Darling turned to his wife: Cameron’s going to **** it up
Tears, joy and heartache on arguably the biggest night in UK politics in 300 years... and a withering verdict on the Prime Minister’s disastrous victory speech
THE UK’s fate hung on a knife-edge through September 18, 2014, as Scots voted on independence. In the early hours of the following morning, as results trickled in, spirits in the Yes faction sank into despair as it became clear that the No camp had won a resounding victory. But, as leading political journalist JOE PIKE recalls, the astonishing drama was far from over. As the United Kingdom awoke to find it would stay intact, David Cameron stepped out of No 10 and delivered news that reverberates today...
REFERENDUM day – the day a nation had been waiting for – began, rather bizarrely, with a tweet from tennis star Andy Murray. His last-minute endorsement for the Yes campaign at 1.08am read: ‘Huge day for Scotland today! No Campaign negativity last few days totally swayed my view on it. Excited to see the outcome. Lets [sic] do this!’
The timing of Murray’s tweet – after newspapers had gone to print and when TV and radio stations were under election day restrictions – meant it got limited coverage, largely confined to news websites and social media.
And later, as the clock struck 10pm and polling stations across the country closed, the mood in the No campaign was cautious, even downbeat. Campaign director Blair McDougall told one close colleague: ‘I feel utterly impotent.’
The final ten days of this marathon political battle had been punishing. As with all political campaigns, many of those involved had paid a very high personal price: they would now need to repair muchneglected relationships and marriages, reacquaint themselves with their children and, pressingly, start looking for new jobs.
Scotland’s democratic re-engagement, record levels of voter registration and – as was later to become clear – a historic turnout were triumphs. But few in the No camp believed they could claim much credit for this. While they had created a well-targeted series of political messages, Yes Scotland had built not just a base of activists but a new movement.
Downing Street, as with any election night, was tense. But this was not just another election. All of David Cameron’s advisers knew he would have to resign if Scots voted Yes. Their own secret polling suggested that was unlikely – but not impossible.
Mr Cameron and George Osborne sat in the Downing Street press office. The Prime Minister and Chancellor ate a Chinese takeaway in front of banks of TV screens. At 10.30pm, YouGov released its prediction: 54 per cent No, 46 per cent Yes.
‘At the obvious risk of looking like a complete prat in about eight hours’ time,’ YouGov’s Peter Kellner explained to the news channels, ‘I would say it’s a 99 per cent certainty it’s a No victory.’
At Downing Street, the rising excitement dissipated soon after Mr Kellner’s prediction. The Prime Minister decided little was happening and retired to bed. ‘If anything happens we’ll text you,’ his director of communications Craig Oliver told him.
On arriving at the Better Together HQ in Glasgow’s Marriott Hotel, Alistair Darling retired immediately to his suite, telling staff to leave him and his wife Maggie alone to rest.
Originally planning to stay up for the first result and then go to bed, he ended up in his pyjamas, glued to the TV and not sleeping a wink.
But after 11pm the hum of focused activity turned into panic. With sampling results coming in from counts in Glasgow and North Lanarkshire – which both eventually returned a majority for Yes – Better Together’s grass roots team’s assessment changed. Within half an hour the message was: ‘It’s not going well. It’s gone bad, very bad.’
‘ People were walking around shaken, terror on their faces,’ according to one person who had been present. Early sampling figures from Dundee compounded the problem, giving what turned out to be a slightly skewed picture. As it became clear that Glasgow would be lost to the Yes campaign, Kate Watson, Better Together’s director of operations, broke down in tears.
At 1.30am the first result came through, from Clackmannanshire. Although the smallest council area by population in mainland Scotland, it was also seen as a bellwether of Scottish opinion and a must-win for the Yes group. Pro-independence activists held their heads in their hands as the returning officer read out the numbers: No had secured 54 per cent of the votes.
In the Marriott, there was a collective and audible sigh of relief.
Meanwhile, at the Aberdeen Exhibiti on Centre – where Alex Salmond’s local Aberdeenshire count was taking place – word spread that, with a No vote increasingly likely, the First Minister would not now be turning up.
Mr Cameron reappeared in the Downing Street press office just before 4am as the Dundee result was announced – ironically, one of the few moments overnight when it appeared the gap between Yes and No was closing.
After a run of solid results for the No campaign, it became clear Mr Salmond’s side would lose. Mr Osborne turned to Andrew Dunlop, special adviser for Scotland, and asked: ‘Will he resign?’ Mr Dunlop replied: ‘There’s a good chance.’
As the finish line approached and victory seemed certain, the Prime Minister popped up to his flat to wake his two eldest children, Nancy and Arthur. Their parents had explained the referendum was an important moment for the UK, and Mr Cameron – approaching the end of his first, and possibly only, term in No 10 – wanted them to join him at this historic moment. When the final confirmation came, the two children were on their father’s lap, surrounded by his closest aides. There was cheering and f i stpumping but no hugs between colleagues. ‘We are too restrained for that,’ conceded one present.
