Former Conservative MP

Born: June 1, 1942;

Died: December 7, 2016

ALLAN Stewart, who has died aged 74, was a colourful Conservative MP for 18 years, first for East Renfrewshire and later for Eastwood, serving as a junior minister in what was then the Scottish Office under both Margaret Thatcher and her successor John Major.

Both prime ministers spoke highly of him as talented and loyal. Late in his career, it emerged that he had a serious alcohol problem and he hit the national headlines in 1995 after brandishing a pickaxe at protesters demonstrating against the construction of the M77 through his Glasgow constituency. His teenage son Jack was said to have wielded a loaded airgun during the protest at Pollock Castle estate, Newton Mearns.

"I picked up the pickaxe, first of all to avoid anybody else picking it up and secondly in possible self-defence," he said. "There was then a robust discussion. I felt scared. The situation was extremely unpleasant."

He was fined £200 by Paisley Sheriff Court for breach of the peace and was forced to give up his job in the Scottish Office. Not his greatest moment, but worse was to come.

In early 1997, it emerged that Mr Stewart had an alcohol problem and that he was allegedly involved with a married mother-of-four, Catherine "Bunny" Knight of Perthshire, whom he had met at the Castle Craig (rehab) Hospital in Peeblesshire. It was reported that Mrs Knight had been a regular visitor to Mr Stewart's London flat overlooking the Oval cricket ground. Mr Stewart's wife Susie stood by him throughout and some friends suggested he and Mrs Knight may merely have been two alcoholics helping each other in recovery, a major step of the 12-step programme of Alcoholics Anonymous.

The media murdered him, however, and he was admitted to Dykebar Hospital in Paisley after a nervous breakdown in March 1997. He then stood down as an MP shortly before the May 1, 1997, general election, throwing Scotland's Tories into disarray. Eastwood had been the Conservatives' safest Scottish seat.

In his resignation letter to John Major, Mr Stewart wrote: "Recent press reports on my health and personal life have caused great family distress and personal strain. After discussing my health and position with Susie, who has always been so supportive of my role as member of parliament for Eastwood, I have decided to resign as prospective parliamentary candidate. I do so with great regret so near to a general election."

John Allan Stewart was born in North Fife on June 1, 1942, and attended Bell Baxter High School in Cupar, whose later alumni included one of Mr Stewart's favourite bands, the Proclaimers. He studied at both St Andrews University - where he was a member of the university's libertarian school of conservative thought - and Harvard before returning to St Andrews as a lecturer in political economy. In 2002, The Herald wrote that Mr Stewart at St Andrews had been "Thatcherite before Thatcher, a far-right free marketeer before the ideas became common currency."

Mr Stewart himself recalled that his first venture into politics was when he advocated the abolition of the Potato Marketing Board, which did not go down well with his North Fife farming neighbours.

In 1970, aged 28, he stood unsuccessfully as a Tory for Dundee East, losing to the incumbent Labour MP George Thomson, later to become Baron Thomson of Monifieth. During a spell down south, Mr Stewart worked for the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) and won the Tory nomination for a by-election for the local council in the London Borough of Bromley. He won the nomination by one vote ahead of John Major, who would become a lifelong friend and went on to serve as a Bromley councillor.

Returning to Scotland, Mr Stewart won the safe Tory East Renfrewshire seat vacated by the Glaswegian Betty Harvie Anderson, later to become Baronesss Skrimshire of Quarter, on May 3, 1979 when he was still aged only 36. He would remain an MP (latterly in the successor constituency of Eastwood) until his troubles of 1997, serving two spells as junior minister in the Scottish Office - from 1981-86 under Mrs Thatcher and from 1990-95 under his friend Mr Major.

In his later years, Mr Stewart pushed for international status for Glasgow Airport while his fellow Tory George (Lord) Younger, who was Scottish Secretary at the time, sought to protect Prestwick's favoured status.

Although Mr Stewart became most widely linked with "pickaxe," his favourite word and favourite creature was "hedgehog." He was a member of the British Hedgehog Preservation Society and his countryside home outside Neilston in Renfrewshire had hedgehogs everywhere: not just a few real ones, but pictures on his walls, small plaster hedgehogs and large stone ones. He even liked to wear hedgehog ties.

Paying tribute to Mr Stewart last night, Conservative MSP Jackson Carlaw, who represents Eastwood in Holyrood, said: "Allan had a considerable influence on policy during Margaret Thatcher and John Major ... It was thanks to Allan that Eastwood remained outside of Glasgow during local government reorganisation, instead becoming part of the new East Renfrewshire Council.

"At the 1992 General Election, Allan achieved the largest swing to the Conservatives by any incumbent MP anywhere in the UK, something of which he was immensely proud, before retiring, undefeated, in 1997."

Allan Stewart is survived by his wife of 43 years, Susie, son Jack and daughter Rosa, both of them in their thirties.

PHIL DAVISON