Malcolm Bruce and Charles Kennedy have issued messages to mark their 30 year anniversaries as MPs. First up, Malcolm’s:

Thirty years ago this weekend, I was elected as Member of Parliament for Gordon –  for the first time and at the third attempt. It had taken nine years of sustained campaigning. I was of course exhilarated and excited but little realised that that was the first of seven successful elections.

Campaigning has changed beyond recognition. Then we had 60 plus public meetings and there was no Facebook or Twitter. Technology was limited too. Then there were no mobile phones, no e-mail and no desktop computers.

The boundaries, which in 1979 included not only Bucksburn, Dyce and Bridge of Don, but Donside and Deeside, have changed four times, seeing the seat move northwards, for eight years taking in Keith and Turriff before reverting to boundaries that again included the northern parts of the city.

There are too many events to recount. Nevertheless they include the winter of 1983/84 when we suffered massive power outages for thousands of premises over several weeks; then there was the BSE crisis when 1000 jobs were lost overnight because of the beef export ban; helicopter engineers captured in Nigeria, Sandra Gregory arrested in Thailand, both involving years of work to secure release.

Throughout I have campaigned on a variety of local issues – bypasses for Ellon, Bucksburn, Blackburn and Inverurie – and other road upgrades, the new Meldrum Academy, upgrades and replacements for other schools; campaigns for health services, community hospitals clinics etc.

Nationally I have spoken for my party on a variety of issues especially on the economy and the environment and of course Home Rule, including four years as Leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats.

For the last eight years I have had the privilege of chairing the International Development Select Committee, which has given me a deep insight into the challenges of eliminating poverty in many of the world’s poorest countries.

I have also been involved with campaigns on behalf of deaf people as a Vice President of the National Deaf Children’s Society, and vice President and former trustee of Action on Hearing Loss and founder and chair of the All Party Group on Deafness.

The nights necessarily spent away from home add up to ten years. The diary pressure has always been relentless but the variety is immense and the opportunity to meet so many interesting people, most of them polite, and learn about so many areas of life makes it all worthwhile.

* Malcolm Bruce was the Liberal Democrat MP for Gordon until 2015 and was Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats from 2014-15. He led the Scottish Party from 1988-92 and is now a member of the House of Lords.