Tag Archives: tributes

Caron Lindsay

UPDATED: Jim Wallace’s funeral takes place in Kirkwall

By Caron Lindsay | Tue 10th February 2026 - 8:27 am

UPDATE: A brief reflection on the service that took place earlier today.  If you knew and admired Jim, and haven’t seen it, it will be up for a while here.  I’m not going to tell you too much about it, but there were some stories that illustrate Jim perfectly, from the things he was excellent at, grace and kindness being mentioned a lot, to the things he was less good at. It sounds like he might have been less good at DIY than I am and that’s saying something.  And there are some things you might be surprised to learn. 

His brother Neil gave the most perfect tribute, as requested by Jim a few days before he went into hospital for his operation.  The best euologies are crafted so that you are lifted from sadness with laughter and this was no exception. There was one point where I was about to dissolve into tears and then he said something really funny and everyone laughed. 

Liam McArthur told us about their long working relationship, which started in a noisy pub in Edinburgh Waverley station. Alistair Carmichael shared his one abiding memory of Jim, which may surprise you. It will not be what you think, but in other ways, it will be exactly what you think. 

It is a very fitting summary of a life lived with  love, empathy, kindness,  ferocious intellect, modesty and humour with liberalism at its core. We’ll all be raising a glass to Jim tonight, I expect.

Many Lib Dems have been heading north to Kirkwall over the past couple of days for Jim Wallace’s funeral whihc takes place in the beautiful St Mgnus’ Cathedral in Orkney today.

Theer have been a few photographs of people stopping to campaign with Highland candidates David Green and Neil Alexander on the way, and no doubt we’ll see the same tomorrow as people make the return journey.

Our thoughts are very much with JIm’s wife Rosie, daughters Helen and Clare and brother Neil and all those who were close to Jim.

The service will be livestreamed here

Christine Murdoch and I thought it might be a good idea to open a Zoom room for those of us who will be watching online. We might need a gentle space where we can have a cup of tea and a chat afterwards. If you want to join us between 1 and 2, email [email protected] for the link.

Alistair Carmichael paid tribute to Jim in an article for Politics Home which you can read here. He said:

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Caron Lindsay

Jeremy Purvis’ tribute to Jim Wallace

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 4th February 2026 - 2:57 pm

The House of Lords also paid tribute to Jim Wallace yesterday.

Our leader in the House of Lords, Jeremy Purvis led the speeches. You can watch here.

My Lords, many of us aspire to be a good politician, to do good and to be a good person. More times than not, we fall short. Jim Wallace was a good man who saw it as his role in life to do good things. He did, and they will last. With great sorrow, we have been denied the opportunity of hearing a valedictory speech in this House from Jim. He would have been characteristically modest. We can perhaps be a little immodest on his behalf for a now profoundly missed absent friend.

After his early political days in the lowlands of Scotland, he triumphed in its most northerly part. When he was elected, many said he was the MP for Jo Grimond’s seat, but in short order we referred to it as Jim Wallace’s Orkney and Shetland. As MP, MSP and Peer, he saw serving in Parliament as the means by which good things can be done, not the end in itself. He was what a parliamentarian should be.

When speaking in Parliament Hall on the day of the opening of the Scottish Parliament in 1999, Jim was achieving his ambition and the dreams of many in delivering what Gladstone could not a century before. He said to all those newly elected MSPs:

“As the people’s representatives we should never forget the hopes kindled by this historic opportunity”.

He approached his role to meet those hopes as the first Liberal in office since the Second World War with zeal: land reform, law reform, social reform, education reform, prison reform—radical but workable—and all have endured, none reversed. Jim was a reformer, but he knew that for reform to last, it had to be done well. He said of the new Holyrood:

“Our Parliament must be open and inclusive—willing to consult and willing to listen”.

That sentiment embodied his own approach to politics.

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The Voice

Willie Rennie’s tribute to Jim Wallace

By The Voice | Wed 4th February 2026 - 1:58 pm

It is part of Jim Wallace’s legacy that three of our MSPs worked for him in some capacity. Willie Rennie was the Chief Executive of the Scottish Lib Dems who helped us win 17 seats in the new Scottish Parliament in 1999. He then went to Holyrood to head up our operation there for the first term.

