That is a question every Nationalist of a certain age can answer.\u00a0 I wish I could tell you that I was at the Hamilton Count!\u00a0 Alas, however, I was 3,000 miles away in Dover, Delaware.\u00a0 I had joined the Party in Ayr two years previously \u2013 but here I was in bloody Delaware when all was happening for the SNP!\u00a0 However, it was world news, and I remember NBC covering Winnie\u2019s triumphant train journey to Westminster and the tears of joy were running down my face.<\/p>\n
I returned from exile the next year and things were still buzzing with Winnie taking Westminster on single-handedly!\u00a0 I got to know Winnie very well in the coming years.\u00a0 She has always been a supporter of women in our party and I was no exception.\u00a0 I was her guest in Strasbourg on a number of occasions and there, I witnessed first hand the hard work she did on Scotland\u2019s behalf and also the high esteem in which Madame Ecosse was held in the European Parliament.\u00a0 To say she raised our profile in those corridors of power was putting it mildly!\u00a0 There did not seem to be a nation whose parliamentarians did not enthuse about Winnie \u2013 with the notable exception of the Tories from the Shires, who were so rude when she spoke in the chamber \u2013 \u201cgreater fear has no man than the fear of\u00a0 this woman daring to upset their cosy sinecures!\u201d<\/p>\n
One of my fondest memories was my trip with Winnie to Orkney and Shetland.\u00a0 I was her \u201cwarm-up\u201d act on the speaking tour!\u00a0 We met Ally Bain on our flight from the mainland and we had a \u201cwee dram\u201d on the plane.\u00a0 Nobody had told this Sumburgh Virgin (sic!) about the difficulties of landing in crosswinds.\u00a0 The plane suddenly dropped onto the runway \u2013 Winnie and Ally spilled not a drop.\u00a0 I, of course, trailed through the airport smelling like the proverbial brewery!!<\/p>\n
The halls we spoke in were packed to the rafters. Once again the warmth towards Winnie was awesome.\u00a0 I learned so much about constituency work from Winnie.\u00a0 She answered every letter personally, wrote to children who had won prizes, wrote sympathy letters and when it came to knocking doors and greeting people during street work, I would contend that she still has no equal.<\/p>\n
Winnie loves fun, and fun was what we had during two wonderful Hogmanays spent with Stewart and herself at Miltonduff.\u00a0 Again, at New Year\u2019s Day Lunch in Elgin Golf Club,we were surrounded by people wanting to shake hands with Winnie. To Winnie there is no such thing as a private event!<\/p>\n
But it was when we were both elected to the first Scottish Parliament in 1999 that I really appreciated why Winnie was an icon in our Party.\u00a0 Much has been written in recent days of her opening words in the Parliament.\u00a0 \u201cThe Scottish Parliament, adjourned on the 25th<\/sup> of\u00a0 March 1707, is hereby reconvened\u201d \u2013 there was not a dry eye on the SNP benches when we heard those words.\u00a0 Typically for Winnie, she always credited those words to Dr. Robert MacIntyre (the SNP\u2019s first MP).\u00a0 She told us that, she has visited \u201cDoc Mac\u201d shortly before his death and he said \u201csay these words at the Opening if you get the chance\u201d.\u00a0 That she certainly did!<\/p>\n I could go on forever on this subject, but I will close with an example of Winnie\u2019s sheer professionalism.\u00a0 In my role of Chief Whip, I used to go into the chamber of a morning about 9.15 am for the debate starting at 9.30am.\u00a0 My job being to \u201ccount heads!\u201d\u00a0 One head I never had to count was that of Dr. Winifred Ewing ,\u00a0 She was always already in the Chamber greeting me with the words \u201cGood morning Madame Whip \u2013present and voting!\u201d\u00a0 If only some of the others had been so inclined!<\/p>\n You stopped the world Winnie \u2013 we are nearly there.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" That is a question every Nationalist of a certain age can answer.\u00a0 I wish I could tell you that I was at the Hamilton Count!\u00a0 Alas, however, I was 3,000 miles away in Dover, Delaware.\u00a0 I had joined the Party in Ayr two years previously \u2013 but here I was in bloody Delaware when all was happening for the SNP!\u00a0 However, it was world news, and I remember NBC covering Winnie\u2019s triumphant train journey to Westminster and the tears of joy were running down my face. I returned from exile the next year and things were still buzzing with Winnie taking Westminster on single-handedly!\u00a0 IRead More →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[218],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1989"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1989"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1989\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1991,"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1989\/revisions\/1991"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1989"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1989"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1989"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}