 | 'The coalition government try to pretend that tuition fees have been abolished in Scotland. But only yesterday on BBC Radio, New Labour Westminster MP Anne Begg let it slip that she did not think tuition fees had been scrapped.' SNP leader, John Swinney MSP, 11 th May 2001. |  |
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Capre Ross Williams |  |
Gregor Poynton |
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Edward Brocklebank |  |
Iain Smith MSP |
 | Carlo Morelli |
The seat of Fife North East was formed in 1983 from East Fife which lost some 10,000 voters. The new boundaries corresponded exactly with the boundaries of North East Fife District Council, which was abolished on the 1 st of April 1996. The boundary changes for the 1997 General election were minimal.
The Liberal Democrats rightly complain about the unfairness of the first-past-the-post electoral system. However, observers who are not familiar with Scottish politics often express surprise that in 1992 the Liberals obtained 12.5% of Scottish MPs (9 out of 72) for 12.9% of the vote while the Scottish National Party have only 4.2% of MPs (3 out 72) for 21.5% of the vote. This is partly because the SNP vote is fairly evenly distributed throughout the whole of Scotland, whereas the Liberals have efficiently targeted almost all their resources into a dozen seats. Outwith these dozen seats, the Liberal vote is generally very low.
Fife North East is an example of such a Liberal-held seat. It is a largely rural seat which includes the towns of St Andrews, Cupar, Auchtermuchty, Newburgh, Anstruther and Elie. It is a tribute to the local Lib Dem MP that he appears to be the party's elder statesman yet he has only held the seat since 1987, with four years less seniority than Jim Wallace in Orkney & Shetland, Malcolm Bruce in Gordon and Charles Kennedy in Ross, Skye & Inverness West, and a massive 21 years behind Robert Maclennan in Caithness, Sutherland & Easter Ross. Fife North East also seems to have been used as a training ground for Labour hopefuls with the current First Minister (Henry McLeish) Secretary of State for Scotland (Helen Liddell) and Advocate General (Lynda Clark) having been candidates here.
Between 1886 and 1918, Fife East was represented by Henry Herbert Asquith who was Liberal Prime Minister from 1908 until 1916.
After the decline of the Liberals, Fife East became natural Tory country and was held by the Conservatives from 1931 until 1983. Sir John Gilmour succeeded to this seat in the 1961 by-election caused by the death of James Henderson Stewart.
In the 1960s and 70s, Fife East was the site of five battles between Sir John and James Braid, former Provost of St Monans for the SNP, who managed to reduce Conservative majority from 12,500 to less than 3,000 in October 1974. The Labour candidate in October 1974 was Mrs Helen Liddell, former General Secretary of the Labour Party in Scotland who succeeded John Smith as MP for Monklands East in 1994 and who became Secretary of State for Scotland in 2001.
In 1979, Sir John Gilmour retired and was replaced by Barry Henderson, who had gained Dunbartonshire East from Labour in February 1974, only to lose it to the SNP's Mrs Margaret Bain (now Margaret Ewing) in the October election of that year.
In 1979, the SNP vote crashed in Fife East and Mr Henderson increased the Conservative majority to 9,355, this time over Liberal Menzies Campbell, an advocate who had contested Greenock & Port Glasgow in February and October 1974. The Labour candidate was Henry McLeish, who became MP & MSP for neighbouring Fife Central and was Scottish First Minister between 2000 and 2001.
In 1983, when East Fife seat became Fife North East, Menzies Campbell again contested the seat and slashed Mr Henderson's majority to 2,185. The Scottish National Party and Labour were both squeezed taking 6.6 % and 6.5 % respectively.
It was third time lucky for Menzies Campbell in 1987. Barry Henderson was one of 11 Scottish Tories to lose their seats as Fife North East returned Mr Campbell with a majority of 1,447. Both the SNP and Labour remained in single figures - the SNP remained on 6.6 %, but Labour increased their vote to 7.4 %.
In 1992, Menzies Campbell increased his majority to 3,308 over Tory Mary Scanlon, who became a Conservative list MSP for the Highlands & Islands in 1999. In that election, Labour (with 5.6 %) were beaten into fourth place by the SNP (with 8.6 %), but the Labour candidate, Dr Linda Clark, who obviously has a taste for seats held by other QCs, went on to wrestle Edinburgh Pentlands from Malcolm Rifkind in 1997.
In 1997 the Tory vote crashed and Menzies Campbell was assured of a third term as elected representative for North East Fife with a record majority of 10,356 over the Tories. With the decline in the Tory vote, Labour and the SNP went into double figures (10.9 % and 10.3 % respectively) or the first time in years. Menzies Campbell took 51.2 % of the vote - not a bad result for a party who had been in fourth place with just 12.6 % in October 1974. In the 1997 general election, the Tory candidate was the Honourable Adam Bruce no less, (a sprig of the Earl of Elgin & Kincardine's tree if I'm not very much mistaken, old chap). The family is famous for the Earl who looted, sorry saved, the so called Elgin Marbles from Athens. It is also notorious for his countess who engaged in other more interesting occupations while her husband was playing with his marbles. Though no doubt a terrifically spiffing chap, the Honourable Adam Bruce, bless his little cotton socks, saw the Tory vote slump from 38.5 % in 1992 to a mere 26 %. Cry 'Shame!' Whatever is the world coming to when those rebellious Scots peasants (curse them for low-born swine!) won't vote for their rightful lords and masters, the Tory toffs?
Menzies Campbell stood once again in North East Fife in 2001 and it would have caused a sensation if he had been beaten. The Tories seem to have learned their lesson from 1997 and this time round their candidate was Mike Scott-Hayward, the Cllr for Elie, St Monans & Pittenweem since the 1999 by-election which he won with a majority of 30 over the SNP following the death of Independent James Braid, former Provost of St Monans who contested Fife East five times for the SNP. Mike Scott-Hayward was the Tory candidate for Edinburgh Central in 1997 and for Kirkcaldy in 1999.
