Those were the days

1967 election that changed Scottish politics

SHE was a 38-year-old mother of three, a law graduate and faced an impossible challenge – to win a by-election in a Scottish seat her party had never contested before.

But Winnie Ewing’s victory for the Scottish National Party in Hamilton on the night of November 2, 1967, stunned MPS and voters of all political leaning.

And across the political divide, while not everyone celebrated the result, it was a momentous moment that was a game-changer.

Professor Richard Finlay, of Strathclyde University, has since been quoted as saying “the by-election result could be said to mark the start of modern politics in Scotland, bringing young people and women from non-political backgrounds into politics for the first time”.

The by-election in Hamilton had been called after the former Labour MP, Tom Fraser, resigned in order to take up the position as head of the North of Scotland Hydro-electric Board.

His departure was not seen as a problem for the Labour Party.

They had, after all, dominated the constituency, consistently securing two-thirds of the vote.

And even Prime Minister Harold Wilson never foresaw the potential threat to

Labour’s safe seat. As a result, Wilson made no attempt to prevent Fraser’s departure.

In contrast, the nationalists were very much the underdog. The party had made little headway in elections, securing only five per cent of the Scottish vote a year earlier. The party had, however, been gaining momentum.

Ewing had very little political experience and this was her first campaign.

It was masterminded by John Mcateer, Ewing’s election agent at the time but who became the SNP’S national organiser.

The odds were most certainly stacked against her but, after the ballot papers were counted that night, Winnie Ewing was elected MP, declaring: “Stop the world, Scotland wants to get on.”

Both Labour and the Conservatives attributed the result to Hamilton’s growing anti-socialist protest vote from both sides of politics that had backed the candidate that seemed most likely to win. Three years later, Ewing lost the seat in the General Election.