’Tis the season to be jolly pally in Holyrood

It is the season of goodwill, even for rival politicians more used to swapping barbs than cards, but as hostilities cease for the holiday season, we speak to some MSPs who have found friendship across party lines. Here, KIERAN ANDREWS meets the politician

We don’t agree on everything but life would be tedious if everyone agreed on everything

John Finnie could have ended Gail Ross’ political career before it began.

Sitting in Wick Village Hall in 2011, the young prospective councillor faced a man who was vetting her for selection in a by-election while both were members of the SNP.

But John, now a Green MSP for the Highlands and

Islands, says the political rise of the woman who sat across from him was never in doubt.

She went on to win that contest and was elected to Holyrood as MSP for Caithness, Sutherland and Ross, five years later.

“It could have been over before it got going but that was never in danger,” John said.

And the friendship has worked both ways.

When John quit the SNP in 2012 over the party’s decision to end its longstanding opposition to NATO, many people he counted as friends and colleagues “were understandably uncomfortable initially.”

That was not the case with Gail, however, who texted him to

offer support and say that although she disagreed with his decision to resign, she admired his principle.

“I don’t really feel the dynamic changed,” she said.

“John has probably been one of my biggest supporters outside the party since I’ve been elected. We’ve known each other a long time and he is a trusted confidante. I can go to him with anything.

“We don’t agree on everything but we are respectful of each other’s positions.”

John added: “It would be tedious if everyone agreed on everything.

“We need a variety of views, views that are genuinely held.”

The pair still bounce off each other when in company and are united in standing up for the Highlands.

“There’s a lot of challenges for MSPs and it’s important to realise there are fewer things that involve party politics and lots of things are about communities,” says John.

“Gail is a hard-working, conscientious ambassador for her area.

“I think it’s vital and think possibly more so in the Highlands and rural areas.

“People are sometimes uncomfortable about party politics and if I say I am working with colleagues across the Highlands, then people like that.”

Gail adds: “I think as a Highlands group of MSPs everybody largely gets on.

“In some instances if people come with a case and they say they have already been to someone like John then we can, with their permission, work together and be more

effective.” Gail and John try on some tinsel at Holyrood last

week