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The Red - The Wave that Broke the Tsunami
The Wave that Broke the Tsunami
First Ministers of Scotland
1999-2000: Donald Dewar (Labour)
2000-2000: Jim Wallace (Liberal Democrat) [1]
2000-2001: Henry MacLeish (Labour)
2001-2001: Jim Wallace (Liberal Democrat)
2001-2010: Jack McConnell (Labour) [2]
2010-2015: Iain Gray (Labour) [3]
2015-????: James Scott (“Alba gu bràth – SNP”) [4]
[1] Acting First Minister both times but @Fletch would never forgive me if I didn’t include him.
[2] The recount in Cunninghame North is a horrifically divisive affair and the people of Scotland aren’t spared the sight of the returning officer going on an angry rant about “stupid questions” live on air but eventually there is a result a few days after there was first meant to be one. It’s Labour’s Allan Wilson that comes out ahead by all of nineteen votes, thus ensuring that Jack McConnell can hang on as First Minister by the skin of his teeth. No coalition with the Lib Dems this time, but they're nice enough to abstain when it comes to electing the First Minister.
Labour breathe a massive sigh of relief, both in John Smith House and in Millbank. Disaster has been narrowly averted, so narrowly that McConnell has seen the party's potential future flash in front of his eyes. Tony Blair's legacy of foreign adventures very nearly lost Labour control of Holyrood and as such his mission to pursue a internationalist Scotland which can be assertive in its own right on the world stage gains greater focus. Having previously been quiet about differences from the government at Westminster, he now goes out of his way to emphasise them when he can.
There's lots of stuff to be done at home as well mind you, universal childcare for 3-5 year olds, a new Forth road bridge and an Edinburgh tram line whose cost seems to soar regardless of how little progress is actually being made. This latter fiasco is a huge knock to McConnell's credibility and under his de facto leadership of the party in the 2007 General Election Labour loses quite a few seats in Scotland to the Lib Dems. The SNP fails to make any gains and Salmond announces he's had enough hsortly after Gordon Brown triumphantly returns to Downing Street. McConnell begins to prepare to bow out when the global economy implodes.
[3] Gray takes over amidst the failure of the 2010 budget, McConnell's been First Minsiter for over eight years at this point and he wants to spend more time pursuing his international interests. Gray has international interests to, although twinned with a complete lack of charisma it makes him seem fairly "Off". It requires a fairly personal intervention from Brown to ensure Labour staggers through the 2011 Scottish election, relying mainly on the fact that Tory gains from the SNP have divided the opposition. Gray girns his way through the debates but Fiona Hyslop fails to land any significant punches, she resigns as SNP leader shortly after.
Full employment is Gray's big passion, and even with fragile economic growth he pledges jobs for everyone. Most people scoff, but he does his best to actually pull it off, with some success until 2012. Labour lost their majority in Westminster, and the Lib Dems refuse to work under Brown. David Miliband and David Laws announce a historic coalition in the rose garden shortly after Brown resigns. The coalition's "fiscal consolidation" and the subsequent privatisations are slightly less popular than cholera in Scotland, yet Gray finds himself being told to defend them and try to make his own savings at the same time. Jobs for everyone is replaced by higher student endowments and a graduate tax, housing projects are cancelled and personal care hours are cut.
Labour has declared war on its own heartlands and the SNP begins to smell blood, the party's new 'collective' leadership is fundamentalist and unhinged but they're good at organisation, and people rally to the anti-establishment option when given the choice between the Coalition or the Tories. There are other factors as well, like Gray being chased into a Tunnocks factory whilst being harangued by the SNP's Mental Health Spokesperson, Sean Clerkin, or the SNP changing their name to ensure they were at the top of the ballot. The result is a landslide, and with 44.7% of the popular vote Holyrood has its first ever majority government.
[4] The plethora of jargon in Scottish politics is not helped by the introduction of the term 'UDI' into the lexicon.
