Born: 4 February, 1934, in Balmaha, on Loch Lomond. Died: 6 May, 2008, in Oban, aged 74.
RAY Michie was a champion of the peoples and traditions of the Highlands and of Scotland. As MP for Argyll and Bute, she diligently furthered the needs of he
r far-flung constituents and spoke eloquently on their behalf at Westminster. She said in 2005 that her proudest achievement was to have campaigned for many years for the re-establishment of a Scottish Parliament. "My greatest moment of satisfaction was the passing of the Scotland Act 1998. Clause 1 says it all: 'There shall be a Scottish Parliament'." Michie was an ardent supporter of Gaelic: she spoke it fluently and when she took her seat in the Lords she took the oath in Gaelic. She was a proud member of An Comunn Gàidhealach and the Scottish Crofters Union.
Michie was elected to Westminster as MP for Argyll and Bute in 1987, having contested the previous two elections, and was re-elected in 1992 and 1997 with increased majorities. When first elected, she was the Liberal Party's only woman MP and was soon appointed to speak on women's issues. It was an issue to which she remained devoted.
In a wide-ranging political career, Michie served as the Liberal Democrat spokeswoman on Scottish affairs and was a member of the House of Commons select committee on Scottish affairs from 1992-97. She was appointed by the speaker to the chairman's panel in 1997 and was joint vice-chairwoman of the parliamentary group on the whisky industry.
Janet Ray Michie was the daughter of Lord Bannerman of Kildonan, better known in pre-war Scotland as Johnnie Bannerman, who played 36 times for Scotland at rugby in the 1920s. He was an equally ardent advocate of Home Rule and had stood for the Liberals – and lost – in the Argyll constituency in 1945.
She was educated at Aberdeen High School for Girls and Lansdowne House in Edinburgh, then studied to be a speech therapist at Edinburgh College of Speech Therapy. From 1977 until she became an MP, she was the area speech therapist for Argyll and Clyde Health Board and vice-chairman of the Scottish Liberal Party.
Charles Kennedy, the former Liberal Democrat leader, said Michie had "a first-class political brain", and added: "She was one of my closest friends and professional confidantes in politics." It was an opinion with which many in Argyll and Bute would agree. Michie gave her time and energy to constituents' concerns and furthered their interests with a committed passion. A deep-seated belief in Home Rule certainly was the basis of her political career – she was an early member of the Constitutional Convention – and she canvassed strenuously for a Scottish Parliament. In the debate on the setting-up of the parliament, Michie said: " It is the first concrete step to returning democracy to Scotland and to re-establishing our Scottish Parliament. I hope the carping criticism and the doom-and-gloom merchants will be thoroughly routed."
She often drew attention to the testing social conditions experienced in the Highlands. In her maiden speech in 1987 she pleaded for better hospital facilities in Oban and Campbeltown and appealed for more funding for the teaching of Gaelic. "This ancient language lies at the heart of our traditions, culture and heritage, and its beauty in song, poetry and story is unsurpassed. We cannot afford to lose it," she said. It was such forthright and strident views that made Michie such a valuable member in the Commons.
She will also be remembered for her efforts to secure a full public inquiry into the fatal crash in June 1994 of an RAF Chinook on the Mull of Kintyre. The aircraft crashed into a hillside in dense fog, killing all 29 people on board: among the passengers were senior Northern Ireland intelligence experts. In a report on the incident, the Ministry of Defence unequivocally attributed the cause of the crash to pilot error. The finding became a contentious issue and Michie fought for greater clarity on behalf of the deceased's families.
Michie was a born fighter. She campaigned for better financial conditions for hill farmers and crofters, and encouraged the islanders on Gigha to bid for the island – four years ago they were successful.
In 1989, Michie demanded the withdrawal of the Royal Navy's submarines in the Firth of Clyde. There had been an unfortunate incident and a trawler had been sunk. But the base added considerably to the local economy and the issue became nationally contentious.
On retiring from the Commons in 2001, she was appointed to chair the West Highland Health Service Solutions Group, which took NHS facilities to remote areas.
Alan Reid, who succeeded Michie as MP for Argyll and Bute, told The Scotsman: "Ray was a very caring person and that could be seen in her work, first as a speech therapist and then as our local MP. She worked tirelessly for her constituents in the Commons and continued this work in the Lords. Gaelic was the language and the culture of the Gael, and the Highlands and Islands were very dear to her.
"The people of Argyll and Bute will always have a special place in their hearts for Ray Michie."
This courteous but determined lady suffered the onslaught of cancer with the same tenacity she had shown throughout her life. She married Dr Ian Michie in 1957. He and their two daughters survive her. Another daughter predeceased her.
