Henry McLeish MP

To use the old football cliché Henry McLeish's political career was a game of two half’s. By any standard the period of McLeish's leadership. in Fife Regional Council must be judged a success for the Labour movement Despite the difficulties of the Thatcher years the council maintained many progressive policies such as free travel for pensioner and disabled people. It is also the case that many people while acknowledging Henry McLeish's success make the point and he himself would be one of them that he had the advantage of a very experienced group of councillors like the late Bert Gough and also John McDougal and Tom Dair.

Henry McLeish was elected as MP for Central Fife in 1987. He made steady progress to the Labour front bench, shadowing transport, health and social security and was appointed minister of state at the Scottish Office after the 1997 election but even in this period there were critics who had "marked his card" as very over ambitious because of his attempt to deselect Willie Hamilton in 1983. In 1999 Henry was one of the group of MP's who opted for a future in the Scottish Parliament. In that first democratic parliament Donald Dewar appointed him as Minister for Enterprise and effectively Donald's deputy.

On the tragic and untimely death of Donald Dewar Henry seemed a logical and safe successor but in the election he was run surprisingly close by Jack McConnell. With in a year Henry McLeish found himself being driven out of office by the so called officegate expenses issue but even now the substance of the issue seems relatively minor. What undoubtedly undid McLeish was his failure to resolve the matter cleanly and quickly. Many Labour people felt Henry McLeish had had a raw deal at the hands of the media and most ironically the over the top persecution by the now disgraced Tory leader David McLetchie.

Some people in the Labour movement will remember Henry with great affection and others less so in the fullness of time history will judge.

Sadly the initial sympathy for Hendry McLeish has largely been dissipated by his actions since leaving office. His memoirs were never likely to be a best seller but his criticism of former Labour colleagues showed disloyalty and ultimately were more damaging to McLeish than to the individuals concerned. His attempt to lecture the Labour Party through the press has not gone down well. Any thoughts of a Henry McLeish come back to Labour politics must now be considered very remote given his controversial business dealings with prominent Tories in the PR firm Halogen Communications