I was only elected to Holyrood by accident

George Foulkes

But, at the last Holyrood elections, he agreed to be number one on Labour's Lothians list, with the theory being that a big name would win more votes for the party. No-one expected him to be elected, but the surprise loss of two previously safe constituencies to the SNP meant the party qualified for a top-up seat and Lord Foulkes suddenly found himself a member of the Scottish Parliament.

But the Lothians' accidental MSP wasted no time throwing himself into the fray, adding his own brand of colour and controversy to proceedings.

Over the past four years, he has showed himself to be one of the parliament's most expert hecklers, regularly clashing with Alex Salmond, who appeared to enjoy the jousting and always made a point of referring to his assailant as "Lord" George Foulkes.

There were also clashes with Presiding Officer Alex Fergusson, who threatened to exclude him the chamber.

Lord Foulkes repeatedly challenged the First Minister over his limousine travel, urging him to switch to the bus, train or, better still, walk. He also claimed Mr Salmond was planning to re-title himself as Scotland's "Prime Minister" and even compared him to Italian dictator Benito Mussolini by referring to him as "Il Duce".

The SNP handed back as good as it got, branding the noble lord a "buffoon" and worse.

Lord Foulkes is damning about some aspects of the parliament. "The committees are good, the youngsters from the schools coming in are fantastic, but I've been really demoralised and disappointed by the chamber," he says. "The chamber is just dreadful, debates are a series of monologues, often read out.

"First Minister's Questions doesn't have the excitement and spontaneity of Prime Minister's Questions. Alex Fergusson should, right at the start, have said to Alex Salmond and Iain Gray, 'Be brief in your questions and responses, stick to the subject' and laid down the law."

He insists, however, that he has enjoyed his time at Holyrood. Recalling his 1974 bid to become Labour's candidate for Edinburgh Central when he lost out to Robin Cook, he says: "I thought it would be wonderful to be the MP in Westminster for central Edinburgh, including the Castle, Holyrood, the Royal Mile, all these great historic parts where Edinburgh's history was forged, but I got beaten by Robin.

"I sort of realised the ambition by becoming MSP for Lothians in the Scottish Parliament. Although I got in by accident and I hadn't intended to get elected, it has been very satisfying to go back to representing Edinburgh."

Lord Foulkes particularly enjoyed serving on the parliament's Public Audit Committee, grilling top civil servants and others on touchy subjects.

"When I was asked to go on the Audit Committee I nearly burst into tears," he recalls. "Then I found out it was like the Public Accounts Committee. We got reports by the Auditor General, put witnesses under quite strong interrogation and looked into issues like The Gathering and the trams. I found it absolutely fascinating."

Lord Foulkes also argued the case for "presumed consent" for organ transplants, campaigned to save Edinburgh's police forensic lab from closure, made a bid to get elected as Rector of Edinburgh University and called for more scrutiny of the need for a new Forth road bridge.

But he admits it was difficult to juggle his MSP role and his commitments at Westminster, where he was a member of the Intelligence and Security Committee.

As he leaves Holyrood, he looks forward to becoming a full-time peer, albeit four years later than planned. He has already been appointed to the Lords' EU committee, which scrutinises all European legislation. "It is probably the most powerful and influential committee in the Lords," he says.

Lord Foulkes recently played a key role in late-night sittings in the Lords, trying to force changes to the government's plans for cutting the number of MPs and holding a referendum on the voting system. "What we did was to highlight the role of the Lords. Suddenly people realised it was a place where you could challenge the government," he says.

He still supports reform of the Second Chamber, though. "I would have it elected for a longer period than the Commons, called a senate and de-linked from the Honours List. I would keep the Commons elected by first past the post and have the Lords elected by proportional representation, but with all ministers having to come from the Commons."

Fellow peers can no doubt look forward to some robust debate, but, at 69, the former Hearts chairman hopes for some relaxation as well. "I'm going to be spending more time with my wife and more time at Tynecastle," he reveals.

'AS FIRST MINISTER THE BUCK STOPS ON YOUR DESK'

JACK McConnell admits there was a "tinge of sadness" as he cleared his office in the Scottish Parliament, but says he is excited about moving on to new things.

Scotland's longest-serving First Minister will now be making his voice heard in Westminster's Second Chamber. "I don't intend to be involved in the party politics of the House of Lords, but I do intend to use the position there to take forward the causes I have always cared about and remind people in London that the UK is the sum of all its parts, including Scotland."

Devolution was a key theme in his political life right from the start. "The first campaign I ever chaired was the 'Yes for Scotland' committee on Stirling University campus in 1979. I would never have imagined that 20 years on, not only would I be sitting in a parliament, but as Finance Minister, Education Minister and as First Minister, that I would be able to shape the direction of the parliament and the country. It has been an incredible honour and privilege."

The smoking ban will go down as the keynote legislation of his time in office. "Nobody in the UK would have thought Scotland would go first, but we did and did it in a way that brought the country with us and it has been a phenomenal success."

He is also proud of the Fresh Talent scheme to allow overseas students to stay on and work in Scotland. "Right across western Europe, politicians were running away from immigration, race relations, multiculturalism and we took a stand and said Scotland would be better if we had more diversity - and as a result our population has gone up for seven years in a row after decades of decline. It was potentially unpopular and there were a lot of people advising me not to. But I will always look back and know I did the right thing for Scotland."

Lord McConnell describes Labour's coalition with the Lib Dems as "remarkably successful", but says he was ready for a change. "I was interested in trying minority government in 2007 if I had been re-elected. I would have liked to have a bit more freedom and maybe try out a slightly different style of government."

He admits he found it frustrating that the problems of the Labour government in London sometimes overshadowed his work here. "Particularly in my last year as First Minister, 2006, the rows over Iraq and cash for honours had a really distracting effect on Scottish politics at a time when things were moving in the right direction and it would have been possible to get some real momentum behind them."

But he says he had no problems with Tony Blair. "He respected my position and I respected his. To lead a government can be a very lonely job because ultimately the buck stops on your desk. How to deal with that was something Tony Blair and I spoke about. We shared that experience a lot with each other and that was a big help to me."