although at least two other writers are said to have been working on a biography of Alex, this is the first to appear. It is a very thorough and conscientious study, with the list of sources alone amounting to 36 pages. Since David Torrance's previous biographies have been of George Younger and Margaret Thatcher I have tended to assume that he shared their Toryism, but there is no sign of that in this book. In a note at the beginning of the book he says that Alex 'did not wish to co-operate directly, but he neither hindered my researches or made any attempt to stop me speaking to friends and colleagues'. Torrance does not reveal his own political views, but he does tell us that his father has been a member of the SNP since the mid 1960s.
The book begins with an account of Alex's childhood in Linlithgow and as a student in St Andrews University where he studied Scottish history under Professor Geoffrey Barrow, the author of Robert Bruce and the Community of the Realm of Scotland. Alex said that this was "the best book about Scottish history ever written." Years later Barrow told me that Alex had been "his star student and that it was obvious that he was going places". He clearly made a similar impression when he was working as an economist with the Royal Bank before he left to devote himself to politics and the recovery of Scottish independence.
From this point, the book is a detailed account of Alex's political career which is, I think, fair-minded and accurate. Torrance stresses Alex's formidable abilities from his maiden speech in the House of Commons, which he says was "assured, articulate and clear-minded". In the pages which follow Torrance is critical of some episodes, but these are overshadowed by his frank admiration of Alex's abilities. He says that he is "agile minded" and "exudes reason and authority". In his last chapter he says: "In company Salmond can be charming, intelligent, diverting and intriguing. He is without doubt one of the closest and most thoughtful observers of the political scene…He is, in short, an immensely attractive figure…His place in history is secure as a result of the 2007 Holyrood election, which was above all a significant personal victory." He even says that "it is tempting to liken him to Robert the Bruce". It is true, of course, that Salmond has the same objective as Bruce, to secure the independence of Scotland. But, unlike Bruce, he does not need to take arms against an invading army, but only to convince the electorate of an urgent and overwhelming need.
Scottish Tories
October 14, 2010 by David Torrance
There has been much speculation of late as to the Prime Minister's view of the Scottish Conservative Party. There's an interesting take on this in a new book on the Conservatives, 'Back From The Brink', by the historian and journalist Peter Snowdon. He quotes (p247) from a conversation with George Bridges, now (I think) a UK Government special adviser, about attempts to engage with the Scottish party after David Cameron became leader:
"The organisation up there was completely ramshackle," recalls Bridges. "They didn't understand what we were trying to do at all, and I had absolutely no control up there as Director of Campaigns. It was a complete struggle, so they employed an extra person for us to liaise with, but it didn't make much of a difference."
That 'extra person' was presumably Michael Crow, my erstwhile STV colleague and former Director of Communications and Strategy for the Scottish Conservative Party.
Cybernats – a Scottish political phenomenon
October 10, 2010 by David Torrance
It was, I think, the noble Lord Foulkes who coined the memorable term ‘cybernats’. The Scotsman’s David Maddox likened them to an army who ‘launch daily, sustained attacks on journalists, politicians and anybody else perceived to stand in the way of their cherished aim of independence, or who raises even the mildest criticism of Alex Salmond or the SNP’.
And so it proves with Scotland on Sunday’s serialisation of my new biography of the First Minister. To be fair, the comments quoted below attached themselves to a ‘news’ take on an excerpt from the book, which – as news stories often do – dispensed with important context, although it did contain the main point of the wider piece, that Alex Salmond can be aggressive and treat his staff badly.
Even at 1 a.m. this morning, barely half an hour after the stories appeared online, the cybernats got to work. Initially, these were reasonable prosaic. ‘Scottish republic’ reckoned that all ‘political leaders lose their temper. I don’t want a shrinking violet breaking up the union.’Another posting, by ‘samcoldstream’, raised the inevitable Andrew Rawnsley/Gordon Brown analogy, which is more flattering to yours truly than the First Minister. ‘We forget that politicians do not have feet of clay,’ he added thoughtfully. ‘Every Prime Minister since the War, including Churchill, Eden, MacMillan [sic], and even the meek and timid Atlee [sic], could burst into foul mouthed rages.’ I suspect samcoldstream hasn’t read much post-war political biography. Churchill could explode, certainly, as could Eden, but Macmillan was caustic rather than aggressive, and Attlee blunt rather than bullying.
