ABSTRACT
Scottish nationalism was thought to be defunct only a few years before the 1964 general election. Having created problems for the previous Labour Government headed by Clement Attlee, the Scottish home rule movement had receded to the fringe of Scottish politics. Attlee’s Government had responded to a public petition – supposedly 2 million Scots had signed the ‘Scottish Covenant’ in favour of home rule – by reforming Parliamentary procedures, establishing a Scottish Economic Council and undertaking some minor administrative reform. Combining these symbolic actions with aggressive attacks on the movement, particularly those who supported independence, Attlee’s Government had seen off the home-rulers. The central message Attlee’s Government had hoped to convey was that it was sympathetic to Scottish distinctiveness but that the socialist project necessitated strong government from the centre. No Scottish Labour politician articulated this view as powerfully as had Aneurin (Nye) Bevan in Wales, but the message was the same.
