National Trust for Scotland 21st Annual London Lecture

SIR TAM DALYELL ON 'THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING AWKWARD'

On his first visit to London since 2005 when he retired
as Father of the House of Commons, the heir to the
House of the Binns, benefactor of the National Trust
for Scotland, LabourMP for 43 years under eight
Prime Minsters, originator of theWest Lothian
question, talks about family, Scotland and being a
dissenter.
In 1944, as an eleven year old schoolboy, Tam Dalyell
signed the deed of transfer of his historic family seat,
the House of the Binns, to the National Trust for
Scotland, making it the first country house to be
handed over to the Trust. Thus began a relationship
with the Trust which has stretched nearly seventy
years. Tam and his wife, Kathleen, who manages the
house on behalf of the Trust, continue to live at the
Binns today.
Young Tam Dalyell showed a high-mindedness which marked him out in his ensuing political career. After Eton, National Service with the Royal Scot Greys,founded by his ancestor General Tam Dalyell, and Cambridge, he became a teacher before being elected to Parliament in 1962 as the Labour candidate for West Lothian. His next 43 years ensured - given his vehemently independent
views - that his name was rarely out of the headlines.
A critic of both Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair, he famously harried the former during the FalklandsWar and argued fiercely with the latter over the Gulf War and the invasion of Iraq. He was also the originator of “The West Lothian Question', which still informs the debate on Scottish devolution and independence today.
Don't miss hearing Tam in person on his first visit to London since 2005 in conversation with the National Trust for Scotland Trustee, James Knox. In an age of powerful government, Dalyell is a magnificent antidote.

‘utterly engrossing...Tam Dalyell is a titan of thrawnness, and I hope he makes a nuisance of himself for many years more.' The Herald

‘...a magnificent pain in the neck.' The Guardian