Gordon Brown and Alex Salmond are the two best-known Scots in British politics. One has occupied a role at the centre of state power for a dozen years, the other wishes to smash that power.
Christopher Harvie and Tom Gallagher will debate ‘The Scottish Question in British Politics: the Interplay of History, Personality and Policy on Thursday 8 April at 5pm at the Institute of Historical Research, University of London, Malet Street in central London, WC1E 7HU.
Harvie is the author of Broonland: The Last Days of Gordon Brown (Verso) and Tom Gallagher’s book The Illusion of Freedom: Scotland Under Nationalism was published by Hurst & Co last November. (Both are in paperback).
Gordon Brown emerges from Harvie’s book as someone who has brought unattractive features of Scottish politics to the heart of Westminster and left the British state much weakened in the process. Tom Gallagher views Alex Salmond as a more natural politician but one lacking a clear vision for a post-Union Scotland and therefore likely to prolong the kind of autocratic and highly conformist politics that made Gordon Brown possible.
Professor Harvie is a member of the Scottish Parliament for the SNP and Tom Gallagher is a Professor of Politics at the Department of Peace Studies, University of Bradford. Both authors will be available to discuss their books and autograph copies from 4.30pm onwards. The event will finish at 6.30pm.