‘Shawfield Urchin’ then offered a biography of Iain Gray: ‘He came, he saw then he went away again, without anyone realising he had ever been here in the first place.’ Not bad, although I suspect a publisher would require a bit of padding. Then the personal abuse began. ‘Calimero’, who has attacked me in the past without ever revealing his or her identity, concluded that ‘from the Tory supporting [sic] David Torrance this amounts to a tour de force effort for his first novel [sic]’. ‘I am absolutely certain it will fly off the shelves of the odd airport lounge – never to be read,’ he or she adds. ‘If this “exclusive extract” is anything to go by I think I’ll stick to the Beano.'
Not all comments were hostile. The bizarrely-named ‘Your Move’ had a slightly different take, believing that ‘Salmond’s many frustrations are absolutely understandable’. ‘The quality of his elected members is lamentable, the quality of his support is beneath contempt, particularly the online variety,’ he or she added. ‘He has no hope of gaining Scottish Independence, his lifelong aspiration and he is going to be out on his bahookey next May.’ Bahookey? Definitions on a postcard please.
‘Cane Corso Italiano’, meanwhile, pointed out that none ‘of the Salmond mob have leapt to the defence of the Great Leader, or, even attempted to deny it’. Generously he adds: ‘this biography has the ring of truth in these revelations. I expect this is just the tip of a Salmond proportioned iceberg.’ ‘Your Move’ concurred: ‘If this story is false, Salmond should sue the author, David Torrance, Tom Peterkin above and the SOS. Or, do the typically Salmond thing and bluster about doing something; issue a SNP type Fatwa that will terrify those responsible, something.’ Dear reader, I have yet to receive a Fatwa.
‘Linda’ then revived the cybernat abuse. ‘If this is the most damaging tittle tattle SoS or David Torrance can dig up’, she wrote, ‘then Alex Salmond’s position as Scotland’s outstanding politician is secure for years to come.’ Likewise, ‘Kinghobe’ said the article was ‘just a load of made up bull, a sad attempt to taint Alex Salmond’s leadership’. He also hoped the ‘biography’ (which for some reason he puts in inverted commas) ‘does rubbish as far as sales go’. I’m guilty, apparently, of concocting a ‘weirdo interpretation’ that amounts to a ‘load of lowbrow kak’. ‘[S]ome unofficial “biographer” has been left to make up stuff because the information and cooperation is lacking.’ Another commenter, ‘wdy’, is more succinct: ‘What a load of rubbish…Absolute nonsense. Made up rubbish.’
Finally, there was some sanity – relatively speaking – from ‘Brianwci’. ‘The pressure of all leaders is incredible, rage allows sanity to be maintained. It’s a safety valve,’ he muses. ‘In Salmond’s case his people skills clearly outweight [sic] his minuses. That combined with his political plusses makes him a major asset to Scotland and the SNP…Salmond is [a] very bright, great political strategist but more importantly he can connect with the voters. I think we can forgive him his safety valve tantrums, though we wouldn’t expect the BritNats to do so.’
Then the charming ‘Fifi la Bonbon’ came to my defence. ‘Mr Torrance is a long established, serious and distinguished writer who has published books on Margaret Thatcher, Harold MacMillan [sic], and the Secretaries of State for Scotland, and this is just the latest of these. He doesn’t write hagiographies.’ Aw, shucks. She then offered a cybernat biography of Salmond: ‘Once upon a time, in a humble cottage in Linlithgow, the Greatest Living Scotsman was born. A strange golden light shone out of his nappy, bathing the faces of his proud parents with a warm glow…’ I fear I might have competition.
Now for the serious bit. Back in September 2008, the political journalist Douglas Fraser offered this parting shot on his Herald blog:
These online discussion forums have taught me quite a bit – rarely about politics, but much more about the disturbing results you get from the interplay of anonymity, group psychology and bullying. This is not unique to The Herald’s website, or to Scottish politics, but as the content and tone of this conversation represents a daily injection of poison into the well of Scottish public life, we are all worse off for it.
Too true. I don’t mind people criticising what I write, but that comes with certain qualifications. Criticism, particularly of a book that is the result of more than a year of (I hope) serious research, ought to at least be considered. Dismissing my conclusions on Salmond’s character as ‘made up’ or ‘tittle tattle’ just isn’t good enough; critics need to present proof that it is so, which tellingly none of them have. They should also do so – particularly if they resort to abuse – under their real names. I offer my thoughts as ‘David Torrance’; they should offer theirs without the cloak of anonymity.
ENDS