The Times Great Scottish Lives by Magnus Linklater

Author:Magnus Linklater [Linklater, Magnus]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780008280215
Barnesnoble:
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Published: 2017-10-05T00:00:00+00:00

Iain Macleod

Statesman of spirit and conviction, who helped grant independence to British colonies in Africa

22 July 1970

The Right Hon. Iain Macleod, P.C., M.P., who died on Monday night at the age of 56, had been Chancellor of the Exchequer for only a month but for nearly 20 years he had been one of the most considerable figures in British public life. He might have proved a great Chancellor. He had the imagination and the determination required to be more than the creature of the Treasury. Under him British economic policy might have been directed along more adventurous lines. But his place in British political history does not depend on what might have been.

He deserves to be remembered above all as a Colonial Secretary who pursued a historic policy with a full sense of history. He saw the need to grant independence more quickly to the British colonies in Africa and had the courage to act on this conviction. It required courage. Although Macleod had the support of Mr. Macmillan’s Cabinet, or at least a major-ity of the Cabinet, he was defying some of the most powerful sectors in the Conservative Party. Except on the younger, liberal wing, party sentiment was not with him. Yet he achieved his purpose in ensuring that Britain’s withdrawal from most parts of Africa was accomplished with more speed and goodwill than it would otherwise have been.

This was not an isolated example of his political courage. He further offended established opinion within his party when he refused to serve under Sir Alec Douglas-Home in 1963. Whether or not his judgment was right on that occasion, he had given an undertaking and he stuck to it when it could not possibly have been to his advantage to do so. Then two years ago he once again took an unpopular stand on principle when he voted against the Kenya Asians Bill, even though it was accepted by most of the Shadow Cabinet.

With this record of acting from conviction it must seem surprising that he earned a reputation for being devious. This reputation came partly from the bitter criticism of those who disagreed with him on policy. Partly it came from his own love of political tactics. There can be no doubt that he enjoyed the game. He was adroit and ingenious. He had an acute political ear. Some of those who were not such obvious political animals felt that this was inappropriate, even distasteful. But a gift for political manoeuvre ought not to be regarded as too black a mark against a politician. Allied to conviction, it is the stuff of statesmanship − and the sincerity of Macleod’s conviction is to be measured by what it cost him.

He was an ambitious man, but even before ill-health made it impossible to consider him for the party leadership it was evident that he could never achieve it. He had the intellectual, administrative and oratorical capacity. As a speaker he was superb. He was probably the finest Parliamentary debater of his generation.

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