Premiership of Jack McConnell

Jack McConnell's term as first minister of Scotland began on 22 November 2001 when he was formally sworn into office at the Court of Session. It followed the resignation of Henry McLeish over the Officegate scandal. His term ended on 16 May 2007, following the defeat of the Scottish Labour Party in the 2007 Scottish Parliament election, where the Scottish National Party formed a minority government.

This article is about the events of Jack McConnell's tenure as First Minister of Scotland. For the people in Jack McConnell's administrations, see First McConnell government and Second McConnell government.

Jack McConnell
Premiership of Jack McConnell
22 November 2001 – 16 May 2007
MonarchElizabeth II
Cabinet1st McConnell government
2nd McConnell government
PartyLabour Party in Scotland
Election2003
SeatBute House

McConnell entered office amid the aftermath of the Scottish Parliament's first political scandal and suffered fierce opposition.

Scottish Labour leadership bid

Henry McLeish resigned as First Minister of Scotland and Leader of the Labour Party in Scotland[lower-alpha 1] on 8 November 2001 over the Officegate scandal, regarding the sub let of his constituency office. In the resulting search for a leader, Jack McConnell was seen by many political analysts as the likely successor. McConnell had previously contested against McLeish on the 2000 leadership election following the death of Donald Dewar, but lost.[1][2] Other likely candidates included Wendy Alexander and Susan Deacon.[3][4]

McConnell launched his bid to be the next leader and on the 13 November 2001, he emerged as the only candidate to secure the seven nominations needed to run.[5] Left-wing Labour activist, John McAllion, announced his candidacy, however, he only received one nominee from Elaine Smith.[6][7]

On the same day McConnell was announced leader-elect of Scottish Labour, he revealed he had an extra-marital affair seven years prior.[8][9] In a press conference in Edinburgh with his wife, Bridget McConnell, he stated: "If I become first minister, it would be very wrong for my family or anybody else to suffer because my behaviour then is still a secret today. That is why we are now being open about the fact that I did have an affair seven years ago. At the time I made mistakes, including denying the facts publicly and privately".[10][11]

Although McConnell emerged as the only candidate, he still needed more than 50% of the support of Labour MSPs.[12][13] On 17 November 2001, he was officially elected unopposed as Leader of the Labour Party in Scotland after receiving the support of 97.23% of MSPs.[14] In his acceptance speech, he stated he was "deeply honoured to receive such overwhelming support" and highlighted that much work still needed to be done "to make devolution a success" and achieve "first class public services".[15]

McConnell receives the Royal Warrant of Appointment by Her Majesty the Queen, November 2001

On 22 November 2001, McConnell was elected by the Scottish Parliament to be the next First Minister of Scotland. He had support of his Labour Party and their coalition partner the Liberal Democrats, following talks over concession for electoral reform for local government elections and the abolishment of university tuition fees.[16] McConnell received 70 votes, defeating the leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP), John Swinney, leader of the Scottish Conservatives, David McLetchie, and Independent MSP, Dennis Canavan, by 34, 19, 3 respectively.[17][18][19][20]

Following his nomination, the First Minister-elect visited London to meet the British Prime Minister, Tony Blair. Then after, McConnell attended Buckingham Palace, where he was issued the Royal Warrant of Appointment by Her Majesty the Queen.[21][22] On 27 November 2001, McConnell was officially sworn into office as First Minister of Scotland at the Court of Session in Edinburgh.[23] Aged 41, he is the youngest First Minister to be appointed to office, to date.[24]

As a result of him becoming First Minister, he was appointed Keeper of the Great Seal of Scotland and to the Privy Council, earning the title 'The Right Honourable' for life.[25][26]

First term; 2001–2003

Cabinet appointments
See also: First McConnell government
First meeting of the McConnell government, November 2001

Shortly after being appointed McConnell began making appointments to his cabinet. Jim Wallace remained in the post of Deputy First Minister and Wendy Alexander and Ross Finnie remained as ministers. Sam Galbraith and Angus MacKay stood down and Jackie Baillie, Sarah Boyack and Tom McCabe were reshuffled out of government, while Susan Deacon was offered the post of social justice minister but refused the offer and moved to the backbenches. Cathy Jamieson, Mike Watson, Malcolm Chisholm, Iain Gray, Patricia Ferguson and Andy Kerr were all promoted to cabinet.[27][28][29]

Sporting event bids

In February 2002, Scotland joined forces with the Republic of Ireland in a bid to host the 2008 European Football Championship.[30] McConnell was initially unconvinced that it was worth spending around £100 million on the tournament, but he later put his support behind the joint bid with the Irish.

Although the bid lost out to Austria/Switzerland, McConnell later supported other attempts to land major supporting events including London's successful bid for the 2012 Olympic Games[31] and Glasgow's bid for the 2014 Commonwealth Games.[32]

Sectarianism

In December 2002, McConnell launched his government's campaign against sectarianism.[33]

2003 Scottish Parliament election

McConnell was re elected MSP for Motherwell and Wishaw at the Scottish Parliament elections. The Labour Party in Scotland won 50 seats, the largest number, and formed another coalition government with the Liberal Democrats which won 17 seats.

Second term; 2003–2007

On 15 May, McConnell was re appointed First Minister of Scotland and on the same day the Scottish government published A Partnership for a Better Scotland which set out the government's priorities for the four-year term ahead.

This was followed by the “Fresh Talent initiative” which was created and developed to focus at addressing the demographic decline in Scotland and ageing Scottish population by attracting young and skilled immigrants, primarily from other European Union countries (such as Poland and Slovakia primarily) to be attracted to Scotland as a place to live and work.

