Scotland's Viceroys

'Ms Boothroyd, drawing on the work of the Procedure Committee, has ruled that the Scottish and Welsh Secretaries cannot answer questions on the details of devolved matters. Neither can they answer on reserved matters that are the responsibility of other UK Ministers. One wonders what is left to discuss.'
Herald Editorial, 13 th July 1999.

Secretaries of State for Scotland since 1660

The Rt Hon Michael Forsyth MP, Secretary of State for Scotland, (later Lord Forsyth of Drumlean) and Lord James Douglas Hamilton MP (later an MSP, Earl of Selkirk, and Lord Douglas of Selkirk) prepare to receive the Stone of Scone back to Scotland

The post of Secretary of State for Scotland was abolished, albeit briefly, on the 13 th June 2003. The post had been abolished before, back in 1747, after the '45 Jacobite rebellion, by the Hanovarian Government.

Between the Union of the Crowns in 1603, and the Union of the Parliaments in 1707, Scotland was generally governed through the Scots Privy Council. During the Commonwealth, Scotland was under English military occupation and General George Monck was the Military Governor of Scotland. After the restoration of the monarchy in 1660, John Maitland, the 1 st Earl and from 1672, 1 st Duke of Lauderdale, was appointed as Charles II's Secretary of State for Scotland.

The post lapsed with the resignation of the highly unpopular Lauderdale due to ill health in 1679, and on the 24 th of November 1679, James, Duke of Albany & York, the younger brother of Charles II and heir presumptive, was appointed the King's Viceroy of Scotland.

It was not until until 1705, that the post of Secretary of State for Scotland was resurrected when Queen Anne appointed John Erskine, 6 th Earl of Mar to the position.

Mar's successor, the Duke of Queenberry, died in office and the post was left vacant for over two years until Mar was re-appointed by a dying Queen Anne. However, upon the succession of the Elector of Hanover, Mar was sacked and went on to raise the stardard of the Stuart heir, James VIII in 1714.

Mar was succeeded briefly by the Duke of Montrose and then the Duke of Roxburghe. After Roxburgh's resignation in 1725, no successor was appointed and Scotland was governed by the Secretary of State for the North.

In 1742, the Marquis of Tweedale was appointed as Secretary of State for Scotland, but the second Jacobite 'rebellion' resulted in the post being abolished and direct rule from London was re-established.

The posts of Secretary of State for the North and South were abolished in 1782 and transformed into the modern posts of Home Secretary and Foreign Secretary. Although Scotland was in theory under the authority of the Home Secretary, in the days before a good transport and communicaton network, responsibility was generally devolved and Scotland had a certain amount of autonomy. In those days, Scotland was governed through the office of the Lord Advocate. One of the most powerful was Henry Dundas who used the patronage system to control no less than 34 of the 45 Scottish MPs.

Following demands for more autonomy, in 1881, an Under Secretary at the Home Office was given responsibility for Scottish affairs. Four years later, in 1885, the office of State for Scotland was restored by the Tories. As can be seen from a letter written by the Tory Prime Minister Lord Sailsbury, to the Duke of Gordon, the work load was similar to that of Des Browne in 2008:

'The work is not very heavy - the dignity (measured by salary) is the same as your present office - but measured by the expectations of the people of Scotland it is approaching the Arch-angelic... It really is a matter where the effulgence of two Dukedoms and the best salmon river in Scotland will go a long way.'

Ironically, in the past, it was the Unionist Tories rather than the Labour and Liberal parties, who professed to support Home Rule, who were responsible for much of the constitutional reform in Scotland. It was the Tories who restored the office of Scottish Secretary in 1885. The Secretary assumed powers which were previously held by the Lord Advocate, until then the government's chief minister in Scotland. And in 1926, it was the Tories who upgraded the post of Scottish Secretary to that of Secretary of State for Scotland with a seat in the UK cabinet. In 1937, it was the Tory Secretary of State, Walter Elliott achieved the transfer much of the work of the Scottish Office from London to St Andrew's House in Edinburgh.

There has always been considerable doubt whether the Secretary of State's primary function was to be Scotland's voice in the cabinet, or the cabinet's voice in Scotland. During 1979-1997, when Conservative administrations governed Scotland against the wishes of the vast majority of Scots, the holders of the post were accused of being the latter. In 1984 Thatcher's Secretary of State for Scotland, George Younger, threatened to resign if Ravenscraig rolling mills were scrapped, and Ravenscraig survived, only to be closed in 1992.

