Scottish Party

Political party in Scotland

Scottish (Self-Government) Party

Leader| John Kevan McDowall
Chairman| James Graham, 6th Duke of Montrose
Founded| November 1932
Dissolved| 7 April 1934
Split from| Unionist Party
Merged into| Scottish National Party
Membership| <1,000
Ideology| Scottish nationalism
Scottish independence
Imperial federalism
Political position| Centre-right

* Politics of Scotland
* Political parties
* Elections

The Scottish (Self-Government) Party was a Scottish nationalist political party formed in 1932 by a group of members of the Unionist Party who favoured the establishment of a Dominion Scottish Parliament within the British Empire. The Scottish Party differed from the existing National Party of Scotland (NPS) on the grounds that the NPS and the form of Scottish independence it advocated was ambiguous about the Empire, and they also disagreed with the left-of-centre platform of the NPS.

## Origins

[edit]

The Scottish Party emerged in November 1932 as a breakaway from the Cathcart Unionist Association in Glasgow. In June that same year, members of the Association had set up an 'Imperial Committee', which was a pro-Scottish Home Rule front. The committee arranged meetings, made statements in support of Home Rule, and produced a manifesto which proposed replacing the Westminster Parliament with an Imperial Parliament, containing representatives from the British Empire, and establishing dominion Parliaments for Scotland, England, and Wales. This provoked outrage amongst the leadership of the Unionist Party, who were opposed to the establishment of a Scottish Parliament.[1]

John Kevan McDowall, a Glasgow solicitor and the chairman of the committee, was accused by the Glasgow Unionist Association of disloyalty and unconstitutional practices. McDowall, Andrew Dewar Gibb, and around thirty other pro-Home Rule rebels resigned from the Unionist Party and founded the Scottish Party.[2][1]

## Activities

[edit]

McDowall and Gibb were able to enlist the support of James Graham, 6th Duke of Montrose (who became the party's chairman) and Sir Alexander MacEwen, both champions of moderate Home Rule. Broadly, the Scottish Party consisted mainly of Unionist and Liberal elements (a mixture of lairds, provosts and business people).[1] The party also included some distinguished figures in Scottish public life, such as John Bannerman, Sir Henry Keith and Sir Daniel Stevenson. The Scottish Party functioned more as a think tank than as an active political party. Its membership was less than 1,000,[2] and it fielded one candidate, MacEwen, only in the 1933 Kilmarnock by-election. He was backed by the National Party of Scotland (NPS) but came fourth with 6,098 votes.[3][4]

## Merger

[edit]

By 1933 the Scottish Party had received overtures from John MacCormick, secretary of the NPS, who sought to negotiate a merger between the two parties in order to unify these two elements of the Scottish independence movement. Gibb was especially enthusiastic about the merger, but it was met with scepticism from McDowell. In 1934 the NPS and Scottish Party merged to form the Scottish National Party.[5]

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b c Arnold Kemp (1993). The Hollow Drum: Scotland since the war. Mainstream. p. 50.
2. ^ a b James Mitchell (2014). The Scottish Question. Oxford University Press. p. 93.
3. ^ "Kilmarnock By-election Result. National Government Success. Mr Lindsay's majority over Labour candidate. Scottish National Champion Last". The Glasgow Herald. 3 November 1933. p. 11.
4. ^ "Focus: Plus ça change… for SNP and the rest of us". The Scotsman. 6 April 2009.
5. ^ "Scottish Nationalists to Unite". The Glasgow Herald. 1 February 1934. p. 8. Retrieved 25 April 2017.

## Further reading

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* Brand, Jack, The National Movement in Scotland, Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1978
* Hanham, H.J., Scottish Nationalism, Harvard University Press, 1969
* Christopher Harvie, Scotland and Nationalism: Scottish Society and Politics 1707 to the Present, Routledge (4th edition), 2004
* Kemp, Arnold, The Hollow Drum: Scotland since the war, Mainstream, 1993
* Lynch, Peter, SNP: The History of the Scottish National Party, Welsh Academic Press, 2002
* Mitchell, James, The Scottish Question, Oxford University Press, 2014

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Defunct political parties in Scotland

Historic|

* Kirk Party
* Squadrone Volante

19th Century|

* Crofters Party
* Highland Land League
* Scottish Labour Party (1888)
* Scottish Land Restoration League
* Scottish Liberal Party
* Scottish Socialist Federation
* Scottish United Trades Councils Labour Party
* Scottish Workers' Representation Committee

20th Century|

* Communist Bulletin Group
* Communist Party of Scotland
* Fife Socialist League
* Highland Land League (1909)
* Labour Party of Scotland
* Moderates
* National Party of Scotland
* Orkney and Shetland Movement
* Progressives
* Protestant Action Society
* Scottish Democratic Fascist Party
* Scottish Labour Party (1976)
* Scottish Militant Labour
* Scottish Party
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* Scottish Protestant League
* Scottish Socialist Party (1932)
* Shetland Movement
* Unionist Party
* United Socialist Movement
* Workers Party of Scotland

21st Century|

* Borders Party
* Britannica Party
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* East Kilbride Alliance
* Fishing Party
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* RISE – Scotland's Left Alliance
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Scottish National Party

Leadership|

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Depute leaders|

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Parliamentary leaders|

| Scottish Parliament|

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|

House of Commons|

* Stewart
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Administrations|

* Salmond I
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Predecessors|

* National Party of Scotland
* Scots National League
* Scottish National Movement
* Scottish Party

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