Public smoking ban

One of McConnell's most famous achievements during his tenure in government was the successful campaign to ban smoking in Scottish public places, such as pubs, public transport and restaurants, making Scotland the first country within the United Kingdom to do so, which lead to McConnell receiving praise for his leadership on this issue, ultimately leading other countries to follow.[34]

McConnell attended the 31st G8 summit which was held in Gleneagles Hotel, Scotland, and welcomed guests invited to the conference to Glasgow Prestwick Airport on arrival.

2007 Scottish Parliament election

The Scottish Parliament general election of 3 May 2007 saw McConnell re elected as the MSP for Motherwell and Wishaw with a majority of 5,938 votes, representing 48% of the vote with a turnout of 50.3%. The Labour Party in Scotland was defeated by the SNP with the SNP winning 47 seats to Labour's 46, leaving the SNP short of an overall majority in the Parliament.[35]

Resignation

McConnell left office as First Minister on 16 May 2007, when the Scottish Parliament elected Alex Salmond as his successor.[36] On 17 May 2007, the SNP officially formed the first nationalist administration of the Scottish Government and McConnell became Leader of the Opposition.[37] On 15 August 2007, McConnell announced his intention to resign as Scottish Labour Leader.[38]

See also

References

Notes
  1. Prior to the 2011 Boyack-Murphy review, Scottish Labour was officially called the Labour Party in Scotland until the review change.

Citations
  1. "BBC NEWS | In Depth | McLeish resignation | Profile: Jack McConnell". news.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 22 July 2022.
  2. "BBC NEWS | In Depth | Donald Dewar | Leadership win for McLeish". news.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 22 July 2022.
  3. "BBC News – SCOTLAND – Search begins for new first minister". Archived from the original on 16 March 2004.
  4. "Starting gun sounds in leadership race". 8 November 2001. Retrieved 22 July 2022.
  5. "Free run shortens leadership race". 13 November 2001. Retrieved 22 July 2022.
  6. "McConnell to be next first minister". the Guardian. 13 November 2001. Retrieved 22 July 2022.
  7. "Dapper Jack dominates Holyrood life". 16 November 2001. Retrieved 22 July 2022.
  8. "Jack betrayed my trust Wife reveals hurt as McConnell becomes leader in waiting". HeraldScotland. Retrieved 22 July 2022.
  9. "McConnell admits to affair". 13 November 2001. Retrieved 22 July 2022.
  10. "Scotland first-minister-to-be admits affair". the Guardian. 14 November 2001. Retrieved 22 July 2022.
  11. "Jack McConnell: Personal statement". 13 November 2001. Retrieved 22 July 2022.
  12. "Scottish Labour in leadership vote". 17 November 2001. Retrieved 22 July 2022.
  13. "Date set for Labour leader vote". 14 November 2001. Retrieved 22 July 2022.
  14. "McConnell's clear run to the top job". 22 November 2001. Retrieved 22 July 2022.
  15. "McConnell sets priorities for office". 17 November 2001. Retrieved 22 July 2022.
  16. "McConnell gains Lib Dem support". 20 November 2001. Retrieved 22 July 2022.
  17. "McConnell: "Time to deliver"". 22 November 2001. Retrieved 22 July 2022.
  18. "McConnell elected first minister". 22 November 2001. Retrieved 22 July 2022.
  19. "Jack elected in a flash". 23 November 2001. Retrieved 22 July 2022.
  20. "McConnell appointed Scotland's first minister". the Guardian. 22 November 2001. Retrieved 22 July 2022.
  21. "Royal warrant for first minister-elect". 26 November 2001. Retrieved 22 July 2022.
  22. "McConnell receives the Royal Warrant". 6 June 2002. Archived from the original on 6 June 2002. Retrieved 26 July 2022.
  23. "McConnell becomes Scottish premier today". The Irish Times. Retrieved 22 July 2022.
  24. "Scotland's new first minister sworn in". 27 November 2001. Retrieved 22 July 2022.
  25. "Privy Counsellors". Privy Council Office. Archived from the original on 13 September 2016. Retrieved 8 October 2016.
  26. "Privy Council Held On 14th March 2001" (PDF). Privy Council Office Secretariat. Archived from the original on 3 November 2010. Retrieved 8 October 2016.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  27. "McConnell in radical cabinet shake-up". 27 November 2001. Retrieved 22 July 2022.
  28. "Who's who in the Scottish Cabinet". 28 November 2001. Retrieved 22 July 2022.
  29. "First Cabinet Meeting". 14 November 2002. Archived from the original on 14 November 2002. Retrieved 26 July 2022.
  30. "Joint Euro 2008 bid goes ahead".
  31. "London 2012 News". Archived from the original on 9 May 2006.
  32. "Commonwealth Games Bid Glasgow 2014". Archived from the original on 20 May 2007.
  33. "A Nation of Opportunity, Not a State of Fear". Archived from the original on 7 June 2011.
  34. Leydier, Gilles (18 November 2019). "The Scottish First Ministers from 1999 to 2014: Role, Power and Leadership". Revue Française de Civilisation Britannique. French Journal of British Studies. XXIV (XXIV-4). doi:10.4000/rfcb.4897 – via journals.openedition.org.
  35. Timeline: Scottish elections 2007, BBC News, 4 May 2007.
  36. "Salmond elected as first minister". BBC News. 16 May 2007.
  37. "Former minister returns to join Scottish shadow cabinet". the Guardian. 18 May 2007.
  38. "McConnell quits Labour leadership". BBC News. 15 August 2007. Archived from the original on 19 August 2017..
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