It’s only four months since he was defeated by the SNP’s Linda Fabiani in the Scottish Parliament elections in one of the most surprising results of the night, yet Kerr, 49, has already taken up a new job as chief executive of Sense Scotland, a charity for people with deafblindness, sensory impairment and learning or physical disabilities.
Kerr regards a chief priority of his new £80k-a-year job as lobbying Parliament, as well as local authorities, to protect the £19million of public sector funding Sense Scotland receives each year for the provision of services that are vital to the continued normal functioning of the 500 people directly supported by his charity, plus their families and carers.
These include day support services for adults across Scotland; tenancy for adults and children; family advisory services; one-to-one care; residential breaks; and a comprehensive art development and outdoor education programme.
His task will not be easy, given swingeing public sector budget cuts, but the former finance minister is typically bullish.
“I’m looking forward to engaging with the Scottish Government once more, and demonstrating how well we already manage public finances,” says the man who was once in charge of Scotland’s £30billion budget and who was famously appointed by former First Minister Jack McConnell to be his “enforcer” in pushing through improvements in health, education, crime, jobs and transport. He was health minister when the ban on smoking in public places was introduced.
“My view is that we provide a service that is as good as, if not better than, that provided by public sector. The best way to provide services is through organisations like Sense,” he says.
“I’ve already spoken to politicians and ministers. I’ve made telephone calls to, and will continue to maintain contact with, my former colleagues at the Scottish Parliament and my local government colleagues. I will make sure we fit into structures like Cosla and I am in dialogue with social work directors because we need to make sure we’re in there and part of the discussion.”
Before becoming an MSP Kerr was a senior officer at Glasgow City Council and an adviser in the leader’s office, and he worked in local government before that. As a student at Glasgow Tech (now Glasgow Caledonian University) he successfully ran the student union.
The 1985 miners’ strike was his “political wake-up call” and he started fundraising for the miners. “I was a student activist,” he says with some pride.
Yet even with such a wealth of experience behind him, the task in hand in his new job will not be easy. The impact of Scottish Government public spending cuts of more than £1.2bn for the current financial year, and a series of efficiency targets, is already being felt. The voluntary sector could be particularly vulnerable.
Does he resent being on the receiving end of cuts devised by his former political adversary, Finance Minister John Swinney?
Apparently not. “I spent a lot of time with John over the years due to my financial brief. I have a great deal of time for him. He’s got a difficult job which he does very well. I disagree with some of the decisions that he may take, but I certainly don’t have any concerns about his motivation, about why he’s doing it; he works incredibly hard.”
Does he feel the cuts were avoidable?
“It’s a matter of fact that we had a global economic crisis, the prospect of a depression and therefore had to take measures as governments north and south of the Border. I do accept the retrenchment of the public sector purse as a fact of life, but it’s how we deal with it that will be the interesting debate that we have.”
He frets about the possibility of free personal care for the elderly, the Scottish Government’s flagship policy, taking precedence over other types of care. But he adds: “If you look at what the Scottish Government is saying, I think we fit very well with their ambitions.
“There’s a recognition early intervention means reduced crime and better health and wellbeing in the future and I’d argue there’s a parallel in what Sense provides. We’re part of that Government strategy; it’s the way to save money both in the short/medium and longer term in terms of the public sector purse.”
How does he feel about the SNP, which so roundly defeated his own party last May? He snorts with suppressed laughter, then responds with an answer that may surprise his former political foes: “I admire those who I think are in it for the right reasons. I don’t admire Alex Salmond’s politics but I do admire him and Nicola Sturgeon as politicians. I’d argue Alex Salmond is the foremost politician not just in Scotland, but in the UK.
“There are people in the SNP I like more than people in the Labour Party and there are people in the Tory Party I get on very well with and others I don’t like. But that’s about people, not politics. I do think more members of the public should spend time with politicians to understand what makes them tick and what motivates them, and what they actually do for a living as opposed to what they think they do. It’s not all glamour, being in the chamber or being on Newsnight. There’s a pretty hard slog behind it.”
But he warns those with young children, like Swinney, not to lose focus on the family and to try to maintain a good work/life balance. During his time as a Government minister his three daughters were still young and he found he had to be “very strict” about not losing himself in the job and forgetting about his home life.
“I became known as the minister who wouldn’t necessarily do dinner but who would do breakfast,” he says. “I’d rather have been at home with the children and doing what I should be doing. People think all those dinners must be great. Are you having a laugh? First of all, it’s usually with people you’d rather not have dinner with, and second of all it eats into your own time.”
Kerr, who has been running 20 kilometres a week for years, also gained a reputation for refusing all invitations that didn’t include his wife Susan, whom he met when both were students, and daughters Sophie, who is now about to start studying accountancy at Edinburgh University and twins Catherine and Lucy, who are now studying Highers at Strathaven Academy. Although twins, they have different birthdays because one was born at two minutes to midnight and the other two minutes after.
“My kids have always been part of whatever job I’ve done,” he says. “They will also be part of this one.”
For all he appears to be relishing the prospect of noising up those in power, Kerr insists he is done with frontline politics -- even though he is keenly following the current debate about who should be the new leader of the Labour Party in Scotland to succeed Iain Gray, whom Kerr stood against in 2008.
On that vexed subject, his view is clear. “The new leader should be the leader of the party in Scotland. Iain Gray is not; he’s only the leader of the MSPs. To move the party in Scotland forward we need a leader for everybody, not just MSPs. The review process needs to move quickly. We also need to reform the party. I don’t think it’s a shambles; there’s great debate going on but we need to move from debate to action.
“I do believe that while Labour devolved the Parliament in Scotland, we didn’t devolve the Labour Party. The review offers the opportunity to have those discussions.”
He adds: “I see lots of parallels with my old job and my new one. There’s accountability to families and users; there’s a public profile element; advocacy; representing people’s views to Government. I think there’s a nice synergy around what I was doing before and what I’m doing now. Hand on heart, I genuinely don’t look back and say, ‘Oh I wish, I wish, I wish...’. Now I can do something much more positive and more rewarding, and still be part of the debate.
“There’s an assumption politics is a great job, and it is a very good thing to do. But I fell into politics and then I fell out of politics. I didn’t start out as a young man saying I wanted to be an elected politician. For me, politics just came along. It was exciting at the time and now I’m starting another exciting part of my life.
“I now see myself with a great opportunity to do something meaningful, significant, life-enhancing. This job is far more rewarding than being in opposition which I was for the last four years, I can tell you.” Andy Kerr's life and loves
Best advice received: Do what you think is right, for the right reasons, don’t compromise (from my late dad).
Worst advice received: You need to go to that meeting/dinner/event. Don’t worry, your election will be fine.
Favourite film: Seven Samurai, Kurosawa.
Favourite food: All things Indian.
Last book read: The Decisive Moment by Jonah Lehrer.
Best personality trait: Pretty good-natured and enjoy people’s company.
Worst personality trait: Bit of a tidy freak.
High point: Raising a family.
Low point: Missing a long-awaited family holiday to go for a job interview but I got the job.
Biggest influence: My modern studies teachers at Claremont High School in East Kilbride, Mr McCrae and Mr McGowan.
Ideal dinner guests: My dad, Winston Churchill, Neil Kinnock, Primo Levi, Harry Burns (Scotland’s Chief Medical Officer), Sandi Toksvig and Sir Alex Ferguson.