In 1991, while Ian Lang was Secretary of State, the Tories lost the Kincardine & Deeside by-election to the Liberal Democrats. This meant that the governing party was in third place in terms of numbers of MPs (9/72) after Labour (49/72) and the Liberal Democrats (10/72).

Michael Forsyth was the last Conservative Secretary of State for Scotland. Yet in the 1992 General Election the Tories won only 25.77 % of the vote and 11 of the 72 Scottish Constituencies. In October 1996, the Conservatives were standing at 13 % in the System 3 poll for the Herald.

In the 13 elections between 1945 and and 1997, only six serving cabinet Ministers had lost their seats in the whole of the United Kingdom. At the general election of 1 st May 1997, no less than three Cabinet Ministers lost their seats in Scotland alone (and a further 4 in England and Wales). The Conservative Secretary of State for Scotland, Michael Forsyth, the two previous Scottish Secretaries, Ian Lang and Malcolm Rifkind, and every other Scottish Tory lost their seats. The Tories had never before failed to win a single seat in Scotland. This meant that they had been totally wiped out in Scotland at all levels of government with no MPs, no MEPs - and despite blatant gerrymandering - no local councils under their control.

Following the election, many were surprised to see the late Donald Dewar appointed as Secretary of State for Scotland rather than the Shadow Secretary of State, George Robertson. However, Dewar's appointment was a logical one. Unlike certain of his predecessors, Mr Dewar had always been a strong supporter of devolution. Despite Labour's massive majority it required a steady and competent hand at the wheel to steer the necessary legislation through Westminster.

Following the Yes Yes vote on September 11 th 1997, a Scottish parliament was elected on 6 th May 1999 and assumed its responsibilities on 1 st June 1999. Donald Dewar became the first First Minister of Scotland and resigned his post as Secretary of State for Scotland. The Scottish Office was transferred to the Scottish Parliament, with a new organisation, the Scotland Office, taking over those matters not devolved to the Scottish parliament Dewar was the last Secretary of State for Scotland with full powers and subsequently the office of Secretary of State for Scotland became a largerly honorific post, but still very expensive to run.

Dewar was replaced, not by his favoured successor and Deputy, Helen Liddell, but by Dr John Reid. Reid was likened to the janitor of a bankrupt company whose offices were about to close down. He headed a much reduced Scottish Office and acted as the Cabinet's man in Scotland, being transferred to a more significant job in Northern Ireland in January 2001 following Peter Mandelson's second resignation.

On the 28 th July 1998, a new post of Deputy Secretary of State for Scotland was created. The holder of the post, Helen Liddell, was expected to succeed Donald Dewar as Secretary of State for Scotland but was instead moved (briefly) to Transport on the 17 th May 1999. On 29 th July 1999, Brian Wilson returned to the Scottish or 'Scotland' Office as it is now called, as deputy to John Reid.

On 24 th January 2001, following the second fall from grace of Peter Mandelson, John Reid was moved to the Northern Ireland Office. Brian Wilson was Tony Blair's preferred candidate for Secretary of State for Scotland but due to his personal incompatability with the Scottish First Minister, Henry McLeish, Helen Liddell was instead appointed Secretary of State for Scotland. Liddell is the author of a bodice ripping novel called Elite, about the sexually smouldering Anne Clark who becomes the first woman Secretary of State Scotland. Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction!

On 25 th January 2001, Brian Wilson was moved to the Foreign Office and George Foulkes became Deputy Secretary of State for Scotland. Foulkes risked the wrath of superiors by his support for abolishing the link between the numbers of Scottish Westminster and Holyrood MPs which had been imposed by the Scotland Act. Helen Liddell also supported this against the wishes of the vaste majority of Labour MPs.

In October 2002, Foulkes, a Minister of State, was sacked and replaced with Anne McGuire, who was appointed Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Scotland. The title of 'Deputy Secretary of State for Scotland' fell into disuse.

In January 2003 a House of Lords committee recommended that the post be merged with that of Welsh secretary and that the Deputy Prime Minister handle communications with the devolved parliaments. On 12 th June 2003, the office of Secretary of State for Scotland was abolished and with the new Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs assuming responsability for Scoland, Wales, and the Lord Chancellor's office.

