Jim Wallace, who as Scottish Lib Dem Leader served as Deputy First Minister from 1999-2005 and then as Advocate General for Scotland during the Westminster Coalition years, has done an interview for the BBC Podlitical podcast, available here on BBC Sounds or wherever else you get your podcasts.
The programme synopsis says:
The Lib Dem peer and former Deputy First Minister shares thoughts from his career. Lord Wallace talks to Lucy Whyte and Kirsten Campbell about the early days of Scottish Parliament, his conversations with First Minister Donald Dewar and Prime Minister Tony Blair, and his role as acting First Minister. Wallace shares his thoughts Brexit and Independence, as well as the UK Conservative/Liberal Democrat coalition of 2010, and why he thinks political parties have a problem with offering things that aren’t possible.
It’s a great listen. Jim talks about how he was willing to walk away during the 1999 coalition negotiations, but that the deal was done due to him and Donald Dewar’s willingness to work to find a way through the difficulties. He describes receiving a phone call from Tony Blair in the middle of it all, and hearing Donald Dewar in the next room speaking to our Paddy on the phone.
He talks of his pride at introducing Freedom of Information legislation, something that had long been a passion, and his delight when the Act was praised.
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