Margo

Her political ability was never in doubt.

I am a Scot and I need no other justification other than

the feeling that I am.

Margo had such a natural way with her and people loved her,

no matter what their politics were, that she could open any door.

Do you fancy Tony Blair?

No, I dinnae.

THEY LAUGH

She was an authentic, real person. What you saw was what you got.

There's hope alive in Scotland.

She just sparkled,

and it didn't matter the circumstances

or what was happening in her life,

she just had that something.

You've got to get people believing in the democratic process first and foremost.

Her principles were fixed in the sense that she knew what was right

and she knew why she knew it was right.

Until we get rid of cruelty and exploitation,

then I think we're better just to prove the licences.

She liked the idea of being on the edge sometimes,

things being slightly on the edge,

whether it was for fun or even politically.

My political aspirations haven't really been of a personal nature.

She unashamedly and very proudly spoke as people spoke.

And that is an enormous contribution, it's a democratic contribution.

We started out with the idea that it would be a good thing

if were to shake up the established parties

and I think we have done this.

# I'm not ready to make nice

# I'm not ready to back down

# I'm still mad as hell and I don't have time

# To go round and round and round... #

This Parliament is going to be an awful lot quieter

now that Margo MacDonald is no longer with us.

She was the iconic figure of the Scottish home rule movement

over the last half century.

In her 70 years, this committed socialist

and nationalist became the champion of the poor and the marginalised,

and was known to millions of Scots simply as Margo.

Not a bad achievement for the girl from Lanarkshire.

Margo and I started secondary school at Hamilton Academy at the same time.

She had a very, very difficult upbringing herself.

Her mother was left to rear the three children.

Margo's dad walked out when she was only 12.

They had to give up the family home,

they had to move into a small rented flat.

It must have been extremely difficult,

but you would never have known it.

Regardless of what was happening at home,

the young Margo shone at school, particularly on the sports field.

Her passion was for the hockey pitch rather than the debating society

but Margo was quite a good organiser if she set her mind to her to it

and she did agree to be my election agent

when I stood as the Communist candidate in the mock elections.

Dunfermline College, having decided that studying

Physical Education had advantages that studying politics didn't.

MUSIC: "Words of Love" by Buddy Holly and the Crickets

I had the choice, I could either do PPE or Physical Education.

The most sensible piece of advice I got came from a gym teacher and she said,

"You could go to Dunfermline, you'll love it!

"and you can go to the dancing every night. Bingo!"

SHE LAUGHS

MUSIC: "Telstar" by The Tornadoes

She came to college as a very able

athlete, swimmer, gymnast, dancer.

You name it, Margo could do it to perfection.

She had such an intellect. She could have done

anything in the world that she wanted to do.

While Margo was training to become a PE teacher in Aberdeen,

American nuclear missiles were arriving on the Clyde.

It drove this young radical into direct action with CND,

and eventually the SNP.

Although the nationalists may have mis-sold what was on offer.

Sex Not Politics.

That's what the badges said!

And I joined, it was not!

It was all about politics.

Well, all about politics and the singing.

And although an SNP membership may not be for life,

a good rebel song is.

# They hung Wallace high on the gallows

# And cut him down 'ere he was dead

# And as he choked the queen jeered him

# For daring to cross English dead. #

That was it, that summarised it for me.

Winifred Margaret Ewing. Scottish Nationalist.

18,397.

The SNP was drawing plenty of supporters into its ranks,

but it wasn't until Winnie Ewing's historic victory at Hamilton in 1967

that these young activists could look to the future with genuine optimism.

I was working as a journalist in Scotland and I think Margo was working

We would talk towards a modest Scottish assembly

and then on to self-government and on to independence...

So I was quite close to her in these years.

MUSIC: "Number Nine Dream" by John Lennon

Margo became a household name in November 1973

Labour seat of Glasgow Govan.

Into the greyness came this vivacious, attractive,

athletic young woman speaking the language of the people.

