William Wolfe

601PM GMT twenty-one Mar 2010

Photo ALLAN MILLIGAN

When Billy Wolfe became the authority in 1969, the SNP had not had a voice at Westminster given 1945. By the time he stood down a decade later, the referendum had finished in deadlock and the celebration had forced a ubiquitous choosing that cost it dear. But it had turn a convincing force, and Wolfe lived to see not usually a regenerated Scottish Parliament, but an SNP administration department at Holyrood.

All this seemed far off in the early 1970s as Wolfe attempted to mangle with the SNP"s "Brigadoon" picture and on all sides it as a Left-of-centre celebration of pacific protest. He was helped by the radicalisation of majority Scots by the Upper Clyde Shipbuilders" work-in and the unsuccessful Scottish Daily News co-operative, that Wolfe quickly chaired until descending out with Robert Maxwell and by the appearance of North Sea oil.

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Even prior to oil was discovered, Wolfe who fronted the SNP"s initial radio promote in 1965 was reporting that Scottish taxpayers were subsidising the English. But the excavation enabled the SNP to debate in 1974 on the elementary and tantalizing aphorism "It"s Scotland"s Oil". Wolfe spoken that with oil "we can right away means self-government in Scotland", and the SNP wrought massacre at that year"s dual elections.

An accountant, businessman, Scout supervision official and church elder from a clever Liberal family with a great fight record, Wolfe was really majority an Establishment figure. On his watch the SNP captivated the initial big name partisan the office worker Sir Hugh Fraser and the initial large legacy, an astonishing �200,000 from a rancher in Argyll. But he was a ardent campaigner, for chief disarmament as well as for Scottish independence.

Wolfe fought his local West Lothian no fewer than 6 times shortening Tam Dalyell"s infancy in Oct 1974 to 2,690 but had the disappointment of saying others win at the initial attempt. The usually alternative chair he attempted was Edinburgh North, disappointingly, at a by-election in 1973.

Though Wolfe served dual years as celebration boss after relinquishing the chair in 1979, and remained on the SNP"s inhabitant senior manager until 2002, his change waned as the party"s Left wing was increasingly outgunned. He was additionally less pro-European than successive leaders, watching as unfamiliar affairs orator in 1967 "There is a majority closer down payment in in between Scotland and England than in in between possibly of us and the Europeans." Nevertheless, majority of the SNP"s stream policies relating to autonomy were formulated underneath him or by him, as was the acceptance of devolution as a step on the highway to independence.

William Cuthbertson Wolfe was innate on Feb twenty-two 1924 and prepared at Bathgate Academy and George Watson"s College, Edinburgh. In 1942 he assimilated the Royal Artillery, saying active use in Normandy, the Low Countries and Germany prior to piloting air regard posts in Indonesia and Malaya.

Demobilised in 1947, he competent as a franchised accountant and became corner handling executive of a Bathgate shovel-making firm. By right away he was a dedicated nationalist, and the celebration was attracting the courtesy of MI5 since the joining to autonomy was counsel a hazard to the Crown.

When, in 2007, Scotland on Sunday located files display that the security services had spied on the SNP via the 1950s, Wolfe pronounced "We regularly suspected the celebration was being infiltrated by supervision agents, but it is still intolerable to have that guess eventually confirmed."

MI5 put Wolfe underneath notice again in 1975 after he perceived a weird telex from Idi Amin charity await for Scottish independence. This might have been for his protection; carrying voiced the arrangement of a "Scottish subject to government", Amin laid open Wolfe as a "collaborator" with the English who faced aroused removal.

Wolfe became authority (effectively leader) of the SNP in Jun 1969, ousting the maestro Arthur Donaldson. After Winifred Ewing"s by-election feat at Hamilton shortly afterwards, his hopes for the 1970 choosing were high; some-more than 70 possibilities were fielded, but only one was successful. He met the Scottish Liberals informally to examination the range for co-operation, but talks pennyless down over their miss of unrestrained for self-government. When a little celebration members resurrected the thought in 1973, a serve public with the Liberals" Russell Johnston killed the idea.

Wolfe set the SNP the idea of apropos a celebration of criticism at the 1970 conference, and shaped an SNP Trade Union Group. Two years after Upper Clyde Shipbuilders gave it a means to support. Wolfe removed that when Labour had been in energy Tony Benn and now-vocal Scottish Labour MPs had described redundancies as a "bitter pill" that contingency be accepted; "Now they have the coronet neck to money in on the comfortless incident that they created."

The Feb 1974 choosing took 7 Nationalist MPs to Westminster, and the serve check that Oct took 11; both main parties saw presumably protected majorities evaporate. When Labour hurriedly deserted the antithesis to devolution, Wolfe warned that Scots would not be calm with "second-class citizenship". But at the SNP"s 1976 discussion he engineered the better of a suit to press for autonomy whilst ignoring devolution, exclusive the burning piece of wood Margo Macdonald from the rostrum.

That May he indicted the Royal Navy of counsel acts of charge in safeguarding British trawlers off Iceland, together with perplexing to impel Icelandic unit boats. He went on to claim the right of an eccentric Scotland to levy a 100-mile fishing limit, and to have the own army, army and air force.

The Silver Jubilee in 1977 brought upheavals. The Queen"s stipulation that "I cannot dont think about that I was crowned Queen of the United Kingdom", dissapoint Nationalist MPs, one of whom leaked a in isolation review Wolfe had had with the Sovereign. A mad Wolfe voiced "deep regret" at this "breach of great manners".

In Nov 1978 Wolfe voiced that this would be his last year as chairman, and he stood down as claimant for West Lothian.

After the Mar 1979 referendum reached deadlock (the "Yes" opinion carrying unsuccessful to reach the 40 per cent of the citizens compulsory by Parliament) Wolfe spoken "Either the supervision grants an public to Scotland or there will be a ubiquitous election." Labour lacked the votes to pull devolution through, so the SNP tabled a no-confidence suit that was carried by a singular vote, James Callaghan branding the MPs "turkeys choosing by casting votes for an early Christmas". There was in truth an election, the SNP losing all but dual seats.

In Sep 1979 Wolfe stood opposite the worshiped Dr Robert McIntyre for the celebration presidency and lost, but suspended him a year after with subsidy from the Left. He left the post betimes in 1982, among a charge over an essay he wrote in the Church of Scotland"s repository criticising Britain"s acceptance of an envoy from the Vatican.

Wolfe was at assorted times boss of Heriot-Watt University students" association, treasurer of Scottish CND, cabinet part of of the Scottish Poetry Library, treasurer of the Saltire Society and a part of of the Forestry Commission"s Scottish inhabitant committee.

He was twice tied together to Arna Dinwiddie in 1953 (dissolved 1989) and to Catherine McAteer in 1993. He had dual sons and dual daughters from his initial marriage.