Campbell Christie

Another figure from my past has departed this life. It was obvious to us more moderate members of the CSCA (an ancestor of the PCS union) in the 1960s that the Christie brothers were interested more in the wider political field than the lot of ordinary clerical civil servants. The CSCA was no more than a stepping stone. Campbell Christie's subsequent career, as detailed in this Independent obituary, confirms this impression.

However, we should be grateful for the enthusiasm he showed for the Scottish Convention, which led to repatriation of powers to a Scottish Parliament and thence to devolution (though of regrettably fewer powers) to Cardiff. It needed a pressure group outside of the Scottish Liberals to make the concept acceptable. One thing that the obituary does not make clear is that today's major beneficiary, the Scottish National Party, shunned the Convention.