A new chapter

IN POLITICS, after the battle is over, all the combatants are still alive. So what are the lessons and challenges that lie ahead?

First of all, our message as a party in this campaign was relentlessly positive.We fought on a record in Government as a minority administration which had implemented 84 of our 94 manifesto pledges of 2007.That record was seen by most people as either reasonable or good.Indeed, as I was canvassing throughout Grantown, Carrbridge, Boat of Garten, Nethy Bridge, Dulnain Bridge, Inverness, Nairn and the rural hinterland of the constituency, I was told time and again that people thought that the SNP Government had done well.From Alex Salmond to the rest of us, no one had had any experience of Government. We were all novices.But we did our best, and we took the advice of Alasdair Gray, the poet and novelist, who urged us to "work as though you live in the early days of a better nation".That meant that we worked with other parties and those of no party. We engaged with all society. We spent as little time in St Andrews House as possible.We spent as much time listening to what people had to say. We got out and about.Ministers sought, each day, and in each speech and each engagement to leave audiences that we addressed or met with a better impression than the one they had of the SNP when they came to the event or meeting.The modus operandi was working together, and I have no doubt at all that is what most people want.Indeed, in my own ministerial field I had the responsibility of bringing forward a new strategy to tackle the scourge of illegal drugs.In every speech I made, I said that there would be no party political comments or partisan approach – it was essential to work with others in all parties, such as Annabel Goldie of the Tories, and Dr Richard Simpson of the Labour Party.One of my hopes for the future is that in the ministerial work we can broadly continue in the same way.The bickering that we see from Westminster has turned people off from politics. The arguments between parties are usually hard to follow – and repellent.Secondly, we were helped by the endorsements that we received from many in public life – from David Murray, the businessman, to Audrey Baxter, the Highland maker of fine soups – to Brian Cox the actor – and indeed, last but most certainly not least, John Farquhar Munro, the MSP and fine Liberal Democrat politician.That last endorsement must have been a factor for many people who voted for John over many decades. I pay tribute to his work, and wish him and Celia well for the future.Now the responsibility, however, rests with the SNP, and we have many many challenges that lie ahead.We will tackle them with great determination and vigour and do our very best for Scotland and the Highlands.I hope that we will earn that support entrusted in us, and over the next few months, I will of course write in more detail about how we hope to set about that task.

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