I think we were saying the right things at the right time

just to the right group of people.

We cared, we genuinely cared about the place, you couldn't do anything but care about it.

It was so horrendous, the way in which people had been just left.

A London journalist, I think it was, said, "You're very selfish."

I said, "You come with me. We'll go five minutes anywhere from where we're standing

"and you tell me if I'm still selfish."

And he got the fright of his life

because he hadn't realised just how drastic it was.

Here is the result of the voting in the Glasgow Govan constituency.

When the count started, I have to confess I was sitting in the rooms

nervously trying to put my hair in heated rollers

so I wouldnae look too bad when I got there.

Margo MacDonald, 6-3-6-0.

One of my friends said,

"Away and comb your hair, because they think you're an MP."

And I declare that Margo MacDonald has been duly elected

to serve in Parliament as the member for Glasgow Govan constituency.

I am the MP for Govan. I can speak on behalf of the Scottish National Party

but I represent electors in Govan.

MUSIC: "Layla" by Derek the Dominoes

Not knowing what to make of this highly intelligent young woman,

the press, true to form, concentrated on her hair colour.

I wasn't a "blonde bombshell".

I liked the fact that I could look good,

but I was serious about what I was doing.

My daughters are here with me today at the Wallace Day rally

for the first time,

because they're old enough to understand now that the fight

and the struggle to gain our national and community freedom

didn't just start with their mother or when their mother joined the SNP.

I got on with people who were serious politicians,

and they got on with me.

They knew I was serious.

People who weren't very political maybe just saw the blonde bit.

Margo's Westminster career

lasted barely four months.

The Scottish Nationalists have had bad news,

they've lost Glasgow Govan and Robin Day is talking

to Mrs Margo MacDonald down the line to Glasgow.

Good morning, Mrs MacDonald. Morning.

Ironically, she lost Govan despite the great SNP surge

in the General Election of February, 1974.

How do you think the Scottish Nationalists picture is looking now

for the rest of the results to come in?

Rosy. I think it looks great.

We said we were going to double our vote

and I hear we are probably going to treble it.

It became very clear this was someone

that knew how to use the media.

And the media loved her. She was great copy.

She was a great person on TV.

If we are going to have the sort of social justice

which the Labour Party has promised but never delivered in Scotland,

then it is a basic fact that the economy of Scotland

must be taken out of the control of Westminster.

# Margo's got the magic Margo's got the smile... #

Margo attempted a return to Westminster in 1978

at a by-election in her home town of Hamilton.

I've heard some people saying

that I'll turn out a good personal vote in Hamilton

because they know me at school.

And I've heard other ones saying

I definitely won't get any votes because they knew me at school.

# The Labour fellow's out the race Out by half a mile

# Cos Margo's got the magic Margo's got the smile. #

But not even a catchy campaign song could save her from defeat.

MUSIC: "Don't You Want Me" by The Human League

She quit the party in the early 1980s,

after a bust-up over internal groups.

But she wasn't out of the public eye for long.

MUSIC: "Words" by FR David

Margo MacDonald is with me in the studio now because Radio Forth

continues with its election coverage tonight

with Election Forum.

But her real calling was journalism and that's where she really took off.

Ask Margo.

Hello, I'm Margo.

And crucially continued to speak as Margo always did.

MUSIC: "Eye of the Tiger" by Survivor

And people could relate to her because she related to them.

Possil seems little different from other schemes in our towns and cities.

400 people from the area, mostly young people,

have been treated for heroin addiction.

It's probably just about the only real growth industry

you'll get in a place like Possilpark these days.

MUSIC: "Tangled Up In Blue" by Bob Dylan

But it wasn't just punters who engaged with Margo the journalist.

Margaret Thatcher, no less, took time out from one of her rare

forays across the border to share some fashion tips.