First Ministers of Scotland
1999-2000: Donald Dewar (Labour)
2000-2000: Jim Wallace (Liberal Democrat) [1]
2000-2001: Henry MacLeish (Labour)
2001-2001: Jim Wallace (Liberal Democrat)
2001-2010: Jack McConnell (Labour) [2]
2010-2015: Iain Gray (Labour) [3]
2015-????: James Scott (“Alba gu bràth – SNP”) [4]
[1] Acting First Minister both times but @Fletch would never forgive me if I didn’t include him.
[2] The recount in Cunninghame North is a horrifically divisive affair and the people of Scotland aren’t spared the sight of the returning officer going on an angry rant about “stupid questions” live on air but eventually there is a result a few days after there was first meant to be one. It’s Labour’s Allan Wilson that comes out ahead by all of nineteen votes, thus ensuring that Jack McConnell can hang on as First Minister by the skin of his teeth. No coalition with the Lib Dems this time, but they're nice enough to abstain when it comes to electing the First Minister.
Labour breathe a massive sigh of relief, both in John Smith House and in Millbank. Disaster has been narrowly averted, so narrowly that McConnell has seen the party's potential future flash in front of his eyes. Tony Blair's legacy of foreign adventures very nearly lost Labour control of Holyrood and as such his mission to pursue a internationalist Scotland which can be assertive in its own right on the world stage gains greater focus. Having previously been quiet about differences from the government at Westminster, he now goes out of his way to emphasise them when he can.
There's lots of stuff to be done at home as well mind you, universal childcare for 3-5 year olds, a new Forth road bridge and an Edinburgh tram line whose cost seems to soar regardless of how little progress is actually being made. This latter fiasco is a huge knock to McConnell's credibility and under his de facto leadership of the party in the 2007 General Election Labour loses quite a few seats in Scotland to the Lib Dems. The SNP fails to make any gains and Salmond announces he's had enough hsortly after Gordon Brown triumphantly returns to Downing Street. McConnell begins to prepare to bow out when the global economy implodes.
[3] Gray takes over amidst the failure of the 2010 budget, McConnell's been First Minsiter for over eight years at this point and he wants to spend more time pursuing his international interests. Gray has international interests to, although twinned with a complete lack of charisma it makes him seem fairly "Off". It requires a fairly personal intervention from Brown to ensure Labour staggers through the 2011 Scottish election, relying mainly on the fact that Tory gains from the SNP have divided the opposition. Gray girns his way through the debates but Fiona Hyslop fails to land any significant punches, she resigns as SNP leader shortly after.
Full employment is Gray's big passion, and even with fragile economic growth he pledges jobs for everyone. Most people scoff, but he does his best to actually pull it off, with some success until 2012. Labour lost their majority in Westminster, and the Lib Dems refuse to work under Brown. David Miliband and David Laws announce a historic coalition in the rose garden shortly after Brown resigns. The coalition's "fiscal consolidation" and the subsequent privatisations are slightly less popular than cholera in Scotland, yet Gray finds himself being told to defend them and try to make his own savings at the same time. Jobs for everyone is replaced by higher student endowments and a graduate tax, housing projects are cancelled and personal care hours are cut.
Labour has declared war on its own heartlands and the SNP begins to smell blood, the party's new 'collective' leadership is fundamentalist and unhinged but they're good at organisation, and people rally to the anti-establishment option when given the choice between the Coalition or the Tories. There are other factors as well, like Gray being chased into a Tunnocks factory whilst being harangued by the SNP's Mental Health Spokesperson, Sean Clerkin, or the SNP changing their name to ensure they were at the top of the ballot. The result is a landslide, and with 44.7% of the popular vote Holyrood has its first ever majority government.
[4] The plethora of jargon in Scottish politics is not helped by the introduction of the term 'UDI' into the lexicon.
- The Red
- Word Count: 750