Jim Wallace, Scotland’s first-ever deputy first minister, has died at the age of 71 following complications from surgery, his family has announced.
Lord Wallace was undergoing a scheduled major operation at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh on Thursday when he died due to unforeseen complications. His wife, Rosie Wallace, described the death as “very shocking” and said he had been “surrounded by those he loved most”.
A former Liberal MP for Orkney and Shetland, Lord Wallace served 18 years in the House of Commons before becoming Scottish Liberal Democrat leader in 1992. He led the party into the first Holyrood elections in 1999, winning the Orkney constituency with 67% of the vote, and served as both MSP and MP until standing down from Westminster in 2001.
He took the Liberal Democrats into coalition with Labour, becoming Scotland’s first deputy first minister. He served as acting first minister three times, including after the deaths of Donald Dewar and the resignation of Henry McLeish. He left Holyrood in 2007, was made a life peer, and served as advocate general for Scotland from 2010 to 2015.
He also served as moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland from 2021 to 2022. Tributes have poured in, with Scottish Conservative leader Russell Findlay calling him “a true giant and gentleman of Scottish politics”.
