Margo MacDonald - 19/04/43 to 04/04/14
by Unknown - 16:15 on 08 April 2014
It was with great sadness that we heard of the passing of Margo MacDonald, MSP on 4th April 2014. Margo first hit the national headlines in October 1973, winning the Glasgow Govan seat for the SNP, from Labour, in a Westminster bye election. She sent shock waves through the political establishment and became instantly recognised. The press called her “the Blonde Bombshell", a term she did not particularly like. She held the seat for 112 days, losing it again to Labour in the February 1974 General Election.
Following her election defeat, Margo travelled the length and breadth of Scotland over the next two years, meeting people, speaking at public meetings, and meeting community groups of all kinds. She came to Orkney on 10th August 1976 and held a public meeting in Kirkwall Town Hall, organising almost everything, herself. 80 local people and visitors turned up for a fascinating two hour long meeting, despite the fact that we only got 24 hours of notice of her visit. As SNP chairman, it was my privilege to meet her and introduce her. Howie Firth was Orkney’s SNP candidate at the time, prior to his career with the BBC in Orkney and later Glasgow. He and Margo were close friends on the SNP National Executive. Margo went on the Shetland the next day and held a similar meeting in Lerwick.
She was active in the 1979 and 1997 Scottish Referendum campaigns and was SNP deputy Leader for a period in the 1970s. One of her fellow campaigners was Jim Sillars who had left the Labour Party over devolution priorities in the 1970s. They married in 1988.They both shared a left of centre vision for Scotland.
Margo was born and brought up in Hamilton and qualified as a PE teacher. She was a 31-year-old PE teacher in Lanarkshire when she won the Govan seat.
She worked outside politics in the 1980s and early 1990s,as a journalist, on television and on radio.
Rejoining the SNP, she became a SNP List MSP for Lothian in 1999. She later resigned from SNP, having come fifth on the list. She stood and was elected as an Independent MSP in 2003, 2007 and 2011, a remarkable feat.
Margo was a larger than life personality in every sense. Although left of centre in her views, she was good friends with MSPs from all parties. She fought many courageous campaigns - to have two hours of PE per week for all pupils, to have an enquiry into the cost overrun in the building of the Scottish Parliament, to legalise euthanasia, to have tolerance zones for prostitution, and many others. She worked closely with unions, STUC, community groups and organisations. Many of her campaigns related to helping the sick, elderly, unemployed, underprivileged and disabled.
Margo, along with close friend, Dennis Canavan was one of the key leaders of the current YES campaign. She possessed a remarkable intellect and was her own person.
She was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease in the late 1990s, a disease which in recent years took its toll. The last time large numbers of people met her, was at the March and Rally for Independence on Calton Hill on 21st September 2013, which was attended by over 30 Orcadians.
At 70 years old, Margo was the senior Member of the Scottish Parliament. Margo was able, intelligent, warm, kind, compassionate, engaging and entertaining. She was a “one off" and by no means a typical professional politician. She could discuss any issue across the political spectrum, in great detail. A few recent quotes reflect the esteem in which she was widely held:
“The brightest light in Scottish political circles”, Jim Sillars.
"Very few politicians are recognised in public by their first names, as Margo was”, Alex Salmond.
“We have lost one of biggest and brightest personalities in Scottish politics”, Johann Lamont.
Margo was instantly recognisable, because of her media presence. She would speak to and engage with anyone. Tributes over the last week, reflect the esteem in which she was held, in all walks of life.
She leaves behind her husband Jim Sillars, now retired from active politics, and two daughters, Zoe and Petra, who is married to Craig Reid of the Proclaimers. Margo will be greatly missed by friends and family, alike. We are unlikely to see her likes again.
JRM
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