Report to the People
The Resignation of the First Minister
Henry McLeish's resignation as First Minister last Thursday and the events which led up to it, give us plenty of food for thought.
Henry was - or rather is - an ordinary, down to earth man. He might have been First Minister, but with no airs and graces he could have as easily been the man in the street, supermarket or social club. His dad was a miner and he got involved in politics, not for personal gain, but to help those he saw around him suffering injustice.
And his no-frills, no-nonsense style proved popular with the people. Since he took over as First Minister, his party's popularity increased while others declined. He presided over, amongst other things, the agreement to introduce free personal care, the measures to give concessionary fares to pensioners and reform of the SQA.
But this of course was not enough for certain sections of the press - notably those who never wanted the Scottish Parliament in the first place and have campaigned against it ever since its establishment. These papers, and their snobbish chattering class correspondents, could not accept that an ordinary man could ever lead his country.
"Where are his Oxbridge debating skills?" they sneered. "Where did he learn to talk like that? Can he even speak Latin?"
Being decent, honest and committed to improving the lives of the men, women and children he represented counted, apparently, for nothing.
And so it continued - the constant sniping and sniggering, chipping away at Henry’s self-confidence. It was hardly surprising, then, that when an administrative error at his constituency office was blown out of proportion, the situation rapidly spun out of control.
In the end it became intolerable. Henry resigned, not only to protect his wife and family, but to protect the office of First Minister and the reputation of the Scottish Parliament.
As he returns to the backbenches, it may be some comfort to reflect that not even the most vicious personal attacks in the past few weeks dared accuse Henry of being dishonest.
Indeed, in an age when "spin" is blamed for making people cynical about politicians, perhaps the greatest irony of this affair is that Henry was hounded out of office for his refusal to mislead the people.
In the end, his real failure was not dishonesty, but his inability to spin.
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