Gordon Wilson’s legacy is today’s SNP success

Many of the SNP’s political successes today can be traced back to the work of Gordon Wilson.

As vice-chairman of the SNP oil campaign committee, he helped devise the It’s Scotland’s Oil campaign, which said Scotland’s natural resources would allow it to thrive as an independent country.

He also laid the foundations of the modern SNP during his tenure as leader.

Mr Wilson joined the SNP in the 1950s and was director of programmes for pirate radio station Radio Free Scotland.

He served as a national secretary before standing in Dundee East in the 1973 by-election.

He lost, but returned to contest the seat again in 1974 and increased his majority a few months later when another election was called.

Mr Wilson was one of only two SNP MPs returned after the 1979 election and became leader in September that year.

The party was riven by internal conflicts in the first four years of his leadership, including over the emergence of the left-wing 79 Group and the ultranationalist Siol nan Gaidheal.

He presided over several poor performances in the general elections of 1983 and 1987, but the fortunes of the party improved towards the end of the decade, notably with the victory of Jim Sillars in the Govan by-election of 1988.

Mr Wilson stood down as leader in 1990 and set up his own law practice in Dundee but retained a passion for politics.

He stood for the SNP in the 1999 European Parliament elections and was an outspoken advocate for independence until his death.

Campaigning with John Swinney in 2003.