April 2024
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Monday May 27 2019
The Very Rev Dr Finlay Macdonald was Principal Clerk to the General Assembly from 1996-2010 and Moderator of the General Assembly in 2002.
Following the 1997 referendum which approved the setting up of a devolved Scottish Parliament, I was approached by Scottish Office civil servants seeking a temporary venue for the Parliament. The General Assembly Hall readily met such criteria as location in the heart of the Scottish capital, along with the space and amenity it offered as a purpose-built debating chamber. With colleagues from the then Board of Practice and Procedure I welcomed this approach and we agreed to explore the possibility further. After all, the Hall lay empty for much of the year and the prospect of such an arrangement appeared to offer a win-win outcome for both Church and Parliament.
And so it came to pass. Major changes were made to the Hall with the removal of the old green benches, many of which were sold as mementos of happy hours sitting on them. In their place came the new, hi-tech parliamentarians’ desks. A new public entrance was created off Milne’s Court allowing access straight to the visitors’ galleries. One particular feature, which soon became famous, was the black and white corridor, where MSPs gave media interviews. Indeed, by popular demand, a black and white corridor was installed in the new building at Holyrood.
On July 1, 1999 the Parliament was formally opened by Her Majesty the Queen (some preferred the term ‘re-convened’). From my seat in the gallery I was privileged to share in the proceedings, joining in the singing of the Hundredth Psalm and ‘A man’s a man for a’ that’. The latter started as a solo by Sheena Wellington, but it wasn’t long before everyone joined in.
One tricky issue for negotiation concerned accommodation for the General Assembly while Parliament was in occupation of the Hall. With goodwill all round this was soon resolved. In 1999 the Assembly met in the Edinburgh International Conference Centre. An amusing event occurred that year when a zealous parking attendant, unfamiliar with the Assembly, threatened to book the Lord High Commissioner’s car which was awaiting His Grace’s re-emergence. The chauffeur tried to explain, but this only made things worse as the parking attendant added: ‘and what’s more I’m booking you for not having a number plate’.
In May 2001 the Assembly was held in the Usher Hall. Some purists were concerned that, given the layout, an equerry had to enter the Hall to pass the Lord High Commissioner’s commission and the Queen’s Letter to the Principal Clerk. Normally these are handed down literally from the Throne Gallery. ‘Was this an incursion of the State into the affairs of the Church?’ the purists fretted.
With the Duke of Rothesay as Lord High Commissioner in 2000 and Her Majesty present in 2002, the Assembly appreciated having the use of its own Hall in those years, the Parliament re-locating temporarily to Glasgow in 2000 and Aberdeen in 2002.
Finally, it is of interest to note the different approach to parliamentary prayers between Westminster and Holyrood. In Westminster an Anglican chaplain conducts formal prayers before business. At Holyrood there is a weekly ‘Time for Reflection’ at which a speaker addresses members for up to four minutes on issues of faith. Contributors are chosen to represent the balance of religious belief according to the Scottish census. This led one wag to observe that the Scottish Parliament believes in both proportional representation and proportional prayer.
The Very Rev Dr Gilleasbuig Macmillan was the minister of St Giles’ Cathedral, where a service was held the night before the official opening of Parliament.
Two situations stand out in my memory of these two days. The first involved my greeting [First Minister] Donald Dewar at the west door of St Giles' as he arrived for the service. I think I expected him to be driven into the square in a big black car, but when he came, it was clear that he had walked, on his own, from his house in the New Town up the steps beside the National Gallery. We spoke for a little, and then he took out the paper on which was written the lesson he had been asked to read at the service. He pointed to a phrase, and asked 'What does that mean?' I realised there had been a mistake in the typing of the passage. It was from the Book of the Prophet Zechariah, including 'Thus saith the Lord of hosts; There shall yet old men and old women dwell in the streets of Jerusalem, and every man with his staff in his hand for very age. And the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in the streets thereof.'
Someone had changed 'for very age ' into 'for every age'. How many would have noticed there was something wrong?
The next day I sat in the Assembly Hall, and it happened that I was sitting beside the Very Rev Dr David Steel, to whom I had been a student assistant in Linlithgow, and then a probationer after I was licensed. It was a delight and privilege to sit with him before and during the ceremony.
