Tributes to former SNP leader

Mar 25 2010 by Marjorie Kerr, West Lothian Courier

TRIBUTES have been paid to former SNP leader and West Lothian politician Billy Wolfe.

He passed away in hospital last Thursday at the age of 86.

And local SNP politicians have joined forces in paying their respects to the highly-regarded figure.

First Minister Alex Salmond said Mr Wolfe’s death is a great loss.

He said: “Billy was committed to public life and the causes he believed in – working with others, for example, in the campaign for nuclear disarmament – and he will be greatly missed both within and outwith the ranks of the Scottish National Party.”

Billy Wolfe joined the SNP in 1959 and was the party’s candidate at the 1962 West Lothian by-election, in which he took second place.

Under his leadership, the SNP achieved its greatest electoral success in the Westminster Parliament, winning 11 seats in the general election.

Livingston MSP Angela Constance said she owed much of her success to Mr Wolfe, who lived in Torphichen.

She said: “Billy Wolfe was a West Lothian man through and through and was very proud of his West Lothian heritage.

“He was well known on the doorsteps and will be fondly remembered by many in West Lothian.

“I was very proud to phone Billy from the count at the Scottish Parliament elections in 2007 to tell him that I had become the first SNP Parliamentarian to be elected in West Lothian.

“He was as thrilled as I was and, so typically of his generosity, the first thing he did was to send a dozen white roses to greet me on my return home.

“My electoral success in 2007 would not have been possible if it had not been for the generations of local campaigners that went before me and nobody contributed more than Billy.

“Along with my fellow SNP representatives in West Lothian, we stand on the shoulders of this giant of a man.”

Billy Wolfe passed away in Udston Hospital, Hamilton, after a period of illness.

He is survived by his wife Kate and by four children from a previous marriage.

Councillor Peter Johnston, SNP leader of West Lothian Council, spoke fondly of him.

He added: “Billy was an inspirational figure at both local and national level.

“Billy was a principled, generous and multi-talented individual who will be sorely missed but who leaves behind him a strong political legacy and an independence movement all the better for his participation.”

Culture Secretary Fiona Hyslop MSP, who lives in Linlithgow, added: “Billy Wolfe was a remarkable man who played an enormous role in shaping the modern SNP and establishing the party as a formidable force in Scottish politics.

“I am very saddened at his passing and extend condolences to his family.

“He attended Linlithgow Constituency meetings as president of the constituency regularly until only recently. “I visited him on his 86th birthday and although very ill, his intellect and interest in politics and the referendum on independence were as sharp as ever.”