Politics / Tributes paid to former MP Jim Wallace
TRIBUTES have been paid to former Northern Isles MP Jim Wallace, who has died at the age of 71.
His family confirmed that he died as a result of complications from surgery.
Wallace, also a former deputy first minister of Scotland, held the Orkney and Shetland seat at Westminster for the Liberal Democrats for 18 years after being elected in 1983, succeeding Jo Grimond.
After becoming leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats in 1992, he led the party through the Scottish devolution referendum in 1997, having also been a member of the Scottish Constitutional Convention which created the blueprint for devolution and a Scottish Parliament.
Wallace was elected as MSP for Orkney and became deputy first minister of Scotland, serving in government from 1999 to 2005.
He entered the House of Lords in 2007 as Lord Wallace of Tankerness, where he remained an authoritative and thoughtful contributor on constitutional, legal and Scottish affairs, including serving five years as Advocate General for Scotland.
Wallace also served as the moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland from 2021 to 2022.
Alistair Carmichael, MP for Orkney and Shetland, said: “Jim Wallace gave his adult life to serving the people of the Northern Isles, Scotland and the United Kingdom.
“His sudden and tragic death leaves a huge gap in public life. For those of us who knew him as a friend and for his family that gap is one that we shall struggle ever to fill.
“In the world of politics, having people on whom you can truly depend is a rare and precious thing. For me, Jim was someone who was there through good times and bad and I am bereft at his passing.
“I shall miss his acute political analysis, his warm and occasionally waspish wit and, most of all, his easy company and friendship. He was never someone for whom I had to present a front.
“My thoughts are with his wife Rosie, his daughters Helen and Clare, his mother and his brother Neil who I know are heartbroken at this moment. I hope that they may eventually take some comfort from the knowledge that the man that they loved in their family was loved by so many others too.”
Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP said Wallace was “one of the architects of modern Scotland and one of the finest liberals our party has ever produced”.
“Throughout his career, Jim was widely respected across party lines for his integrity, calm judgement and deep belief in liberal values: fairness, the rule of law and respect for communities, no matter how remote,” he added.
Orkney MSP Liam McArthur said Wallace was a “passionate champion of liberalism as well as a fierce and effective advocate on behalf of the island communities in Orkney and Shetland he proudly represented over many years, first at Westminster and then Holyrood”.
More recently, Wallace provided some analysis for Shetland News for our coverage of the 2024 general election count in Kirkwall.
He said his first election campaign in Orkney and Shetland was “well etched” in his memory.
Wallace said Jo Grimond was a “daunting act to try and follow” given he had been the MP for more than 30 years and was a major national figure.
“I addressed 57 public meetings across the whole constituency,” Wallace told Shetland News.
“No one turned up in Voe, so my agent, Laura Grimond, suggested we should find the nearest pub and talk to people there.”
Wallace also mentioned how in Bressay a certain Anderson High School pupil called Tavish Scott “didn’t hold back in asking me questions”.
He admitted he approached polling day with “some trepidation” – but he was duly elected a majority of 4,150, “and thus began the great privilege of representing the Northern Isles for the next eighteen years”.
Meanwhile, local tributes have been coming in from across the political spectrum.
SNP candidate at the forthcoming election, Hannah Mary Goodlad, said Jim Wallace had been a family friend.
“Jim was a family friend and a very good, kind man,” she said. “Thoughts and deepest prayers to Rosie and the family at this incredibly hard time.”
Labour candidate John Erskine said: “I’m deeply saddened to hear of the death of Jim Wallace.
“As a senior figure in the first Scottish Government, he played a significant role in the early years of devolution and in shaping the Scottish Parliament we know today.
“My thoughts are with his family, friends and colleagues at this sad time.”
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