Neil Glen - an appreciation

Mike Watson

The sudden death of Neil Glen, following a heart attack, on 13th May 2004 came as a hammer blow to his many friends and comrades.

Neil had been a Labour Party member for almost 30 years and his work for the Party in various roles vied with his lifelong support for Dundee United as the second strand of what was always a life lived to the full - strand number one was always his family, Marlyn and their children Shonagh and Alasdair.

Neil was born and bred in Dundee, leaving the city only when his career with the Halifax Building Society took him to Merseyside. While there he became active in the Party but also in the Halifax Staff Association, within which he argued long and hard for affiliation to the TUC. This was eventually achieved, though as the HSA was never likely to affiliate to the Labour Party, Neil also held active membership of ASTMS (as it then was) to enable him to operate within what he always termed "the political and industrial wings" of the Labour movement.

Neil and Marlyn moved back to Scotland in the mid 1980s, settling in North Ayrshire and both became prominent in Party campaigning. Neil contested the Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale seat in the 1987 general election. I recall hearing him addressing an election rally in Galashiels in which, by some distance, he made the most impressive contribution. David Steel was never likely to be dislodged, but Neil emerged with great credit from the campaign and valued the experience.

Neil was always solidly on the Left on the key political issues and was a passionate advocate of the Scottish Parliament. The Glen family completed the journey back to Dundee in the early 1990s and Neil and Marlyn were never far from prominence in campaigning on Left issues from the retention of Clause 4, to defending the role of trade unions both in the Party and in the workplace; from environmental issues to a women's right to choose and from disarmament to the Yes/Yes campaign in the referendum.

Neil followed in Marlyn's footsteps as an elected member of Dundee City Council in 1999. He became convener of Environmental Services and the enthusiasm and energy that he put into his council work was prodigious - hence his frustration at losing his seat very narrowly after just one term. But it was typical of Neil's selflessness that he regarded his own disappointment as much more than counterbalanced by Marlyn's election the same day to the Scottish Parliament.

Neil was for many years a prominent figure at Scottish Party conferences, while his union work meant he was also a regular at MSF conferences both in Scotland and nationally.

It would be difficult to find anyone who knew Neil Glen who does not have a fund of fond memories, anecdotes coming freely to mind, a recollection of his beard parting easily and often to reveal the smile which was never far away. His death is a profound loss to Marlyn and their children, but also to so many in the Labour movement in Scotland.

Mike Watson is the Member of the Scottish Parliament for Glasgow Cathcart