Scottish National Party
In the early 1980s Sillars (along with many other former SLP members) joined the Scottish National Party (SNP). Being a left-winger he had fostered close links with the SNP internal 79 Group, who had encouraged him to join.
Sillars, along with the 79 Group and the former SLP members in the SNP, started to shape the SNP as a clearly defined, left-of-centre party. Policies adopted included the support of a non-payment scheme in relation to the poll tax introduced by the Conservative Government of Margaret Thatcher, as well as the policy of independence within Europe, of which Sillars was a leading exponent. Sillars also started talking in terms of direct action to bring prominence to the Scottish independence cause, stating that 'we must be prepared to hear the sound of cell doors slamming behind us if we are prepared to win independence'.
In 1988 Sillars was chosen as the SNP candidate for the Glasgow Govan by-election. Govan was a Labour seat (although Sillars' wife Margo MacDonald had won it for the SNP in a by-election previously, in 1973), but Sillars won a dramatic victory.
Sillars would become the SNP's deputy leader, with many surprised he didn't stand for the party leadership when it became available in 1990. The 1992 General Election proved a disappointing one for Sillars personally as he lost his Govan seat. It was at this time that Sillars made his famous comment that the Scottish people were '90 minute patriots' (a reference to the amount of time a football match lasts).
This comment proved the beginning of a break with the SNP leadership. The then SNP leader Alex Salmond had been a Sillars ally, but his comments in the aftermath of the 1992 General Election (and it is also suspected the fact that Sillars supported Salmond's leadership contest opponent, Margaret Ewing) started this break.
Read more about this topic: Jim Sillars
Famous quotes containing the words scottish, national and/or party:
“I have hardly begun to live on Staten Island yet; but, like the man who, when forbidden to tread on English ground, carried Scottish ground in his boots, I carry Concord ground in my boots and in my hat,and am I not made of Concord dust? I cannot realize that it is the roar of the sea I hear now, and not the wind in Walden woods. I find more of Concord, after all, in the prospect of the sea, beyond Sandy Hook, than in the fields and woods.”
—Henry David Thoreau (18171862)
“I came here for one thing only, to try to help national Irelandand if there is no such thing in existence then the sooner I pay for my illusions the better.”
—Roger Casement (18641916)
“Yesterday the Electoral Commission decided not to go behind the papers filed with the Vice-President in the case of Florida.... I read the arguments in the Congressional Record and cant see how lawyers can differ on the question. But the decision is by a strictly party voteeight Republicans against seven Democrats! It shows the strength of party ties.”
—Rutherford Birchard Hayes (18221893)