This is his tribute to Jim yesterday:

The text is below:

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The Voice

Alex Cole-Hamilton’s tribute to Jim Wallace

By The Voice | Wed 4th February 2026 - 12:58 pm

Alex Cole-Hamilton also worked for Jim Wallace – in the Scottish Parliament Liberal Democrat staff pool.

Here is his tribute in yesterday’s Scottish Parliament session, detailing when Jim and his wife Rosie first met. The rest of the speeches can be seen here.

The text is below.

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Caron Lindsay

Liam McArthur’s tribute to Jim Wallace

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 4th February 2026 - 11:55 am

There have only ever been two MSPs for Orkney: Jim Wallace and his successor Liam McArthur. Liam worked for Jim as a Special Adviser when he was First Minister. You can see Jim’s influence in the way that Liam works to bring people together.

Yesterday the Scottish Parliament held tributes and flew flags at half mast. We start with Liam’s heartfelt tribute to his old boss and mentor.

The text is below:

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Will Deans

The kindness of Jim Wallace

By Will Deans | Wed 4th February 2026 - 10:19 am

It has been said many times over the past few days that Jim Wallace was a kind man. It speaks volumes that almost everyone you might ask has an example of this kindness. Here is my own. It is a doubly useful anecdote because it is quite embarrassing for me, and very complimentary to Jim.

Just a day or two into the Shetland by-election of 2019, when I was but a stripling in the world of political campaigning, I was assigned to go door knocking with Jim and another gentleman whose name, face and history I have entirely forgotten. Despite being a newbie to the world of canvassing I was the only one of us with the know-how (and perhaps the necessary smartphone) to run the canvass sheet on Connect and work out where to go.

We headed out from Lerwick south towards Levenwick area, on a gorgeous, blustery August day, and began marching up and down hilly roadsides to knock doors. After some time and some progress I noticed that the next nearest place on our list had a whole host of names on the electoral register, and we duly headed in that direction. On reaching the address we discovered that this hub of voters was, in fact, a nursing home. After a brief discussion, Jim and I went in.

Let me reiterate now that I was a novice in the world of canvassing, and had not a clue about what the appropriate approach would be in this situation.

The appropriate approach, as you might now guess, is not to canvass that location. This is partly because it is seen as being an intrusion on the days of elderly people who have a right to a quiet life and a lack of bothersome campaigners, but mostly because in the eyes of seasoned and cynical campaign managers, it is a complete waste of time. If someone is in their 90s and in a nursing home, and they are going to vote at all, they have probably already made their mind up already – and possibly some decades prior – on which party will receive their ballot.

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Caron Lindsay

Tributes to Emily Price

By Caron Lindsay | Sat 13th May 2017 - 7:16 pm

The Aberystwyth Liberal Democrats and particularly its strong and close-knit branch of Young Liberals are in shock today after learning that the incoming Vice-Chair of the Welsh Young Liberals (IR Cymru) Emily Price died in hospital last night.

She had been taken ill after being elected as a Town Councillor in Aberystwyth last week.

On social media, I see her described as beautiful, gentle, kind, funny, someone who was going places – clearly someone who was a popular and well-loved member of her community.

Last Monday she handed in her university dissertation. She had been going to do her Masters in the town next year.

Mark Cole, who’s an Honorary President of IR Cymru, paid tribute to Emily:

Emily’s sudden and tragic loss is incomprehensible.

Emily was a real character and she was a beloved member of the Aberystwyth University students group of which she was until recently the President.

She had helped lead a revitalised society that put so much effort into recent Parliamentary, Assembly and Council campaigns. But she also led a renaissance in the social activities of the group – I haven’t known such a close-knit and family-like group of liberal students in Aberystwyth for many years and Emily was very much the happy matriarch of this growing brood of young liberals.

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Caron Lindsay

Moore and Rennie’s tributes to former Scots Tory leader David McLetchie

By Caron Lindsay | Tue 13th August 2013 - 3:40 pm

Michael Moore and Willie Rennie have both paid tribute to the former leader of the Scottish Conservatives, David McLetchie, who died yesterday at the age of 61.

I never met him, but I know that he had a reputation as a generally easy-going, decent bloke, kind and very funny. Mandy Rhodes of Holyrood magazine has written a very personal and moving appreciation here.

In tribute, Willie Rennie said:

A towering figure if this new Scottish parliamentary age, David will forever be regarded as a public servant who made a difference.  Whether as party leader or foot soldier he commanded immediate respect and

…

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