Ayr by-election 2000

'When I saw Ian Welsh sitting up the back of the class he had the look of a man who was asking 'what on earth am I doing here?' A 'seasoned political observer', 20 th December 1999.

Welsh tells how marginal role made him quit

By Alison Hardie, Political Correspondent in the Scotsman

Ian Welsh, who became member for Ayr by just 25 votes, also took a side-swipe at his party's spin machine, claiming attempts had been made last week to manipulate his resignation.

The former leader of South Ayrshire Council and chief executive of Kilmarnock Football Club conceded that he had found his new role difficult in the face of promotions for the younger politicians such as Wendy Alexander, the minister for communities.

Writing in the Sunday Times, Mr Welsh said,: 'I left because I was unhappy, feeling myself strangely marginal to the process of government because I took the time to reflect on where I was going.'

He went on: 'Taken in tandem with the political reality that there has been a generation jump in the front-bench line-up, with talented thirty-somethings like Wendy Alexander and Jack McConnell (the finance minister) deservedly to the fore and older politicians having to occupy the space left behind, the lack of direct involvement in decision-making was something which I found difficult to do.'

'For me, there was nothing else to compensate for that.'

Mr Welsh added: 'Part of the issue for all parties will be to ensure that there can be real, meaningful input into the process of decision-making beyond mere acquiescence with or ritual opposition to executive decisions. 'There is nothing more stultifying than the set piece debate with purposeful motion against slightly modified amendment.'

Mr Welsh, who may try to re-enter local politics, said he also wanted to devote more time to his family but was upset at descriptions in the media of his disabled younger son as 'severely handicapped.'

He blamed the 'gentle art of spin' for portraying him as a 'naive carer who should have known better before he went to bat with the big boys in Holyrood, or as some sawn-off St Francis of Assisi.'

He added: 'Those who know me will know that I am neither.'

Despite his criticisms of some MSPs, Mr Welsh said the parliament did have the potential to deliver real changes for Scotland. But he warned that too many new politicians had a 'tendency to wound, to damage, to cripple.'

Mr Welsh said: 'It seemed to me that one of the guiding principles of the new parliament was to be a new politics of emerging consensus, but there still seems to me to be an underlying venom, an uncontrollable urge to get stuck in, a preference for the square go rather than a pavane for progress.'

ahardie@scotsman.com

27 th December 1999