AN APPRECIATION
John Young was one of Glasgow’s longest serving and most distinguished councillors and also one of the first MSPs elected to the Scottish Paliament.
He entered politics as a result of a heated public meeting when the then Glasgow Corporation was seeking to raise bus fares. One of the local Tories impressed by his rumbustious style spoke to him and before long he was a Progressive candidate for the council.
He first stood in a safe Labour seat and often recalled how when canvassing in Govanhill he knocked a door to be confronted by an irate elector who advised him trenchantly that he would not get too many votes by canvassing a “cludgie”, or outside toilet.
Undeterred he persisted with his ambitions and it was no surprise when he was elected for the Cathcart ward in 1964 parts of the area which he was to represent with a two-year break until his election to the Scottish Parliament in 1999.
He was an outstanding councillor combining a razor sharp political mind and a great sense of duty to his constituents. He held many political and civic offices with great distinction and effectiveness.
When the Tories won control of Glasgow in a minority situation he was an astute and able council leader, for which he received scant recognition. These were turbulent times and for that administration to last as long as it did was no mean feat. One council meeting which has long since entered Glasgow folklore was an epic even for these times. The SNP who held the balance of power tried to tie the vote on a Labour no confidence motion. Labour having got wind of this concealed one of their members but John instructed a diminutive Tory member to hide near a fireplace within the chamber during the first vote. At the end of the day it made no difference but as, has been said, when the legend is greater than the truth you print the legend and there are still those who swear the administration was saved when a soot stained Tory emerged from the chimney to vote.
John Young was an outstanding debater. He could be fiery, sometimes outrageous, wickedly funny but never vicious. Those who took a second prize were never ridiculed and both within the council and the parliament he had the affection and respect of all sides.
In run up to devolution he was less than popular with a large section of the Conservative Party because of his pro-devolution stance which was conditioned more by realism than any committment to the principle. He voted for the parliament but was opposed to tax-raising powers.
Those who worked with John Young were privileged to do so. For a friend, a constituent or a colleague nothing was too much trouble and many benefitted fom his great kindness. He will be remembered with great affection by all who knew him.
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