Baroness (Annabel) Goldie was an MSP from 1999-2016 and leader of the Scottish Conservative Party from 2005-2011.
For me, the opening of the Scottish Parliament is a kaleidoscope of unforgettable moments. On the day of the procession up the Mound, there was a tangible sense of excitement, an awareness that history was being made and we rookie MSPs were part of it. The fly past by the Red Arrows, the Queen in a marvellous outfit of purples and greens to reflect the Scottish landscape, and a normally solemn and reserved Donald Dewar animated with a constant broad smile, not to mention the unbelievable crowds of people, all contributed to a rich tapestry of colour and occasion. The staff of Deacon Brodie’s pub were at an upper widow taking photographs and I was very proud that one depicting me was hung on a wall of the pub. I felt I had indeed arrived!
Equally vivid are my recollections of the institution, this new born Parliament. Across parties there was a camaraderie, a shared sense of excitement and anticipation. My friend the late Sir Alex Fergusson, subsequently a distinguished Presiding Officer, had mentioned to me that he thought we should have some form of daily prayers or worship and he was prepared to put a motion down to that effect. I had no hesitation in saying I would support him. As Christians we thought this a very desirable development for the new Parliament and a fairly uncomplicated proposition. On the latter assumption we were optimistic! Nonetheless the first debate in the Parliament was on a Motion in Alex’s name that at the start of each session we hold prayers on a non-denominational basis.
On May 18, 1999 for 48 minutes 16 MSPs, including me making my maiden speech, debated this motion with great spirit and passion covering a diversity of proposals and suggestions. It made the calling by Jesus of the twelve apostles seem relatively straightforward! Then because there was not unanimity on the motion there was a vote. With the support of 69 MSPs the motion was carried and Time for Reflection became an established feature of the weekly business. I think that first business got the Parliament off to a good start and continues to serve it well.
It was a privilege to be in the Scottish Parliament, conceived as a modern institution, evolving to establish its own identity and not slavishly following the practices of other places. It has its own character, over the years it has had its own dramas and it has passed a huge volume of legislation reaching into the lives of all who live in Scotland. It is embedded into Scottish public life. The first 20 years are impressive, it can look ahead with confidence to the future.
Baron (Jim) Wallace of Tankerness was an MSP from 1999-2007. As Leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats, he was Deputy First Minister until 2005.
Having been a Commissioner at two General Assemblies, I was amazed by the sight of a building transformed, when, in May 1999, I went to swear the oath for the first time as an MSP. It was still recognisably the General Assembly Hall, but a Hall refurbished, with a new lay-out – and a means of electronic voting!
The formal Opening of the Parliament by The Queen is a day etched in my memory - walking with my two daughters from the seat of the old Scots Parliament to our new temporary home; the stirring address by Donald Dewar; those present joining Sheena Wellington in the final verse of ‘A Man’s a Man’; the flypast by Concorde and young people from all parts of Scotland processing down the Mound. And being conscious that the challenging task of government lay ahead.
For the next five years, the Assembly Hall was to be my place of work. Legislation on land reform, simpler procedures for adults with incapacity, freedom of information, free personal care, national parks, abolition of the feudal system were all debated and passed there. There were moments of crisis, such as debates on the cost of the new Parliament at Holyrood; moments of comic-drama, when a colleague missed his question time because he was still eating a pie in the Parliament canteen. And there was a moment of utmost sadness, when I led the tributes after the tragic death of our first First Minister.
There were all the media interviews in the ‘Black and White Corridor’, so familiar to Assembly Commissioners. So today, at Westminster, when, amidst Parliamentary turbulence over Brexit, we watch politicians being interviewed in the Central Lobby, it’s worth reflecting on where the precedent was set for interviews so close to the scene of the Parliamentary action.
John Swinney MSP is Deputy First Minister of Scotland.
In the 1970s, I was one of thousands of members of the Boys’ Brigade who assembled in King Stables Road in Edinburgh for the Annual Founder’s Day Parade. Our uniforms polished to the best we, but often our mothers could manage, and led by our Pipe and Bugle Bands, we marched along Princes Street to the General Assembly Hall for the biggest day in the BB Calendar.
