A look back on Perth and Kinross by-election 25 years after result sent shockwaves through British politics

The electoral map in the region was about to be transformed

It was a result that sent shockwaves through Scottish – and British – politics.

Regardless of constituency boundaries, and with only one or two brief exceptions, Perth and Kinross had been staunchly Tory since the 1920s.

But the electoral map was about to get a jolt when voters went to the polls on May 25, 1995.

A by-election had been called after the death of sitting MP Sir Nicholas Fairbairn.

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A controversial figure, Sir Nicholas had nevertheless been an MP in the region for over 20 years when he passed away at the age of just 61.

Roseanna Cunningham was chosen to fight the seat for the SNP, and it proved to be a shrewd move as she turned a 2094 Conservative majority into a 7311 majority for the SNP.

But it had not been an easy campaign for the then 43-year-old.

“By elections in those days were really full-on,” Roseanna recalls. “Partly, I think, because – before the Scottish Parliament came along – they were the only time when Scottish politics really came into the spotlight.

“So, in many ways, Perth in Kinross was the last of that old-style by-election.

“The campaign schedule was hectic, bear-pit press conference in the morning, visits and canvassing throughout the day, then public meetings and hustings, maybe two a night, meant you were on a 9am-10pm schedule which never stopped until election day itself when, ironically, the candidate is totally deprioritised and sent off to simply tour round the polling stations.”

In a glimpse of what was to follow two years later when Tony Blair swept to power, the Tories slumped to third in the constituency.

A then little-known Labour candidate called Douglas Alexander secured second for his party, adding over 10 per cent to the Labour vote in the region.

Paul Connell was involved in Labour’s campaign in 1995.

He shared some of his memories of the event in a blog piece, giving an insight into how the tactics employed by New Labour in the 1997 general election were tested in Perth and Kinross.

With the SNP confident of victory, the likes of Alex Salmond paid a visit to campaign, but so to did Tony Blair and Gordon Brown in the lead up to the poll.

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In fact, newspaper reports from the time suggest the Tories had already given up on the seat even before the polls opened.

Paul recalls: “The SNP ran a good campaign. Their blood was up and the seat was theirs to lose.

“I was friendly enough with some local activists to gauge that they were fairly confident but they’d been that way in 1992 and I detected real nerves in the last stretch.

“The Tories smelt of death from day one.

“I have virtually no recall of their candidate, John Godfrey.

“Local activists I knew didn’t even pretend to think they’d win.

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“The only big guns they mustered were Michael Forsyth and Bill Walker from neighbouring constituencies.

“There were others; the Lib Dems put up Veronica Linklater, wife of Scotsman editor Magnus, the Greens had an enthusiastic guy called Robin Harper who deservedly went on to greater things. By-election perennial Lord Sutch turned up, sponsored by Monster Munch.”

Roseanna admitted to feeling nervous despite expectations.

“It is an incredibly long day ending in the nerve-wracking process at the count, when however confident you thought you were, that confidence is constantly undermined by anxiety that you might have misread the entire campaign,” she recalls.

“When the returning officer made the announcement on stage that makes it official, there is undoubted excitement, but also that is when a slight sense of bemusement sets in about what this will mean because actually becoming an MP is full of unknowns.

“Then another round of interviews and through the crush out to the streets of Perth and the cheers of waiting supporters.

“Exhilarating, humbling, tiring. A dramatic start to what has been an immensely rewarding and fulfilling 25 years.”

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Recalling the aftermath of the result, Paul said: “A huge crowd of SNP supporters had gathered in front of the hall and the police advised us to leave by the side doors.

“I was in the company of the ‘portly’ Mike O’Malley, later first Labour Provost of Perth, who wouldn’t entertain the idea of a skulking retreat.

“We left by the front to a hearty chorus of ‘you fat b******, who ate all the pies?’ We then repaired to the now defunct Grampian Hotel and all got very, very drunk.”

Of course, Roseanna is still here in Perth and Kinross and is now Scotland’s longest serving parliamentarian.

She was re-elected at the 1997 general election for the redrawn and renamed constituency of Perth.

On the establishment of the Scottish Parliament, she was elected as the MSP for Perth in 1999, re-elected to represent that constituency in 2003 and 2007, then the redrawn and renamed constituency of Perthshire South and Kinross-shire in 2011 and 2016.

You can read Paul’s full story at https://medium.com/@connellmichaelpaul/tony-blair-my-part-in-his-ascent-22ac8974db28