In Glasgow, Mr Darling had finally left his suite to join Mr McDougall and director of communications Rob Shorthouse at the boardroom table to work on a victory speech.
In contrast, the Prime Minister’s team had been working for more than a week on two speeches for the referendum result.
There was a detailed version if Scots were to vote No, and a sketch of what Mr Cameron would say if they voted Yes. The latter’s top line was due to be: ‘ Scotland has spoken. We have lost and we respect the result.’
At 5.30am, Mr Cameron called Mr Darling with his congratulations. The Prime Minister explained his speech at dawn would not just focus on plans for further devolution but also announce new legislation to ensure Scottish MPs would be prevented from voting on matters that only affect England.
Mr Darling’s response was blunt: ‘I fully understand you’re a Conservative and have your own interests,’ he told Mr Cameron forcefully, ‘but if you conflate more power and English votes today, you’ll l et Salmond in by the back door.’
This was, the Better Together chairman believed, a foolish and divisive step. There should be at least 24 hours for the victory to sink in instead of allowing the SNP to form ‘further grievances about the Westminster establishment’.
‘I hear what you say,’ was Mr Cameron’s response. But Mr Darling had been in politics long enough to know what this meant: ‘I’ve listened but I’m not changing my mind.’
Once off the phone, Mr Darling turned to his wife and said: ‘He’s going to f*** it up.’
Mr Salmond’s car had sped through the drizzle from Edinburgh Airport i nto t he city. As he
approached Our Dynamic Earth, the venue chosen by Yes Scotland for its results night bash, he made sure he was smiling for the waiting photographers. Soon after he entered the building, results were announced from Gordon Brown’s Fife heartland.
The result – No 55 per cent, Yes 45 per cent – replicated the national picture, but most importantly, it meant it was arithmetically impossible for Yes Scotland to win.
At 6.15am, Mr Salmond did his best to bound onto the stage. He was greeted by a 45-second standing ovation before he could begin: ‘Can I say thank you for that reception, but above all, for Scotland, for 1.6million votes for Scottish independence.’ He asked his supporters to respect the democratic process. ‘But,’ he said, ‘I think all of us in this campaign will say that that 1.6million votes, is a substantial vote for Scottish independence and the future of this country.’
Desperate to try to define the victory in response to the threat of Mr Cameron’s impending speech, in Glasgow there was a rush to ensure Mr Darling spoke before the Prime Minister.
Another motivation for getting the victory statement out swiftly was the degenerating state of the hotel’s ballroom: it resembled the end of a seriously happy wedding. Many of those invited had been drinking free alcohol for eight hours. Some were now out of a job.
‘There were a lot of s*** faced people in a hot room with no natural light and no fresh air,’ said one source. Drunk people were dancing in one corner, accidentally appearing at the back of shot on TV.
At 6.40am, Mr Darling walked through the crowd like a hero. He climbed onto the stage, which had been decorated with ‘Love Scotland, Vote No’ banners.
Dressed in a perfectly pressed shirt and crisp suit and tie, he looked out of place among the sea of sweaty supporters. ‘The people of Scotland have spoken,’ he said, prompting a cacophony of cheers. ‘We have chosen unity over division and positive change rather than needless separation.’
After constant interruptions from an ecstatic crowd, the speech lasted longer than planned. Mr Darling thanked his team, attempted to empathise with the pain of the defeated Yes campaign, called for unity across Scotland, tried to move the national political debate on from the constitution and promised to fulfil the commitments for further devolution.
Yet overlooked by many were three sentences that hinted at the barrage of criticism Better Together had faced for its perceived negativity: ‘This has not been an easy campaign,’ Mr Darling conceded.
‘ Campaigning against Yes for change, it is sometimes more difficult to argue for No. We were obliged to point out that some of the arguments for separation were going to cause damage to our country.’
He continued: ‘We have made a decision for progress and change, for Scotland within the United Kingdom.’ Then, looking up at the crowd with a very genuine smile, he concluded: ‘Come on, Scotland – let’s get on with it together.’
The final result: 1,617,989 people had voted Yes; 2,001,926 had voted No. Better Together won with 55 per cent of the vote.
As Labour politicians left the Marriott and headed to Glasgow’s Emirates Arena for a celebration with party leader Ed Miliband, other activists sat down for a cooked breakfast in the hotel, while many just collapsed into bed.
The morning rush hour was just beginning in Glasgow. Another working day – in what would remain one of the UK’s largest cities – was beginning. It all seemed bizarrely anti-climactic. Many in the No campaign were not so much feeling delight as a deep sense of relief.
Scotland would now return to normal. Or so they thought.
Project Fear: How An Unlikely Alliance Left A Kingdom United, But A Country Divided, by Joe Pike, will be published September 18, by Biteback Publishing, price £12.99