- Location
- Toronto, ON, CA
Chief Ministers of Scotland, 1915-present:
1915-1923: William Henry Cowan (Liberal)
1923-1926: John Gilmour (Unionist)
1926-1929: Cunninghame Graham (National League)
1929-1934: Roland Muirhead (National League)
1934-1949: John Buchan (Unionist)
1949-1951: John Kevan McDowall (Unionist)
1951-1963: Andrew Dewar Gibb (National League)
1963-1965: Jo Grimond (National League)
1965-1969: John Gilmour (Unionist)
1969-1974: Jo Grimond (National League)
1974-1979: Paul Cathcart (National League)
1979-1982: Adam Kelly (Radical)
1982-1991: Iain Currie (National League)
1991-1992: Anne Seton (National League)
1992-2010: Jack Durie (Unionist)
2010-2012: Stuart Conroy (Unionist)
2012-2015: Connie Baird (Radical)
2015-2017: Mike Tunney (Radical)
2017-2019: Angus Conte (Unionist)
2019-: Mike Tunney (Radical)
The Scottish Home Rule Bill passed not long after the Irish Home Rule. It's first elections were held a couple of months after the Liberal victory at Westminster in 1915- "the last landslide"- and produced a similar triumph in Scotland. The passing of Home Rule, the Panic of '23, Horatio Bottomley's mixed success in attempting to neuter the Home Rule Parliaments and the disastrous end to the First Great War led to a created a strong surge of Scottish Nationalism, being both the cause and effect of Cunninghame Graham's formation of the National League of Scotland. The League dominated the Scottish Parliament for over fifty years.
While founded by a Socialist and governing in coalition with the Independent Labour party in its early years, after Graham's death in 1929 the National League shifted away from the left over time and evolved into a big-tent outfit that traded in populism towards both the right and left. The party's ethos of a distinct Scottish identity was shared by the Scottish Unionists with whom they frequently traded power. It was under Grimond that what that the Liberal reforms and movements that are now known as the "Silent Revolution" swept Scotland, serving as the model for Allan Bertram's own liberal reforms through the 1970s. Grimond's efforts to push the party back leftwards eventually led to a severe backlash from the party machine.
Prime Minister Allan Bertram in many ways caused the peak of the National League. He revived the fortunes of the long-moribund Scottish Radicals, who came to displace them their dominance over many Westminster seats. The party took full advantage of the leftist spring brought about by Grimond, who himself stood as a Radical Candidate for Westminster and served in Bertram's third Ministry. Cathcart and Currie were widely viewed as machine politicians in a party that was increasingly viewed as hollowed-out and self-serving, invoking Scottish nationalism and picking fights with Westminster only when there was an election to be won. The Second Great War strongly enhanced a sense of British national identity across the Commonwealth, and the postwar recession was especially severe in Scotland, where Currie was blamed for mismanagement and corruption with the wartime economy.
Corruption scandals and a resurgent Scottish Unionist Party ultimately felled the National League and sent them to third place for the first time in their history. As Jack Durie established his own iron grip on Scotland and its institutions, the League quickly collapsed into infighting as it struggled for a rationale beyond being a party of government. Effectively bankrupt, the party dissolved in 2001. It was succeeded by the Scottish Freedom Alliance, a more left-leaning outfit that explicitly supports Scottish Independence from the Commonwealth. It participated as a junior partner in the Baird and first Tunney Governments.
1915-1923: William Henry Cowan (Liberal)
1923-1926: John Gilmour (Unionist)
1926-1929: Cunninghame Graham (National League)
1929-1934: Roland Muirhead (National League)
1934-1949: John Buchan (Unionist)
1949-1951: John Kevan McDowall (Unionist)
1951-1963: Andrew Dewar Gibb (National League)
1963-1965: Jo Grimond (National League)
1965-1969: John Gilmour (Unionist)
1969-1974: Jo Grimond (National League)
1974-1979: Paul Cathcart (National League)
1979-1982: Adam Kelly (Radical)
1982-1991: Iain Currie (National League)
1991-1992: Anne Seton (National League)
1992-2010: Jack Durie (Unionist)
2010-2012: Stuart Conroy (Unionist)
2012-2015: Connie Baird (Radical)
2015-2017: Mike Tunney (Radical)
2017-2019: Angus Conte (Unionist)
2019-: Mike Tunney (Radical)
The Scottish Home Rule Bill passed not long after the Irish Home Rule. It's first elections were held a couple of months after the Liberal victory at Westminster in 1915- "the last landslide"- and produced a similar triumph in Scotland. The passing of Home Rule, the Panic of '23, Horatio Bottomley's mixed success in attempting to neuter the Home Rule Parliaments and the disastrous end to the First Great War led to a created a strong surge of Scottish Nationalism, being both the cause and effect of Cunninghame Graham's formation of the National League of Scotland. The League dominated the Scottish Parliament for over fifty years.
While founded by a Socialist and governing in coalition with the Independent Labour party in its early years, after Graham's death in 1929 the National League shifted away from the left over time and evolved into a big-tent outfit that traded in populism towards both the right and left. The party's ethos of a distinct Scottish identity was shared by the Scottish Unionists with whom they frequently traded power. It was under Grimond that what that the Liberal reforms and movements that are now known as the "Silent Revolution" swept Scotland, serving as the model for Allan Bertram's own liberal reforms through the 1970s. Grimond's efforts to push the party back leftwards eventually led to a severe backlash from the party machine.
Prime Minister Allan Bertram in many ways caused the peak of the National League. He revived the fortunes of the long-moribund Scottish Radicals, who came to displace them their dominance over many Westminster seats. The party took full advantage of the leftist spring brought about by Grimond, who himself stood as a Radical Candidate for Westminster and served in Bertram's third Ministry. Cathcart and Currie were widely viewed as machine politicians in a party that was increasingly viewed as hollowed-out and self-serving, invoking Scottish nationalism and picking fights with Westminster only when there was an election to be won. The Second Great War strongly enhanced a sense of British national identity across the Commonwealth, and the postwar recession was especially severe in Scotland, where Currie was blamed for mismanagement and corruption with the wartime economy.
Corruption scandals and a resurgent Scottish Unionist Party ultimately felled the National League and sent them to third place for the first time in their history. As Jack Durie established his own iron grip on Scotland and its institutions, the League quickly collapsed into infighting as it struggled for a rationale beyond being a party of government. Effectively bankrupt, the party dissolved in 2001. It was succeeded by the Scottish Freedom Alliance, a more left-leaning outfit that explicitly supports Scottish Independence from the Commonwealth. It participated as a junior partner in the Baird and first Tunney Governments.
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