So when she arrived out at Edinburgh Airport,

at the '83 election,

it was fixed up that I would get an exclusive interview with her,

only five minutes. I saw her above all the crowd when she arrived.

And she waved and I waved back.

Beetled in behind her and I said, "You're looking fantastic."

"Oh, but I have to, dear."

SHE LAUGHS

That's style!

MUSIC: "A Girl Like You" by Edwyn Collins

But when it came to fashion, Maggie was preaching to the converted.

She and I shared a great love of jewellery, clothes,

make-up, and we spent a lot of time talking about that.

It was very serious, I'll have you know.

She loved the Shopping Channel.

We're joined by two of Moira's lovely daughters...

Primrose and also Nina.

Well, if you knew Margo,

against your will you got to know all these shopping channels.

It would start at,

let's say, ?299.99 and she'd turn to you with great wisdom and say,

"That'll come down to ?59.99, just you watch," and we'd sit and

watch it and sure enough it would be ?59.99 and she'd say, "Told you."

A couple of years ago, she kind of mischievously said to me,

"There might be a couple of parcels coming for you."

Anyway, duly, a couple of days later,

the front door went and the postie is standing there

with a couple of parcels, couple of days later a couple more parcels.

I think I ended up with 60 or 70 parcels over a three-month period!

I was one of the many households which became a temporary

depot for parcels. I took 36.

Jim did not particularly approve of the amount of stuff

that was being bought on those shopping channels.

And there was one day when she put on a jacket which, even for Margo,

was a bit over the top and I said to her, "Where did you get that?"

And she said "Oh, I got it on the Shopping Channel"

I said, "I've never seen anything like that there,"

and all I could hear was Jim saying,

"Yeah, but you don't watch at three in the morning, Fiona."

Jim, of course, being her husband Jim Sillars, the former Labour, SLP

and SNP Member of Parliament whom she'd married back in 1982.

But marriage didn't always guarantee a meeting of minds.

Very often you would phone and there would be a political debate

going on on the telephone between Margo saying one thing and Jim saying the other.

It was mad being in the house. There would be a two-, three-way

political argument going on like a humdinger and Jim would come through

with a tea towel and say, "She's nuts, does she really think..."

And she'd say "I heard that!"

And then she'd start again.

There was a very interesting relationship between the two,

very close, an intensely close relationship.

Mutual admiration, respect,

But, equally, each was their own person.

The voters of Govan sent a Scottish Nationalist to Westminster

and threw down a spectacular challenge, both to the Labour Party

and to the Government.

Following Jim's victory in the second Govan by-election in 1988,

Margo began to emerge from her self-imposed exile from public politics.

And that inevitably led to a clamour

for her return to the front line.

I hadn't really planned going to the Scottish Parliament.

Then, in '92, I was asking people to vote for independence and so on.

I thought, "I've got a nerve asking everyone to do it

"and not coming out myself," so I came out!

But before she could plan that political comeback,

in 1995 she went on holiday with an old college friend.

And she sensed all was not well.

The first thing that I did notice was she had difficulty

getting her arm up to do her hair or to get her hair suitably coiffed

to her liking and, jokingly, I said, "Margo that'll never do.

"You have to makes sure your hair's right, you have to be Margo."

Margo was diagnosed with Parkinson's.

But she refused to surrender to this cruel disease.

She was so full of life that she was never going to be down in the dumps.

That was not a woman who was going to go down a black hole

and become depressed.

It just wasn't in her nature so to do.

The era of big, centralised government is over.

After Labour's 1997 General Election landslide,

once we knew there was going to be one.

"Go on, stand for it."

I thought about it, then I thought,

"Do I have a duty?"

Then I thought, "We'll give it a go anyway

"and we'll see what happens, if folk still want me."

And I got elected.

The regional elected seats for Lothian's elected region

have therefore been allocated as follows.

One, Margo MacDonald,

Scottish National Party.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

There's no doubt about it, your stomach gave that wee bit of flutter

when Winnie Ewing said the most important words she's ever said.