Little did I know then, that on July 1 1999, I would parade again to that majestic centrepiece of the Church of Scotland, as one of the first cohort of Members of the Scottish Parliament. It was a day of indescribable pride and joy.
Weeks earlier when Members were first sworn in, my dear colleague Winnie Ewing, an inspiration to many of us on the route to Scottish self-government, convened the Scottish Parliament for the first time. She recalled the men and women of all parties who had devoted themselves to this cause before announcing that the Scottish Parliament, adjourned in 1707, was now reconvened.
The Assembly Hall was refurbished for the arrival of Parliament. Gone was the Moderator’s ‘playpen’, that central area in front of the Moderator’s table, from which I heard great oratory on the BB Founder’s Day Parade.
Years later my wife, BBC correspondent Elizabeth Quigley, who covered many parts of the story of the re-establishment of the Parliament, was filming at the Grassmarket Project, run under the auspices of Greyfriars Kirk. She called me to say she had bought my Christmas present. It was a lamp, made from one of the spindles of the ‘playpen’. It was crafted by an individual given new hope and new life through the Grassmarket Project, living out the promise of the Christian message that is offered to us all.
Wendy Alexander was an MSP from 1999-2011 and leader of the Scottish Labour Party from 2007-2008.
This spring, as Brexit rages, it seems strange to celebrate a Parliament, but rejoice we should.
The call to ‘rejoice’ in politics is an epithet often associated with Margaret Thatcher whose premiership, and infamous Sermon on the Mound to the General Assembly, had helped swing the Scots decisively behind devolution.
So, it was fitting that the Assembly Hall, home to the General Assembly, which had so often functioned as a voice for the people since 1707, became the new Parliament’s first home, albeit with ugly Ikea-style fittings.
The first weeks were taken up with housekeeping, forming a coalition in Britain’s first proportionately elected Parliament and establishing a modus operandi. Hence the official opening presided over by The Queen on July 1 1999 is typically recalled as the beginning. The Queen was gracious, Sheena Wellington sang 'A Man’s a Man', and Donald Dewar offered a powerful oration that slipped into sermon.
This is about more than our politics and our laws. This is about who we are, how we carry ourselves. There is a new voice in the land, the voice of a democratic Parliament.
I sat listening dressed in scarlet. Not as a tribute to my political colours, but to my grandmother, who 30 years previously, had daringly worn scarlet amongst serried rows of serge clad commissioners when representing the Woman’s Guild. Scotland’s new Parliament had 37% women.
A Scottish Parliament. Not an end: a means to greater ends… the words of our mace … wisdom, justice, compassion, integrity….
I looked up recalling sitting in the gallery as a teenager, witnessing the fierce debates on anti-apartheid, nuclear weapons, around the deliverances of Church and Nation. Now it would be our turn…
The shout of the welder in the din of the great Clyde shipyards….
I thought of growing up in Clyde Street, the Glasgow base of the Iona Community, watching homes bulldozed around us and pondered all we might do to tackle rough sleeping, invest in housing associations, expand nursery places …
We are fallible. We will make mistakes.
My eyes drifted up to where the representatives of partner churches used to sit, now occupied by the press gallery. Would they show understanding of the new Parliament striving to find its feet?
We will work together to for a future built from the first principles of social justice ….
I thought about Donald, delivering this sermon to his new congregation of MSPs. A self-styled ‘cultural Presbyterian’, Donald bemoaned he could not find faith, whilst wishing he could. How would he cope with the demands of office, of the televisual age and of public expectation, particularly when the last two decades of campaigning against injustice had taken so much out of him already?
I look forward to the days ahead when this chamber will sound with debate, argument and passion …
I looked around, so many colleagues on all sides also marked by their Church connection: David Steel, Jim Wallace, Annabel Goldie, George Reid. This was different and it was quintessentially Scottish.
Two decades on, we should indeed rejoice we have a new voice in the land. And church people can be proud of their part of bringing the Parliament to life, providing its first home and working with it ever since.
This feature first appeared in May's Life and Work. Download or subscribe here.
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