Tributes / ‘Active, careful and positive representation’ – Tavish Scott pays tribute to former Orkney and Shetland MP Jim Wallace
No other person I know has had a musical instrument banned at Up Helly Aa. Some years back, Jim was invited to join a Lerwick squad as a musician. He was a regular at the Sound Hall with the Crossan family.
On many occasions, Jim left before the last squads arrived as Lourie Sinclair would drive him to Sumburgh airport. Jim made many a speech in the House of Commons on the Wednesday of Up Helly Aa. But not in this particular year.
His squad role was to strike the triangle at the right moment in the act. The evening went well. But at the following years mass meeting an insurrection broke out. The triangle was declared to not be a musical instrument. Jim’s place in Up Helly Aa history was assured.
Photo: Dave Donaldson
Jim Wallace was born in Annan but through his constituency role became a born-again islander. I met Jim at the Bressay Public Hall in 1983 as he contested Orkney and Shetland.
Jo Grimond had stood down. I was 5th year at the Anderson High School. Modern Studies was the first, and my teachers would say, only subject that fired my attention. Gordon Johnson had the class considering trade policy.
At Jim’s hustings meeting I asked about that. It must have struck because five years later he phoned and offered me a job as a parliamentary assistant in London. Jim fired my imagination and commitment to public service.
Politics began. Margaret Thatcher was prime minister. Paddy Ashdown led the newly created Liberal Democrats. Jim was chief whip – the person responsible for making sure MPs vote the right way.
He was a great boss appearing in the Commons on Monday afternoons having flown from Kirkwall or Sumburgh. Jim would dictate and sign numerous letters – the email nor the world wide web had been invented. He would be in the chamber for questions to Ministers and debates.
One December evening I was in the whip’s office covering the press phones. Jim was speaking in the annual fisheries debate. Jo Grimond walked in – now Lord Grimond of Firth. I explained Jim’s whereabouts. Jo asked if I had written him a speech. I replied yes but my experience, borne out by all the Wallace researchers, was that Jim used our ideas and delivered the speech he wanted. Jo chuckled.
Jim was assiduous on Orkney and Shetland issues. And people. The Shetland Wool Brokers needed some government assistance to help crofters and farmers. Jim Johnson from Vidlin and John Scott from Bressay arrived in London. Jim arranged a meeting with the Scottish agriculture minister. Government money was secured.
Jim had done the work behind the scenes to explain the case to the minister. His belief in making a reasoned case made it more likely that his constituents and an industry went home with the help they needed. This kind of active, careful and positive representation happened most weeks. I watched, listened and leant.
Jim was assiduous on Orkney and Shetland issues. And people.
I travelled north to Orkney with Jim. Jim and Rosie’s girls Helen and Claire were at school. Rosie was a wonderful host. She had a low tolerance for the sheer stupidity of politics, of which there is plenty. There was always gossip, intrigue and the nonsense of politics to be devoured over the Tankerness kitchen table. Jim and Rosie were part of the Orkney community. Rosie was heavily involved in numerous groups. She built the family with her husband away in London most of the week. No easy task.
I came back home in 1992 after the election that Neil Kinnock did not win. In 1994 with Jim’s support, I was elected to Shetland Islands Council. I asked Jim to chair a public meeting for the council election campaign in the Garrison Theatre. Not the main auditorium! No one came. I was somewhat despondent.
Jim regaled me with what happened in Voe in 1983. He was being taken around by the redoubtable Laura Grimond. No one came to the advertised public meeting in the Voe Hall. Laura on the way back to Lerwick announced a visit to the Norseman’s at Weisdale. In they went and Jim had a very successful campaign evening. On that basis we left the Garrison for The Lounge.
After the Labour landslide of 1997 Jim was heavily involved in what will be his legacy. With others he turned the Scotland Bill into what became Donald Dewar’s Scotland Act and the creation of the Scottish Parliament.
In Jim’s frequent visits to Shetland, he explained what was going on. Alistair Easton, his election agent in Shetland and I would meet him to decipher the latest Westminster talk. Then it became real. There were decisions to be made.
Jim declared much to my delight that he would contest Orkney in the first Scottish Parliamentary elections. My decision was made for me. I wanted to be part of the Jim Wallace-led parliamentary group in Edinburgh. He was a tower of strength during that campaign.
Despite having to travel across Scotland all week, he was always on the phone asking how things were going. The night of the count – May 1999 – was nerve wracking. Jim phoned early on. He never took the islands electorate for granted.
For the next six years life was a whirlwind. Jim was deputy first minister. He stood in three times to the top job. His relationship with all three Labour first ministers, while different, was strong. I supported him from the backbenches and as minister.
There were great days of real achievement, difficult times and periods where driving change was a challenge. But Jim’s enthusiasm, determination and sense of humour never wavered. He was refreshed every weekend by a dose of island air. Getting off the plane into island weather was to rid one of the Edinburgh cobweb of parliamentary and government life.
Jim’s enthusiasm, determination and sense of humour never wavered. He was refreshed every weekend by a dose of island air.
The constituency always came first. Shetland hosted the Tall Ships Race in the summer of 1999. Jim was then still MP. In this wonderful week of boats, company and a sense of occasion in Lerwick, the Ministry of Defence decided to announce the closure of RAF Saxa Vord’s permanently manned radar base.
One hundred jobs were immediately at risk. Jim and I headed for Unst. There was worry and concern. Jim phoned ministers in the UK Government. Shetland or in this case, the needs of Unst took precedent over all else.
Jim did what few manage in politics. He gave up a top position when he wanted. Far from disappearing he started a new career in his third parliament – the House of Lords.
I saw less of Jim once he left Holyrood, but the reunions were wonderful. He was always on the end of a phone, notably when I led the Liberal Democrats. To say he dispended wise counsel is to underplay his advice.
Ashley and I stayed with Jim and Rosie at Tankerness last summer during the wonderful Orkney Island Games. Over a dram he convinced me to spectate at the lawn bowls. The men’s pairs final was between Orkney and Shetland. Jim enjoyed the Orcadian victory.
My last time with him was over dinner in London before Christmas. He was in excellent form. His old political sparing colleague, Michael Forsyth – a former Scottish Secretary – was running for Lord Speaker in the House of Lords.
Jim had decided to support Michael because he was, as Jim put it, the best candidate, irrespective of the consternation this caused his liberal friends in the upper chamber. Very Jim.
Not having the friend that was Jim available to WhatsApp or phone is unbearable. This is a time to reflect on a great man. As Jack McConnell rightly said, the best of men.
His funeral will take place in St Magnus Cathedral, in Kirkwall, on Tuesday 10 February.
- Jim (James Robert) Wallace, Lord Wallace of Tankerness, politician, born 25 August 1954; died 29 January 2026
Liberal Democrat Tavish Scott was Shetland’s representative in the Scottish Parliament for 20 years from 1999 to 2019 when he resigned from party politics. He then worked for Scottish Rugby before becoming chief executive of the Scottish Salmon Producers’ Organisation (now Salmon Scotland) the following year.
Become a member of Shetland News
Shetland News is asking its readers to consider paying for membership to get additional perks:
- Removal of third-party ads;
- Bookmark posts to read later;
- Exclusive curated weekly newsletter;
- Hide membership messages;
- Comments open for discussion.
If you appreciate what we do and feel strongly about impartial local journalism, then please become a member of Shetland News by either making a single payment, or setting up a monthly, quarterly or yearly subscription.
Already a member? Sign in to hide this message.
