JIMMY Allison, the Scottish politician who died suddenly on Friday, had many positive attributes but the most outstanding was honesty. It was this honesty that often led him into hot water but perhaps his political life would have been smoother, and longer, if this honesty had not been accompanied by straight talking.

During his period as Scottish organiser of the Labour Party in Scotland - from 1977 until 1992 - the party enjoyed unparalleled success in repulsing the Thatcherite revolution and his professional partnership with Helen Liddell, general secretary of the party in Scotland at the time, was successful. "Little Nell", as he called her, recognised Allison's knowledge of the party membership and ability to handle the internal disputes which are a fact of life in politics.

Allison's instinct for justice and his rapport with Labour's supporters came from his upbringing in Paisley.

His father was an Orangeman and a Freemason who, despite living in poverty, voted Tory because of the union between Northern Ireland and the UK. Jimmy noted with satisfaction that the "penny finally dropped" after the Second World War, when his father voted Labour for the first time, in 1945.

Any religious prejudices in the Allison household did not, however, rub off on him.

Despite parental opposition, he married Nancy, a Catholic, who worked in the same textile factory.

During their early married life, Allison admitted that his addiction to gambling caused his family problems until Nancy, who would became a formidable politician in her own right, put her foot down. Allison stopped overnight.

The couple shared a love of jazz, and once Allison got on to the subject, the non-jazz enthusiast would find their eyelids drooping as Jimmy got carried away with his passion for Nat King Cole, Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan and Frank Sinatra.

Having given up gambling, he was drawn to trade unionism and politics. He became a shop steward and, with Nancy, joined the Labour Party in January, 1961.

He began his rise through the party's ranks in 1965, when he became secretary of his constituency Labour Party.

He became a member of Paisley Town Council in 1969 and remained a councillor until June, 1971, when he was appointed Glasgow organiser of the Labour Party. He was succeeded on the council by Nancy.

Five years later, Allison was appointed assistant Scottish organiser and then, in 1977, became Scottish organiser when the job was split between Scottish secretary and Scottish organiser, with the secretary being in overall charge of policy and media while the organiser was responsible for parliamentary selections and constitutional issues.

Allison had by this time taken up running and would often be seen pounding the pavements around Keir Hardie House, then the party's Scottish headquarters, in the Park Circus area of Glasgow. When the sun came out, Allison would abandon his running shoes, strip to the waist and sunbathe at the doorway of the offices.

He was a sun worshipper and one of his favourite holiday destinations with Nancy was Florida. He was rarely without a tan, but it was a natural one.

It was following his appointment as Scottish organiser, that he really came into his own.

Allison's appointment came at a time when the Labour Party in Scotland was in disarray, mainly because of the mishandling of the devolution issue. In the district council elections of 1977, the party lost 131 seats - 98 of them to the SNP. Then, in 1978, following the death of the sitting Labour MP for Garscadden, Donald Dewar fought as Labour's candidate in the by-election. It was the first campaign that the LiddellAllison team fought together. Allison never had a great personal relationship with Dewar, but he admired him as a candidate and Labour won by 4552 votes.

There then followed quickly a by-election in Hamilton with George Robertson as the Labour candidate. He beat Margo MacDonald, the SNP candidat, e by a margin of 6492 votes. A third by-election - in Berwick upon Tweed - followed in late 1978. John Home Robertson made it a hat-trick of victories for Labour. In Guilty By Suspicion, his autobiography, Allison claimed Labour had stopped the "SNP bandwagon".

One personal memory of Allison sums him up. Towards the end of the 1979 general election campaign, Prime Minister Jim Callaghan was addressing a Labour rally in Leith Town Hall. The Troops Out of Northern Ireland campaign disrupted proceedings and I was forced to give up my press duties to become a bouncer.

When one female heckler stood up to vent her spleen Allison, standing in the aisle, arms folded, pointed her out to me. I suggested he take a turn at chucking them out.

Allison replied: "I'm a pacifist." He was indeed.

Thatcher swept to power in the election but Allison played a crucial part in ensuring that her victories did not extend to Scotland. Again in the 1983 general election, Labour's support in Scotland did not wither away. The Party won 41 seats in Scotland - representing a fifth of their overall number of 209 seats throughout the UK.

Allison's electoral success was not enough to protect him from political enemies. Helen Liddell had, in 1987, been succeeded as the party's Scottish general secretary by Murray Elder, who had a difficult relationship with Allison, and, in May 1992, Allison reluctantly accepted a retirement package. Allison had no spin to him. He told the truth as he saw it. He may have appeared brash to some people but he also had a soft side. Allison did not take kindly to being described as Old Labour, rather, like the late Jim Callaghan, he was original Labour and saw no need to change his principles. My one regret is that I had not seen him in recent years but he always was, and always will be a comrade, a term he often used when greeting me.