Alistair Darling 28/11/53 - 30/11/23 - Scottish Labour Leader pays tribute - video Dailymotion

The Scotsman

Alistair Darling 28/11/53 - 30/11/23 - Scottish Labour Leader pays tribute

Transcript

00:00 [Music]

00:07 Can you give us your reaction to the news that Alistair Darling has passed away at the age of 70?

00:21 I'm absolutely devastated and shocked by the news of the passing of Alistair Darling

00:26 and my immediate thoughts are with his amazing wife Maggie and his beautiful family.

00:31 People think a lot about Alistair's politics and his dedication to public services but

00:35 nothing surpassed his dedication to his family so my heart goes out to them.

00:41 Alistair was a giant of the labour movement and the labour family, a titanic force for

00:45 good and someone who always put public service before himself. He was an extraordinary Secretary

00:51 of State for Scotland that helped fight poverty and improve public services. He was a fantastic

00:56 Chancellor that led us through a global financial crisis and he obviously led the Better Together

01:02 campaign and that constitutional referendum back in 2014, a job he never actually wanted

01:06 to do but he did it because he believed he was doing a service for Scotland. Throughout

01:11 that time he always acted with good humour, with kindness and intelligence and I think

01:17 that's why you can see the depth of sorrow people feel now at his passing and the deep

01:22 affection that people have for him. We will miss him, we will miss him sorely but I think

01:27 it's safe to say that his hard work, his dedication to public service, his delivery for Scotland

01:33 and the wider UK will be remembered for generations to come.

01:37 He's someone who played such a huge role in UK and Scottish politics. What do you think

01:41 his legacy will be?

01:43 He was an immense mentor and good friend for me like he was for so many others. I think

01:50 in modern day politics people will think primarily of his role in the referendum campaign but

01:55 I'm not sure actually that's the legacy he'd want to be remembered for. I think it's part

01:59 of that legacy but actually such a wider story to tell. He was a fantastic constituency MP

02:05 in Edinburgh. He was absolutely dedicated to fighting poverty and providing for those

02:11 less fortunate. He wasn't driven by constitutional politics, he was driven by social politics

02:16 and social change and lifting people out of poverty and delivering a strong economy that

02:21 could back that up and I think he will be remembered, one, for being such a dedicated

02:25 public service, second, for that extraordinary delivery for Scotland and the wider UK as

02:30 well as that leading role he played in the referendum campaign and again going back to

02:37 that campaign, people will think about the arguments, people will think about the debates,

02:42 people will think about the fights, people will think about the heat less about the light

02:47 but throughout all that campaign he was nothing but full of good humour, decency, kindness

02:55 and generosity not just for those that agreed with him but also with those that disagreed

03:00 with him and I think that says something extraordinary about the man.

03:03 Do you have any favourite personal memories of Mr Donnelly?

03:06 I mean lots, I can't help but smile when people ask about memories with Alistair because people

03:12 think of Alistair as quite a straight laced kind of individual, quite a serious individual

03:19 but actually he was someone of immensely good humour, dry humour but really good humour.

03:25 He wasn't affectionate in the conventional sense but he was a very caring, very loving,

03:30 very dedicated person to those that he was close to, his friends, his family, his colleagues

03:36 and he was an extraordinary public servant and you know particular memories, I remember

03:42 the very kind garden parties he hosted for me since I became leader to try and persuade

03:49 people that there was still life in the Scottish Labour Party and we still had work to do and

03:53 could do that, come back.

03:54 I remember going in to see him in the House of Commons when we were trying to persuade

03:59 him to lead the Better Together campaign and him looking at me with absolute horror and

04:04 saying you know you could pay me all the money in the world, I still wouldn't know how to

04:09 set up a Facebook page, I'm not sure I'm the right person for this job and me gently saying

04:13 to him, Alistair don't worry we'll get somebody else to do that but because he didn't run

04:18 towards those kind of roles, that wasn't his nature, he was a very humble man, a man who

04:24 had no ego, a man whose feet were firmly on the ground and everything he did wasn't because

04:29 he was searching for a title, wasn't because he was searching for glory, wasn't because

04:33 he was trying to be some kind of historical figure, he always did what he did because

04:39 he believed in public service and believed that there was something bigger than himself

04:43 and I think you can see why so many people will sorely miss him, why he's being so deeply

04:49 mourned right now and why there are so many across the country that have such a deep affection

04:54 and love for him. Thank you.

Alistair Darling 28/11/53 - 30/11/23 - Scottish Labour Leader pays tribute

Category

Transcript

Recommended