 | 'On May 1st 1997, the Scottish people told us what they thought - we got it wrong. They said we were out of touch. We didn't listen; that our decisions and politics had London stamped all over them with little relevance or sympathy for the needs of the Scottish people. As a result our history is indelibly marked with the 1997 election defeat.' Scottish Tory Leader, David McWhatshisname, April 8 th 1999. |  |
 | Maureen Watt |  | Gordon Guthrie |
 | Ben Wallace |  | Mike Rumbles |
In the 1983 boundary review Kincardine & Deeside was formed with 41 % of its voters from North Angus & Means, 32 % from Aberdeen South and 28 % from Aberdeenshire West. In 1997, Westhill, Kemnay and Alford from Gordon were added from Gordon along with the Deeside towns of Braemar, Ballater, Aboyne and Banchory and the Kincardine towns of Portlethen and Stonehaven..
The Tories held West Aberdeenshire (most of which is now actually in the present Gordon seat) until 1966 when it was won by James Davidson for the Liberals. He retired in 1970 and the seat was defended by Laura Grimond, the wife of Liberal leader and Orkney & Shetland MP Jo Grimond. However the seat was won back for the Tories by an Aden war veteran Colonel Colin 'Mad Mitch' Mitchell who retired in 1974.
West Aberdeenshire was held by Russell, later Sir Russell Fairgrieve for the Conservatives from 1974 until his retiral in 1983.
The biggest part of the new Kincardine & Deeside seat came from North Angus & Mearns which had been held by the Conservatives from 1950 onwards. The highly respected Alick Buchanan-Smith, who resigned as shadow Secretary of State for Scotland in protest of Margaret Thatcher's anti Scottish policies, became MP in 1964. He held the new seat of Kincardine & Deeside until his death in 1991.
The Liberals were only 2,000 votes and 4% behind the Tories in the 1987 General election and their candidate, Nicol Stephen, took the seat with a 7,800 majority in the by election in November 1991. This gave the Scottish Liberal Democrats more MPs than the government party and in Scotland it caused renewed discussion of a constitution which allowed a minority party to govern the country against the wishes of the vast majority of the population. Ian Lang was likened to a Victorian Colonial Governor unperturbed by the revolting natives. But in England, the Tories' unpopularity in Scotland had lost its power to shock. Unlike the SNP victory in Govan two years before, Kincardine and Deeside was seen in England as just another Liberal by election victory. Talk of a Constitutional Crisis was dismissed as mere 'posturing' by Tory Minister David Mellor.
Of the by-election candidates, only the Conservative J.M.M. Humphery did not go on to a parliamentary career. While the Liberal Democrat Nichol Stephen served at Westminster for 154 days, Allan Macartney, the SNP candidate was served as SNP MEP for North East Scotland from 1994 until his untimely death in 1998, while Malcolm Savidge was elected as MP for Aberdeen North in 1994. Only poor old Humphery Dumphery was forgotten - but such is the fate of many Scottish Tories in the current political climate.
In the 1992 general election, the Conservatives made an unexpected recovery and Tory George Kynoch easily won Kincardine & Deeside back with an increased majority compared to the 1987 general election result of 4,498 votes. For the 1997 election, a new seat called 'Deeside & the Howes' was proposed. In the 1994 Regional elections, the Liberals obtained 35.7% in these boundaries compared to only 24.4% for the Conservatives and 17% for the SNP. Although the Liberal vote dipped in the 1995 Unitary Elections they were still ahead of the Tories and well placed to win the new constituency.
In fact, this was not called 'Deeside & the Howes' but Aberdeenshire West & Kincardine. It can sometimes be difficult to find in alphabetic constituency lists as it is also referred to as West Aberdeenshire & Kincardine and even Kincardine & West Aberdeenshire etc.
In 1997, a local landowner, Sir Robert Smith had taken over the Lib Dem banner from Nicol Stephen who stood, unsuccessfully in neighbouring Aberdeen South and is also a candidate there for the Scottish election.
Sir Robert won the field for the Liberal Democrats with a 2,662 majority over Tory George Kynoch. This seat is the third most marginal in Scotland and the seat where the Tories have the best chances of succeeding. However, the Tories have two factors against them - their poor poll ratings and the facts they no longer have many well known faces standing for them. George Kynoch is one of those who has retired from politics and this time around the Tories are represented by Ben Wallace, a 28 year old ex-captain in the Scots Guards who has also worked for and advertising agency and as a ski instructor.
The Tory poll ratings have yet to recover to even their general election ratings so this seat will most likely go to the Liberal Democrat candidate Mike Rumbles, who is, like his Tory rival, a former army officer. Mr Rumbles now works in business management. He stood in Aberdeen North in 1997, where he came fourth with 14.1 % of the vote.
However, Ben Wallace need not despair as even if he does not win Aberdeenshire West & Kincardine, he is ranked second on the Tory list for North east Scotland and is therefore likely to make it to Holyrood as a Regional MP.
The SNP candidate here is Maureen Watt, the daughter of Hamish Watt who represented Banff from 1974 to 1979 and she is a previous member of the SNP National Council. Ms Watt joined the party in 1973 at the age of 21. She was the SNP candidate in Aberdeen North in 1979 when she came third with 5,796 votes.
Labour had extreme difficulties finding candidates for four constituencies, Orkney, Shetland, Gordon and this one. They obtained less than 10 % of the vote here even in their landslide year of 1997 and must be wondering whether it is really worth the bother of putting up a candidate here.
| - 1966 | Conservative |
| 1966 - 1970 | Liberal |
| 1970 - 1983 | Conservative |
| 1950 - 1983 | Conservative |
| 1983 - Nov 1991 | Conservative |
| Nov 1991 (by-election-) - 1992 | Liberal Democrat |
| 1992 - 1997 | Conservative |
| 1997 - | Liberal Democrat |
| Logo | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Liberal Democrat | Sir Robert Smith | 17,742 | 41.08% |
| Conservative | George Kynoch | 15,080 | 34.92% |
| Scottish National Party | Joy Mowatt | 5,639 | 13.06% |
| Labour | Qaisra Khan | 3,923 | 9.08% |
 | Referendum | Steve Ball | 805 | 1.86% |
| Lib Dem gain from Con | Lib Dem majority | 2,662 | 6.16% |
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