There was little change in Fife North East in 2001 with Menzies Campbell being elected with 51.7 % of the vote and a 9,736 majority over Mike Scott Hayward who took 23.6 %. Dr Calore Brennan came third for Labour with 11.4 % Kris Murray-Browne, who was a member of the SNP list for the 1999 European elections came fourth with 10.4 %. The SSP's Keith White took 1.8 % and Leslie Von Goetz obtained 1.2 % for the Legalise Cannabis Alliance..
The Right Honourable Menzies Campbell QC, is highly popular locally and is considered by most to be a good constituency MP. Before his parliamentary careen he was an advocate and was holder of the UK 100 metres record (10.2 seconds) for seven years. However, like the majority of his Lib Dem colleagues, Menzies Campbell was not a candidate for the Scottish Parliament. Although Mr Campbell stated that he would stand before the 1992 election, he preferred to pursue personal glory and a cabinet seat in the British Imperial Parliament at Westminster. And with the leadership of the Lib Dems up for grabs, who could blame Mr Campbell and most of his colleagues for choosing the higher salary and lower workload of Westminster. In the 1999 Scottish election he was replaced by Cllr Iain Smith a Fifer who has been a councillor for the past 17 years, representing the ward of Freuchie, Kingskettle & Springfield which he held with a majority of 457 over the SNP
It was believed that the absence of Menzies Campbell would make the contest more wide open than it has been for years. Indeed, the high personal standing of the local MP was demonstrated by the fact that the Lib Dem vote crashed by no less than 13.4 %. Although the Conservatives had made some small recovery in North East Fife as they demonstrated in the Newburgh & District by election, nowadays the Scottish Tories are as threatening as a toothless and arthritic poodle and Cllr Smith was elected with a majority of 5,064. Tory Edward Brocklebrack saw the Conservative vote slip by 2.8 % from its 1997 wipe-out level. The SNP's Colin Welsh saw his vote advance to 17.6 %, just 6 % less than the Tories, while Labour went up to 14.4 %. Also standing was former Olympic marathon runner, former Lib Dem councillor and current chairman of St Andrews Community Council Donald Macgregor took 4.3 %. He stood in protest at the Liberal Democrats adopting a 'party clone'.
Iain Smith was born in 1960 in Cupar where he attended the local school. He headed south of the border to study politics and economics at Newcastle University before working for Northumberland Council. He moved to Dundee before becoming election agent fro Menzies Campbell. He was a Fife Regional Councillor from 1986 until 1996 and a Fife Councillor from 1995 until 1999. Iain Smith was appointed Deputy Minister for Children & Education by Donald Dewar, but was sacked by Henry McLeish, largely on the urging of Smith's own Lib Dem colleagues. Iain Smith is one of the many councillors in the Scottish Parliament who seem to have found the transition from local government difficult, and in contrast to his Westminster colleague Menzies Campbell, he has neither a high profile, nor does he seem to be particularly appreciated by his colleagues.
Although, Labour's chances are practically zero in North East Fife, the seat does seem to be a good training ground with three Labour MPs (Helen Liddell, Henry McLeish and Lynda Clark) two of them ministers, all having been candidates here. The present Labour wanabee is Gregor Poynton.
The Tory candidate is Edward Brocklebank who came second here in 1999 with 23.7 %. The SNP have selected Capre Ross Williams while the SSP candidate is Carlo Morelli.
Assessment:
Rank on Conservative hit list: 14
Swing required for Conservative gain: 7.05 % from Liberal Democrat to Conservative
Rank on Scottish National Party hit list: 48
Swing required for Scottish National Party gain: 10.04 % from Liberal Democrat to Scottish National Party
Rank on Labour hit list: 13
Swing required for Labour gain: 11.71 % from Liberal Democrat to Labour
| Logo | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | % change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Liberal Democrat | Cllr Iain Smith | 13,590 | 37.81 % | - 13.41 % |
|
Conservative | Edward Brocklebank | 8,526 | 23.72 % | - 2.75 % |
|
Scottish National Party | Colin Welsh | 6,373 | 17.73 % | + 6.87 % |
|
Labour | Charles Milne | 5,175 | 14.40 % | + 4.12 % |
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Independent | Donald Macgregor | 1,540 | 4.28 % | + 4.28 % |
| Independent | Robert Beveridge | 737 | 2.05 % | + 2.05 % | |
|
Lib/Dem win | Lib/Dem majority | 5,064 | 14.05 % | - 10.70 % |
| Logo | Party | Votes | % |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Liberal Democrats | 11,537 | 32.12 % |
|
Conservative & Unionist Party | 8,555 | 23.82 % |
|
Scottish National Party | 7,425 | 20.67 % |
|
Labour | 5,849 | 16.28 % |
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Scottish Green Party | 1,834 | 5.11 % |
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Socialist Labour Party | 271 | 0.75 % |
|
Scottish Socialist Party | 265 | 0.74 % |
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Pro Life Alliance | 108 | 0.30 % |
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Natural Law Party | 74 | 0.21 % |
|
Lib Dem maj | 2,982 | 8.30% |
| Logo | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Liberal Democrat | Menzies Campbell | 21,432 | 51.22% |
|
Conservative | Hon Adam Bruce | 11,076 | 26.47% |
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Scottish National Party | Colin Welsh | 4,545 | 10.86% |
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Labour | Charles Milne | 4,301 | 10.28% |
 |
Referendum | William Stewart | 485 | 1.16% |
|
Lib Dem hold | Lib Dem majority | 10,356 | 24.75% |
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