'Je Ne Regrette Rien'

Tuesday January 31 2017

Tam Dalyell, the former MP for Linlithgow and West Lothian, died last week aged 84. In an interview with Life and Work published in 2004, he discussed the theology behind his anti-war principles, the famous West Lothian Question and how he wanted to be remembered as the saviour of an atoll in the Indian Ocean. By Lynne McNeil.

EVERY second is accounted for in the life of the veteran MP for Linlithgow, Tam Dalyell.

Questions are answered meticulously and carefully, as befits the Father of the House of Commons, who at 71, has served for 42 years as a Scots MP and has the dignified air expected of an Old Etonian.

In his long Parliamentary career the MP has garnered respect from voters of all persuasions for his willingness to follow his conscience and make a stand even against his own party. He has always been a fierce anti-war campaigner and doggedly pursued Baroness Thatcher over the sinking of the Argentine warship the General Belgrano during the Falklands War in 1982.

His views on war, which many commentators have claimed are Christian, are based on theology.

“I have been greatly guided by a Christian view going back to Aquinas and, indeed, Augustine, of the just war – that people should not launch wars unless everything possible has been done to avoid them.

“Now that applied to Mrs Thatcher and the Falklands. It certainly applies to Blair and Iraq.”

However, he is quick to emphasise that he is not anti-military.

“I wear the tie of the Scots Dragoon Guards. I am an honorary member of their mess. As I say the Aquinas view and similar theology has a lot to say about the just war. I think it is very much to the point. That, incidentally, is a view that is shared by many of the military.”

His opinions (excluding devolution) have often chimed with the Church of Scotland and he is undoubtedly a strong advocate of the Kirk and is fascinated by the intellectual challenges of theology.

He attends church in Linlithgow but has admitted he does not practise Christianity as often as his wife, Kathleen. He has visited the General Assembly and has been impressed with the debates he has witnessed.

Often portrayed as a dour, doughty independent campaigner, who is unafraid to speak his mind, he is possessed of a keen and sometimes self-deprecating sense of humour and high intelligence. He is perhaps best known as the architect of the so-called West Lothian Question, over the right of Scottish MPs to vote on English policy matters which will not affect their own constituents.

He alienated many in his own party in the 1970s with his opposition to devolution and insists the issue cannot be resolved.

Dalyell has himself taken a personal stand in Parliament and does not vote on matters of English policy, with one notable exception.

“On tuition fees I did vote against the government. I chair the Court of the University of Edinburgh and the University of Edinburgh is definitely going to be affected.”

While he is no fan of Prime Minister Tony Blair and remains ‘deeply angry’ with him over the Iraq war, he is insistent this did not influence his recent decision to step down at the next election.

“The decision to stand down was simply a question of age. I am now 71 and when you sign up it is a five-year contract. It is not just next year or rolling on. It is one thing to get up at 4.35am in the morning to get the 0635 British Midland shuttle to London when one is 71. I am not sure that it is sensible at 76.”

Perhaps a little careworn after such a length of service, he does not believe he will miss his life in the House.

“No I won’t miss the Commons. Je ne regrette rien. It is no good going along regretting things.”

The Cambridge-educated MP is also a 10th generation baronet (a title he does not use), who inherited the title from his mother’s family, who are descended directly from Thomas Dalyell, a 17th century Edinburgh trader and the better-known ‘Bluidy Tam’, a soldier famed for his repression of the Covenanters and who, according to popular legend, regularly played cards with the devil. The family seat is the House of the Binns, which Dalyell’s grandparents entrusted to the National Trust of Scotland.

Dalyell went to university after two years of national service in the Royal Scots Greys and famously became President of the University Conservative Association.

He attributes his change in political colours to Labour in the 1950s amid rising unemployment in Scotland and the Suez Crisis.

Asked if he ever expected his Commons career to span more than four decades, he says: “I never take any election for granted. Dame Sarah Barker, who was then the national agent of the Labour Party, said to me during the course of the West Lothian by-election in 1962: ‘You are a very lucky young man. You could become Father of the House of Commons if you behave yourself.’”

But despite a 42-year stint in the Commons, he has enjoyed senior office for only two years (he was the Labour shadow spokesman on science under Michael Foot, but lost the post for his opposition to the Falklands War).

Moving away from Westminster is not something which will dominate his thoughts for the foreseeable future.

“I haven’t thought about retirement. It is a psychological thing that if you start thinking about retirement as an MP you cease to focus on being an MP. I have seen this happen so often. You know, I would like to go out doing the job.”

Over the years he has also established a reputation as a notable writer – he is the author of several volumes and has become a prolific obituary writer for The Independent.

He explains: “I have a very strong view that people who have contributed to society should be properly remembered in obituaries.

“I have very often consulted with the family that it is acceptable. I have never yet been refused by the family. I have declined to do certain obituaries where I cannot marry candour with the decencies of an obituary. An obituary is not a place to take out past scores.”

Asked what he would most like to be remembered for evokes a surprising response. It is not for his most famous contributions to political history in the shape of the West Lothian Question, or his attacks on Baroness Thatcher that he wishes to be remembered, but for his successful battle to save the Indian Ocean atoll Aldabra from development as a military airport.

“Without my activity it would have been turned into a runway for a base and this ecological jewel in the Indian Ocean would have been destroyed.”

As I prepare to leave, he produces a copy of Life & Work and tells me he is a regular reader. There are a few moments of silence before he explains his interest in theology, fostered during his Cambridge years.

I ask him where he stands theologically.

He considers the question and responds with typical Dalyell honesty and awkwardness: “I’m a believer.”