However, on the 14 th of June, the office of Secretary of State for Scottland was resurrected and given as an additional, part-time responsibility to the Rt Hon Alistair Darling, Secretary of State for Transport. Douglas Alexander succeeded in 2006, but was moved after being blamed by Labour MSPs for the voting scandal at the 2007 Scottish elections where almost 150,000 people were disenfranchised. His successor was Des Browne, Secretary of State for Defence, whose dual role has been attacked as 'an insult' by ex defence chiefs. In fact, Gordon Brown stated in the House of Commons that the office of Secretary of State is now an honorary title and that the de facto head of the Scotland Office is now the Minister of State for Scotland, Father David Cairns MP.

Since 1660, the post of Secretary or Secretary of State for Scotland has been held by:

Secretaries of State for Scotland, 1660 - 1746

Date	Secretary of State	Party
1660 - 1679	John Maitland, 1 st Duke of Lauderdale
1679 - 1705	Post abolished
1705 - 3 rd February 1709	John Erskine, 6 th Earl of Mar	Whig, but later leader of the 1714 Jacobite 'rebellion')
3 rd February 1709 - 6 th July 1711	James Douglas, 2 nd Duke of Queensberry
6 th July 1711 - 30 th September 1713	Post vacant
30 th September 1713 - 24 th September 1714	John Erskine, 6 th Earl of Mar	Whig, but later leader of the 1714 Jacobite 'rebellion')
24 th September 1714 - August 1715	James Graham, 1 st Duke of Montrose
August 1715 - 13 th December 1716	Post vacant
13 th December 1716 - August 1725	John Ker, 1 st Duke of Roxburghe
August 1725 - 16 th February 1742	Post vacant
16 th February 1742 - 3 rd January 1746	John Hay, 4 th Marquis of Tweeddale
3 rd January 1746 - 17 th August 1885	Post abolished

Under Secretary of State at the Home Office with responsibility for Scotland 1881 - 1883

This was a new office that was created by Gladstone in the Home Office with a Under Secretary responsible for Scottish business. Rosebery was offered the position of Minister for Scotland in 1883, but refused as the post was not in the cabinet, and resigned. He became Prime Minister from 1894 to 1895.

Photo	Date	Deputy Secretary of State	Party
	August 1881 - June 1883	Rt Hon Archibald Philip Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery, KG	Liberal

Secretaries for Scotland, 1885 - 1926

Date	Secretaries for Scotland	Party
17 th August 1885 - 28 th January 1886	Rt Hon Charles Henry Gordon-Lennox, 6 th Duke of Richmond & Lennox, 1 st Duke of Gordon KG	Conservative
12 th February 1886 - 6 th April 1886	Rt Hon George Otto Trevelyan, later Sir George Otto Trevelyan Bt.	Liberal
7 th April 1886 - 2 nd August 1886	Rt Hon John William Ramsay, 13 th Earl of Dalhousie KT	Liberal
5 th August 1886 - 11 th March 1887	Rt Hon Arthur James Balfour (later 1 st Earl of Balfour)	Conservative
11 th March 1887 - 11 th August 1892	Hon Schomberg Henry Kerr, 9 th Marquis of Lothian	Conservative
18 th August 1892 - 21 st June 1895	Rt Hon Sir George Otto Trevelyan Bt.	Liberal
29 th June 1895 - 6 th October 1903	Rt Hon Alexander Bruce, 6 th Lord Balfour of Burleigh	Conservative
6 th October 1903 - 2 nd February 1905	Rt Hon Andrew Graham Murray, later 1 st Viscount Dunedin of Stenton	Conservative
2 nd February 1905 - 10 th December 1905	Rt Hon John Adrian Louis Hope, 1 st Marquis of Linlithgow KT GCVO GCMG	Conservative
10 th December 1905 - 13 th February 1912	Rt Hon John Sinclair, 1 st Lord Pentland	Liberal
13 th February 1912 - 9 th July 1916	Rt Hon Thomas McKinnon Wood	Liberal
9 th July 1916 - 10 th December 1916	Rt Hon Harold John Tennant	Coalition
10 th December 1916 - 24 th October 1922	Rt Hon Robert Munro (later 1 st Lord Alness)	Coalition
24 th October 1922 - 22 nd January 1924	Rt Hon Sir Ronald Crauford Munro-Ferguson, 1 st Viscount Novar GCMG	Liberal
22 nd January 1924 - 6 th November 1924	Rt Hon William Adamson	Labour
6 th November 1924 - 26 th July 1926	Rt Hon Sir John Gilmour Bt DSO	Conservative