The Scottish Parliament, adjourned on the 25th day of March,

in the year 1707,

is hereby reconvened.

APPLAUSE

She was chancing her arm a wee bit, but it was terrific!

As Margo was being sworn in at the new Parliament,

her Parkinson's was beginning to show.

Can you raise your right hand?

No, I'll just...

Would you? Thank you very much, I appreciate that.

I, Margo MacDonald...

I, Margo MacDonald...

..Do swear that I'll be faithful and bear true allegiance...

..Do swear that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance...

..To Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth...

But her illness wasn't going to curb her rebellious spirit.

The leadership were saying, "Let's just see whether you've learned

"and you're willing to be a team player."

In fairness, Margo was never going to be a team player.

She was far too independent for that.

I always said at the time it was just matter of time

before Margo broke ranks and became an independent.

By 2003, a series of high-profile clashes with the SNP leadership

led to her being bumped down the regional list,

to an unelectable fifth place.

Are you part of a faction which has been trying to undermine the leadership?

Absolutely not.

You know and I think just about everybody else who hasn't spent the last 20 or 30 years on Mars knows

I believe in Scottish independence.

And anything I do, in my mind,

is calculated to try and advance that case.

I think she certainly was partly to blame, in as much as she wasn't

willing to play ball, or their ball, and we had a long discussion after

whether or not she would become an independent.

You just said you think it's pretty much curtains on the SNP list.

You could always stand as an independent.

I honestly haven't thought that far ahead.

I know there are options open to me.

I could try to get into the Big Brother house

as well, if I wanted to really do the whole thing.

# I'm not ready to make nice

# I'm not ready to back down

# I'm still mad as hell and I don't have time

# To go round and round and round... #

She and Jim were genuinely fearful that she wouldn't get elected.

She had no idea of her real popularity.

Although she has this very big personality

and very bold personality, she does have a lot of self-doubt

about her own ability at times.

Her political ability was never in doubt.

Her map-reading skills, on the other hand...

"We'll go down to Musselburgh, they'll love me in Musselburgh."

So we go down to Musselburgh, everyone loves her,

we have a great time talking in the street.

And this one chap talked to her at great length

and they were getting along like a house of fire and she said,

"Right, I'll have to go but I can be sure of your vote."

And he said, "No, you can't," and she said, "Why not?!"

He said, "I live up here." She said, "What's wrong with that?"

He said, "Well, this isn't your constituency,

"your constituency stops at the bridge."

So we dive back into the car.

"Let's go to Leith," she said. "They like me in Leith."

Margo MacDonald, Independent,

27,143.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

We started out with the idea that it would be a good thing

if we were to shake up the established parties and I think we have done this.

Nobody knew better than Margo

where the next blade of political grass was growing in Scotland.

I had a scientifically conducted poll today,

I talked to some taxi drivers I knew and some hairdressers I knew.

Did you get the impression that it was more than a chat,

that she was actually sounding you out for political intelligence and so on?

I'm not sure I thought of it as political intelligence at the time,

but certainly she was very chatty

and quite probing.

Interested about what people had been chatting about

in the back of my cab.

Yeah, she asked questions more than she...

She didn't get in the back of the taxi and give you a speech.

She had a remarkable ability to instigate a conversation,

like one of the guys was saying,

whilst... We've all said in one way or the other,

she liked to talk a lot.

Actually, when you think back about it,

most of the time she was listening and we were doing the talking.

What did she talk to you about?

She was telling me that she was known

as the politician for sex and drugs and rock'n'roll.

THEY LAUGH

Because she wanted for the prostitutes,

she wanted the tolerance zones,

for the drugs it was the de-restriction of cannabis,

and the rock'n'roll was because her daughter was married to a Proclaimer.

In particular, the prostitute thing was a big issue at the time

and you could tell she was really passionate about

looking after the girls

and doing what was best for them.

