The Scottish Secretaries, by David Torrance

Feb 23 2007 Stirling Observer

Published by Birlinn, £30

THE real value of this work lies not in any of the individual accounts of the lives and experiences of the 39 men and one woman to hold the post of Scottish Secretary but what they suggest collectively about the political development of Britain in general and Scotland in particular.

Post-devolution the question of whether the Secretary of State is meant to be Scotland’s man in the Cabinet or vice versa is an ever more academic one.

What this text suggests, though, is that it’s not just the man in the street who has struggled with the dichotomy but also the post holders themselves and their political masters.

In many ways this hasn’t been a bad thing, as the somewhat strange fact of being responsible for a geographical area rather than a distinct policy sector has meant that more than most Scottish Secretaries have been free to make what they will of their job.

Of course the problem is that this only works to Scotland’s benefit if and when the individual in question is “fit for purpose”.

While, in the words of Harold Macmillan, “events, dear boy, events” can always unexpectedly throw any politician off-track the book is infused with the sense that the job has hardly attracted the most vibrant and able politicians of the day.

AJ Balfour went on to become Prime Minister and Donald Dewar was crowned unofficial Father of the Nation following his elevation to first First Minister, while John Reid and current secretary Douglas Alexander still swing high at the top of the government tree.

Torrance makes the case for several other strong performers in between and yet still the distinct lack of household names is glaring.

The post itself was created, or rather re-established, in the late 1800s (having been scrapped after the 1745 Jacobite uprising), not because it was felt vital that Scottish interests should be represented well at the highest level but simply as an expedient sop to once again nascent Celtic dissatisfaction. It was 1926 before the job was accompanied by a seat in Cabinet.

It is tempting in hindsight to view the fact of devolution as we now know it as an inevitable consequence of a slowly but constantly growing Scottish Office but, Torrance tells us, Tony Blair’s support for a Scottish parliament was every bit as cynical as the extra minister here, Scottish grand committee there, approach of his predecessors: just an expedient way of fending off the nationalists.

Generally light and pleasingly straightforward, this is an easily digestible account of a job surely soon destined for the dustbin of history.

The author makes his points simply and quietly, sometimes pithily and always entertainingly.