Obituary: Alex Eadie, miner who would become the no-nonsense MP for Midlothian for more than 25 years

Published on Saturday 28 January 2012 00:00

Born: 23 June, 1920, in Buckhaven, Fife. Died: 26 January, 2012, in East Wemyss, Fife, aged 91

DOWN the coal mines of Fife from the age of 14, Alex Eadie had little formal education, but he used his physical and mental toughness to become the highly-respected, no-nonsense MP for Midlothian for more than a quarter of a century.

His rapport with his fellow miners also won him the high-profile job of minister for coal – one rung down from the Cabinet – in the Labour governments of both Harold Wilson and James Callaghan through much of the 1970s. He had also served as Labour’s energy spokesman while Wilson was in opposition during the early-Seventies.

Once Wilson had regained power in 1974, Eadie, as his coal minister, played a key role in trying to restore miners’ morale after their bitter confrontation with the conservative government of Edward Heath, which helped topple Heath from power.

At that time, Eadie was mentioned as a possible successor to Sir Derek Ezra as chairman of the National Coal Board.

An old-fashioned socialist and a miner at heart, even when he was mixing with the bigwigs down in Whitehall, Eadie was a lifelong supporter of the National Union of Mineworkers, although, as an MP from his mid-Forties, his focus became his Midlothian constituents, whatever their professions or situations. As fate would have it, he would see the mines he grew up with gradually closed as the curtain came down on the 20th century.

Seeing the writing on the wall, Eadie tried to persuade Scottish miners that the shift in emphasis towards North Sea oil may not be such a bad thing, since seams of coal were being discovered on the seabed.

His experiences down the pit led Eadie to be a non-smoker long before smoking became frowned upon, and he campaigned against smoking for much of his life.

He also believed that being teetotal gave him more energy to fight for his constituents at Westminster, where he won respect on both sides of the House during his spell as MP for Midlothian from 1966-92.

He became chairman of the Labour Party’s Power and Steel Group, secretary of the Miners’ Group and, latterly, chairman of the all-party Energy Studies Group. Back up north to visit his constituents, he liked nothing more than to get to Methil to support his local team, East Fife.

Alexander Mark Hughes Eadie was born in Buckhaven, Fife, on 23 June, 1920, the son of a miner who perished in a pit accident not long before he was due to enjoy his long-deserved retirement overground.

Young Alex had little choice but to leave Buckhaven Secondary School at the age of 14 and go down the pit himself. But his father’s fate drove him to believe that further education could get him out of the mines before they swallowed him up one way or the other.

During his time off, he took courses in mining engineering and a new-found confidence, coupled with his leadership qualities, won him a job as miners’ agent for Clackmannan.

Eadie had joined the NUM as a teenager and enlisted in the Labour Party when he was 22. He became a local councillor in Fife, serving as chairman of the Fife housing committee, before standing for Labour, unsuccessfully, in the general elections of 1959 and 1964 in Ayr. He also became a member of Labour’s Scottish executive as well as the executive of the Scottish NUM.

It was in 1966 that he was first elected MP for Midlothian with a majority of 14,416, warning in his maiden speech at Westminster against closing the pits.

His seat remained safe until his retirement in 1992, his only scare coming in 1974 when the SNP reduced his majority to just over 4,000.

On 27 February, 1992, The Scotsman reported on what it said would almost certainly be the last Scottish question time before the general election.

It said Eadie tried constantly but unsuccessfully to catch the eye of the Speaker, Bernard Weatherill. Once time was up, Eadie told the Speaker: “After 26 years in this House, and this the final say I would have in Scottish questions, I must say I was surprised you didn’t call me.”

Weatherill apologised and told Eadie with a smile: “Perhaps you would like to come and have a glass of Scottish wine with me sometime.”

Amid roars of laughter, Labour’s MP for Dumbarton John McFall also complained about not getting the floor and told the Speaker that his constituency was “the home of Scottish whisky”.

“Then you are very welcome to come as well,” Weatherill replied, “but could you bring a sample?”

Alex Eadie died in East Wemyss, Fife, not far from the site of the Michael Colliery disaster of 1967 in which nine men died, the worst mining disaster in Fife’s history.

He himself attended a 25th anniversary memorial at the site in 1992. His first wife Jemima (née Ritchie) died in 1981, 40 years after they married. He is survived by their son Bob and by his second wife Janice, whom he married in 1983.

Bob’s wife Helen Eadie is Labour MSP for Cowdenbeath.

PHIL DAVISON