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Jamie Stone may be one of Parliament's most affable characters,
yet right now he's angry. The issue at the very forefront of his
mind is a proposal to downgrade maternity services in Caithness.
For some pregnant women it would mean a 200 mile round trip. "This
seems to me utterly wrong," he protests. "What do you do if you're
a poor single mum living in Wick? That single mum may not have a
partner to support her. What happens if it's snowing? What happens
if it's so bad that the helicopter can't fly? Then we're talking a
tragedy waiting to happen - a child's life, a mother's life." He
shows me a petition from mums in Caithness being submitted to the
Petitions Committee: "How dare the bureaucrats do this? Who do they
think they are?"
Brought up "on a wee farm" in his constituency, he describes
himself as being "mildly involved with politics" as a student at St
Andrews; politics was nevertheless, in the family, as his
forefathers had been provosts of Tain and his father was a
councillor. When his father died suddenly in 1986, Jamie won the
by-election for the ward as an independent. "Being a councillor is
quite tough," he recalls; "it's point blank range - street corner -
people putting a finger on your chest, saying 'what are you going
to do about this, why haven't you sorted that'." Impressed by
Charles Kennedy, he joined the SDP, becoming constituency chairman.
Increasingly convinced of the case for devolution, he was appointed
the Council's representative on the Scottish Constitutional
Convention.
As the father of 3 state-educated children now at university,
the future for the next generation is close to his heart.
Sustainable employment in remote areas, protecting the Gaelic
language and promoting the "rich mix of culture" in Scotland are
priorities for Jamie Stone alongside health, social services,
education. "You can regard Scotland as a beautiful diamond with
many facets," he explains. "As the whole world becomes homogenised
into a sort of 'pizza hut international' of low-grade uniformity, I
think the human soul cries out for difference, for interest in
something better - and a rich tapestry in a country has an appeal
we can build on in terms of tourism." He's passionate about his
enterprise portfolio and particularly about encouraging business,
along with the Parliament and Executive and bodies like the STUC,
to accept young people on placements.
He recalls an incident when a constituent came to him for help
after the 4 nappies a day he had been allocated to look after his
elderly incontinent mum, were being reduced to 3: "He broke down
saying he couldn't cope. I remember saying if I sort anything in
this life, my friend, I'll sort you out - my secretary had to calm
me down. So when people say that MSPs are just glorified social
workers, well if that's how they choose to describe me then I'm
very proud to be described as that." It's situations like this that
make Jamie Stone angry. Seeing people in difficulty because
"something that should be done is not being done" that really gets
to him. Yet he doesn't get angry in political debate. "I don't even
come close to losing it in the chamber - not faintly."
Stone's Christian faith is very important to him though he views
his faith as "imperfect" emphasising that he's "not 'Churchy'
per se - I just go to Church and it's important in my life
but I don't bang on about it…I always think that if I start to
thump the Bible, and say 'oh I'm a Christian', I rather fear I hear
God falling about with laughter!". "I hope I don't come over as a
'pushing it down your throat' type of person… I think it's quite
good to look at yourself and say 'wait a minute' - amidst the
political ambition and this and that - 'am I really doing the
best?'"
Though he toyed with the idea of becoming a minister, and it's
always remained at the back of his mind, he regards himself as
"simply not good enough" for something he views as a vocation.
While not a member of the Kirk Session he enjoys going to Church,
taking part in Church activities, and a "bit of good preaching".
His faith influences his politics though he worries he is possibly
"too shy" about it. "One is encouraged to go out there and spread
the gospel," he reflects, but "I think I got scared by the
Christian Union when I was a student - they were too … 'are you
saved?'" Asked to do a reading in Church, he found it
"absolutely terrifying … I could make a speech in parliament
absolutely no bother at all, but getting up there with that huge
big Bible - wow! I found my knees were shaking."
"I utterly applaud the work that's being done by the Churches,"
he continues; "the impact of the parliamentary office has been
really very surprising". Westminster colleagues remark that the
Church plays a much bigger role than at Westminster and is
perceived more sympathetically at Holyrood, he says, which he
attributes partly to the SCPO, and the surprising number of church
elders in the parliament across all parties, but also to the
Scottish Churches not being shy about debating matters of
politics. "It used to infuriate some politicians - still does
to this day - if the church dares to say something, but it's a long
historic tradition in Scotland." Seeing church representatives in
the gallery during debates sends a powerful message: "They're not
slow at coming forward," he notes, approvingly, "and a bit like my
own imperfect version of faith, it's very good at asking MSPs to
look to their conscience and do what's right."
Unusually, Stone's political hero is not a household name, but
Harry Miller, with whom he served as a councillor and who died just
before the 1999 election. Miller, as Chair of the Council's Housing
Committee was appalled by the plight of a travelling family of a
mother and 4 children suffering from a wasting disease, living in
"wretched conditions", and liaised with social work, and health
services to buy a house for the family near the hospital. A
vigilante group objected with petitions, demonstrations, and
letters to councillors which Stone describes as "evil". Councillors
were "picked off one-by-one" and the vote 2 days before Christmas
was lost: "I remember Harry saying 'But we're all God's children'."
The family are still in the same house though 2 of the children
have since died. "Harry was so brave and took the flak. People were
horrible to him and he stuck to his guns…it's so easy to buckle but
he didn't - that was courage". He was, reflects Stone, "a wonderful
man, so brave - really cared. I still feel the injustice of it
all".
"We have to demonstrate more fully that we can make a difference
to people's lives", says Stone. People need to see the benefit of
local influence over decision-making. "You can't just be a
weathercock - sometimes you have to have the guts to lead on
issues." Success in attracting the public into visiting the
parliament and using the website needs to be built on, because
"there's no doubt about it - once people have been here they then
begin to take an interest. Our outreach work is going to have to be
upped still further". He wants committees to meet outside Edinburgh
more, "fully advertised for maximum public access…We have to get
the message over to young people particularly that this really
matters… We've got to be almost like missionaries about this". He's
encouraged by Modern Studies classes he's met - "The younger
generation are way ahead of mine", he insists; "they ask such
bright questions and are so 'on the ball' about issues. I
don't think anyone of my age would have dared ask an MP a
question…I'm glad that deference has gone".
He has high hopes for the new building: "It has to be about the
Scottish people not just parliamentarians. If during a recess, a
string quintet wants to play then absolutely they can use the
chamber… It's about people saying let's go to the parliament for
lunch". Illustrating the difference with Westminster, he recalls
Donald Dewar stopping to talk to a workman digging a hole in the
road who had called out "hullo there, big Donald!": "This
Westminster attitude of 'oh I'm off now to deal with matters of
state, I may see you in the constituency when I deign to come back'
- that's absolutely not on."