I think that was her all over, doing what was right for the people.

It was in Edinburgh that the Lanarkshire girl found her true home,

sometimes taking things far beyond just developing

a taste for salt and sauce on her chips.

She was always proud to say that Edinburgh was her home

but also very proud of Hibs, and that was her team.

This rational, intellectual woman would get to Hibs, Jim would tell me,

and turn into the most rabid, partisan

Hibs supporter you would ever want to meet in your life.

She was very much part of the Hibernian family.

From the first time she came up for election, she had my vote.

and everybody knows just exactly who you mean.

Very few people in this life are remembered that way.

You just have to say "Margo" and everybody knows.

A wonderful person and a wonderful Hibs fan.

MUSIC: "Rule The World" by Take That

Margo loved Edinburgh and Edinburgh loved her back.

In 2007 she was comfortably returned to Holyrood.

The perfect situation for a campaigning independent,

nationalist MSP.

I think it was good for Scotland,

because she flowered as an independent member of Parliament.

Margo was independent of mind, independent of thought,

independent of vision.

You can have the same strategic objective

to minimise prostitution

or to manage prostitution.

Some dingbats think you can abolish it, I don't.

She was taking on defending prostitutes,

She took on end-of-life assistance.

I don't want to burden any doctor,

I don't want to burden any friend or family member.

I want to find a way in which I can take the decision

rather not have talked about it, that was crucially important.

Since becoming a household name in 1973, Margo had been an MP,

a journalist, a campaigner, and an MSP.

Yet despite her undoubted popularity and her track record

in Scottish politics, even at the end of her life,

the girl from Hamilton still was reluctant

to acknowledge what she'd contributed.

I worry over the things that I could have done better

or I could have done differently.

I worry about them and say,

"I hope that wasn't permanently damaging."

I would like to feel that I had encouraged people

to take a pride in themselves

as a part of a community, a nation called Scotland

and to value that nation...

..and to protect that nation.

I would like to feel that I've done that, but I'm not sure that I have.

I think I've helped, in specific areas,

a little bit sometimes,

but I don't know if I've left an over-arching legacy. I wish I had.

I would like to think that Margo's legacy is

the realisation in other politicians that there's actually

nothing wrong with standing up for what you believe in.

Her legacy is to...have had a vision, a view,

an idea of what Scotland could become,

to sell that vision

in the language of ordinary people, for people to relate to it.

I think there was one thread that has run through Margo's life,

and that was a belief in people.

It informed her socialism, her nationalism and her journalism.

She was one of the people.

She genuinely believed in people power

and that, I think, is her legacy.

Margo was a politician who rose above the crowd.

And...but spoke for the crowd at the same time.

Her legacy is that she was an outstanding icon

of the nationalist movement, but equally importantly,

she was a huge national treasure for Scotland

and her memory will live for ever.

MUSIC: "Ae Fond Kiss" by Fairground Attraction

# Fair-thee-weel

# My first and fairest... #

I'm the MP for Govan.

# Fair-thee-weel

# My best and dearest... #

Out of self-respect comes self-confidence,

out of that comes imagination, out of that becomes inventiveness.

The whole world opens up to us with self-government.

That's what it's all about.

# Peace, enjoyment, love

# And pleasure.... #

And I would urge you,

don't admit to being

what you are not.

# Ae fond kiss and then we sever

# Ae fareweel, alas, for ever

# Deep in heart-wrung tears I'll pledge thee... #

My political aspirations haven't really been of a personal nature.

# Warring sighs and groans I'll wage thee... #

The thing I like best about Scotland is just, I think, the general humanity that you find here.

# I'll wage thee

# I'll wage... #

This is our time, this is our time of reckoning, we've got to take it,

and if we don't take it,

we're consigning our children to much, much less

than we've had ourselves - certainly narrower horizons,

lower aspirations.

We're consigning our children to being small

when we should be giving them a much bigger world.