Obituary of SNP councillor Kenny McLean

‘KENNY was always there” – John Swinney’s words at the funeral of Kenny McLean, the Glasgow City councillor who died on September 25, summed up a presence and commitment whose loss will be keenly felt across the SNP and beyond.

The packed service in the Maryhill Crematorium, with representatives from across the political spectrum and the wider city community, was testimony to the impact that an unassuming but determined character had on the causes and places he loved.

Kenneth Ferguson McLean was born in Paisley on January 11, 1960, which was enough to qualify him as a Buddie and instil a life-long devotion to St Mirren Football Club. But his early days were spent in Govan before the family moved to Partick, and there he stayed for the rest of his life.

After Church Street Primary School and Hyndland Secondary, his first job was in a warehouse in Anniesland, although the story goes that this was a short-lived post as his manager didn’t appreciate the frequency with which he left early to attend SNP meetings and events.

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Kenny had joined the SNP as a teenager, and as a mature student became a member of the Glasgow University Scottish Nationalist Association, while earning both undergraduate and postgraduate Masters degrees from the university.

The late 1990s were formative years for a whole generation of SNP politicians, with the establishment of the Scottish Parliament and a professionalisation of the party far beyond any previous experience. Some of Kenny’s contemporaries, who he mentored, encouraged and inspired, went on to serve at the highest levels of the SNP and the Scottish Government.

He was the election agent for many candidates over the years, successfully for two MSPs and one MP, a rare feat in the SNP even today. His campaigning and organisation skills were legendary throughout the party, honed by that ubiquitous participation in by-elections and party activities spoken of by the First Minister at his funeral.

But, in the words of his friend and colleague council leader Susan Aitken, “for Kenny himself, the role of SNP councillor for Partick was the one he was born for. For him, Scotland’s future would be won and shaped in Scotland’s communities and he himself was rooted in the community he served. Why would he want to be anywhere else?”

Kenny was the last serving member of the group of SNP councillors elected to Glasgow City Council in 2007 after the introduction of proportional representation, and the longest continuously serving SNP member on the council to date.

Throughout his time on the council, he took an active interest in housing and public transport, and after the SNP formed the council administration, he served for many years as housing convener.

Again in Susan’s words: “If there was any cause that Kenny was as passionate about as Scotland’s independence, it was housing. The right of everyone to live in a decent, warm, affordable home in a vibrant, thriving community.

“In many ways, those causes were two sides of the same coin. He was a tireless advocate of Glasgow’s community-led Housing Association movement – and as always with Kenny, he lived his values, as a tenant of Partick Housing Association for his whole adult life … Kenny believed that every decent affordable home that is built in Glasgow represents a kind of triumph against our history.”

It seems that Kenny never owned a passport and may never have travelled outside of the UK – perhaps more success in Europe for St Mirren may have changed that. But he travelled widely across the country he loved, nowhere more so than to Eilean Mor MacCormick, the small island in the Sound of Jura bequeathed to the SNP in the late 1970s.

He was first recruited by Billy Wolfe in the mid-90s to help build a bothy which would become a visitor centre. When he spoke about that first visit to the island, he would say that for a boy who had grown up in the city, the experience of the open air and the expansive horizons was almost unimaginable for him.

Over the next 30 years, the island would become a real home from home, with three or four visits a year for three or four days at a time.

His regular tent pitch on the west of the island became known as No.1 Jura View, and in due course it is hoped he will be taken there one last time.

Kenny was part of the group who planted a small wood of 45 trees on the island, in tribute to the 45% of Scots who voted Yes in the 2014 referendum. He was dedicated to maintaining the woodland, the island and its heritage, and he held the position of secretary for the Eilean Mor MacCormick Trust from 2000.

For a small uninhabited island, there are stories of a lively social scene among the regular visitors, and it’s no surprise that Kenny would be at the centre of it. He had a wide and deep appreciation of music, being particularly partial to the rock, punk and alternative sounds of the 1970s and 1980s, with The Smiths, Ramones and Joy Division featuring prominently at his funeral and in his social media presence.

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He enjoyed putting the world to rights with his friends in Partick’s famous establishments, although no matter what real ale or fine malts were behind the bar, a bottle of Bud or Miller would always be good enough for Kenny.

He kept his personal affairs private, meaning his death came as a shock to a great many of those who knew him.

He is survived by his sister, nephew, niece and grand-niece, who have learned much about the legacy of their Uncle Kenneth over recent weeks, touched and rightly proud to see the flag lowered to half-mast over the City Chambers when the council gathered to pay tribute at the end of October.

Through the efforts of people like Kenny McLean are historic causes won and social advancements made. Great leaders can only be so with the help and support of those they seek to mobilise. In a year when the nationalist movement has lost a number of giants on whose shoulders future generations will stand, Kenny must be counted among them.