Nostalgia: Waging war for the power of the Port

Published on Saturday 10 April 2010 11:22

held since 1945, we look back at previous campaigns

SINCE the end of the Second World War, the voters of Leith have returned a Labour candidate to Westminster. If not exactly a Labour stronghold, then the port and traditional home of the working class could easily be described as a welcoming home to the red flag or rose.

But this election, due for 6 May, the seat is being fiercely targeted by the Lib Dems. Could the seat turn Liberal again?

After all, as the story accompanying our picture from 1955 explains, the "old Radical faith" had held sway in Leith for more than 100 years before Socialist James Hoy turned up post-war.

As Independent Liberal candidate Andrew Murray campaigns at the port's traditional meeting place at the Foot of Leith Walk in our picture, the News muses over what will decide the ballot in this election. Bearing in mind that there were 3,000 more women than men in the constituency, it says: "A number of the younger political workers go so far as to say that the big women's vote is what really matters in Leith – and not Liberalism!"

Heavens! One woman who was big in the voting stakes was Margaret Thatcher, here in Leith on the campaign trail before the 1979 general election. A packed audience at the Town Hall heard her pledge: "The devolution in which we believe above all is the devolution of power from politicians and the state to the people themselves."

In 1974, it had been a different story – the SNP had overtaken the Tories to become the main challengers to Labour. How different the picture in 1979, when the Nats returned just two MPs and 18 years of Tory government, with its firm opposition (then) to devolution, began.

Perhaps Liberal leader Jeremy Thorpe was on safer ground when out campaigning in 1974 in Princes Street. Or perhaps not. He was told in no uncertain terms that Edinburgh was the dearest place to live.

Even having a celebrity in tow doesn't guarantee a gaffe-free zone as Alistair Darling and Nigel Griffiths found out in 1987, when actor Robbie Coltrane helped release hundreds of coloured balloons in Princes Street Gardens – when most promptly became stuck in the trees.