Secretaries of State for Scotland 1926 - 1999

Date	Secretary of State	Party	MPs
15 th July 1926 - 7 th June 1929	Rt Hon Sir John Gilmour Bt DSO	Conservative
Rt Hon 7 th June 1929 - 25 th August 1931	William Adamson	Labour
25 th August 1931 - 28 th September 1932	Rt Hon Sir Archibald Sinclair Bt CMG (later 1st Viscount Thurso)	National Government
28 th September 1932 - 29 th October 1936	Rt Hon Sir Godfrey Collins (National Liberal)	National Government
29 th October 1936 - 16 th May 1938	Rt Hon Walter Elliot MC (Conservative)	National Government
16 th May 1938 - 14 th May 1940	Rt Hon David John Colville, later 1 st Lord Clydesmuir (Conservative)	National Government
14 th May 1940 - 8 th February 1941	Rt Hon Ernest Brown MC (National Liberal)	Coalition
8 th February 1941 - 25 th May 1945	Rt Hon Tom Johnston (Labour)	Coalition
25 th May - 3 rd July 1945	Rt Hon Albert Edward Harry Mayer Archibald Primrose, DSO MC, 6 th Earl of Rosebery	Caretaker
3 rd August 1945 - 7 th October 1947	Rt Hon Joseph Westwood	Labour	40/71
7 th October 1947 - 28 th February 1950	Rt Hon Arthur Woodburn	Labour	40/71
28 th February 1950 - 30 th October 1951	Rt Hon Hector MacNeil	Labour	37/71
30 th October 1951 - 13 th January 1957	Rt Hon James Stuart MVO MC (later Viscount Stuart of Findhorn)	Conservative	35/71
13 th January 1957 - 13 th July 1962	Rt Hon John Scott Maclay CH CMG (later 1 st Viscount Muirshiel of Kilmacolm)	Conservative	36/71
13 th July 1962 - 18 th October 1964	Rt Hon Michael Anthony Cristobal Noble (later Baron Glenkinglas)	Conservative	32/71
18 th October 1964 - 19 th June 1970	Rt Hon William Ross MBE (later Baron Ross of Marnock)	Labour	43/71
19 th June 1970 - 5 th March 1974	Rt Hon Gordon Thomas Calthrop Campbell (later Baron Campbell of Croy)	Conservative	23/71
5 th March 1974 - 8 th April 1976	Rt Hon William Ross MBE (later Baron Marnock)	Labour	40/71
8 th April 1976 - 5 th May 1979	Rt Hon Bruce Millan (later EEC Commissioner)	Labour	41/71
5 th May 1979 - 11 th January 1986	Rt Hon George Kenneth Hotson Younger TD (later Baron Younger of Prestwick, later 4 th Viscount Younger of Leckie)	Conservative	22/71
11 th January 1986 - 28 th November 1990	Rt Hon Malcolm Leslie Rifkind (later Sir Malcolm Rifkind)	Conservative	21/72
28 th November 1990 - 6 th July 1994	Rt Hon Ian Bruce Lang (later Lord Lang of Monkton)	Conservative	10/72
6 th July 1994 - 2 nd May 1997	Rt Hon Michael Bruce Forsyth (later Lord Forsyth of Drumlean)	Conservative	11/72
3 rd May 1997 - 17 th May 1999	Rt Hon Donald Campbell Dewar (later First Minister of Scotland)	Labour	56/72

Secretaries of State for Scotland 1999 - 2003

Photo	Date	Secretary of State	Party	MPs
	17 th May 1999 - 24 th January 2001	Rt Hon Dr John Reid	Labour	54/72
	24 th January 2001 - 12 th June 2003	Rt Hon Helen Lawrie Liddell	Labour	55/72

Secretaries of State for Scotland (part-time post) 2003 -

Date	Secretary of State	Party	MPs
14 th June 2003 - 5 th May 2006	Rt Hon Alistair Darling (Also Secretary of State for Transport)	Labour	55/72
5 th May 2006 - 28 th June 2007	Rt Hon Douglas Garven Alexander (Also Secretary of State for Transport)	Labour	39/59
28 th June 2007 -	Rt Hon Desmond Browne (Also Secretary of State for Defence)	Labour	39/59

Deputy Secretaries of State for Scotland 1998 - 2002

This was a new office that was created on the 28 th July 1998 and abolished on the 28 th October 2002.

Date	Deputy Secretary of State	Party
28 th July 1998 - 17 th May 1999	Helen Lawrie Liddell	Labour
17 th May 1999 - 29 th July 1999	Interregnum
29 th July 1999 - 25 th January 2001	Brian Wilson	Labour
25 th January 2001 - 28 th October 2002	George Foulkes (later Lord Foulkes of Cumnock and an MSP)	Labour