Tory MSP and Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament
SIR ALEX FERGUSSON, who has died aged 69, was a Conservative member of the Scottish Parliament from its rebirth in 1999 until 2016, and between 2007 and 2011 served as its third Presiding Officer.
Initially a list MSP for the South of Scotland and from 2003 constituency member for Galloway & Upper Nithsdale, Fergusson did his best to provide a rural voice from the south of the country, countering the impression that the Scottish countryside consisted solely of the Highlands and Islands.
On May 14 2007 he defeated the independent nationalist Margo Macdonald by 103 votes to 20 to succeed the SNP’S Sir George Reid as Presiding Officer. He renounced his party affiliation for the duration.
Handling a potentially fissile parliament with a minority SNP government in office called for tact, patience and a touch of humour. Fergusson performed his task with dignity and was liked and respected by all sides. As Presiding Officer, he chaired the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body, which had been through stormy waters as the cost of the Parliament building rocketed out of control.
The impartiality of his office led to Fergusson – a rugby man – being invited to call the draw for Scottish football’s 2007–08 CIS Cup semi-finals. In the excitement of the moment he mixed up the numbers and miscalled the teams, the mistake being rectified later that day.
Fergusson was not interested in the trappings of office. He turned down an official car, and drove home at the end of each week’s proceedings to meet his constituents.
Alexander Charles Onslow Fergusson was born on April 8 1949 at Leswalt, Wigtownshire, the son of Lt Col the Rev Simon Fergusson and the former Auriole Hughes Onslow. His grandfather was Sir Charles Fergusson, 7th Bt, and he was also descended from Earls of Glasgow, Earls of Dalhousie, and Barons Crofton.
Leaving Eton at 17, he spent two years on farms in New Zealand, then studied at the Scottish Agricultural College, Auchincruive. In 1971 he took over the 1,500-acre family hill farm at Barr, South Ayrshire.
Prior to the first Holyrood elections in 1999, Fergusson was chosen as one of the Conservative candidates for the South of Scotland. He was the second of four Tory list MSPS to be elected, after Phil Gallie.
In the Parliament’s first term, during the Labour/lib Dem coalition Fergusson was the lead Conservative spokesman on agriculture and forestry, and convenor of the Rural Development Committee.
He was at his most effective during the foot and mouth crisis of 2001, articulating the concerns of Scotland’s farming communities, and he put his party’s case during the passage of the Protection of Wild Mammals (Scotland) Act 2002.
In 2003 he defeated the SNP’S Alasdair Morgan to become the constituency MSP for Galloway & Upper Nithsdale. In the Parliament’s second session, he gained a reputation for defying the party whip. He had never imagined himself as Presiding Officer, but after increasing his majority in 2007, he was the popular choice.
With his term nearing its end, Fergusson indicated that he would not stand again for the post. Returned in 2011 for the redrawn seat of Galloway & West Dumfries, he served his final term on the Tory back benches, standing down in 2016.
Fergusson was honorary president of the English Speaking Union Scotland. He was a former president of the Blackface Sheepbreeders’ Association and a patron of the campaign for Galloway to become Scotland’s third National Park.
He was knighted in 2016, and appointed Deputy Lieutenant for Ayrshire and Arran in 1997.
In 1974 he married Jane Barthold, who survives him with three sons.