John Mason: Too many MSPs blindly follow the party line

The former SNP MSP on finding faith, challenging party lines and stepping back for the next generation of politicians...

What were you like at school?

I was good enough, but I didn’t really enjoy school. I was at Hutcheson’s Boys Grammar School from Primary 5 to Secondary 5. A lot of where you ranked in school depended on how good you were at sport and I was no good at rugby, which was the main thing, or football, which was the next main thing. It was only in secondary school that I found out I could do cross-country running. And suddenly, your standing amongst your peers changes. I enjoyed it a bit more after that.

It was also at secondary school where I discovered my personal Christian faith – through the Scripture Union, which had a presence in quite a lot of schools. That was a big thing for me because that’s lasted throughout my life.

Were you raised religious?

In a nominal, quite formal Church of Scotland way. But I would say you can go to church like you can visit a coal mine – but it doesn’t make you a bit of coal. You need to have that personal faith, a relationship with God, however you want to describe it. That was when I was 13 or 14.

Who would be your dream dinner date?

One is George Müller. He was German, lived 1805 to 1898. He went to Bristol and set up children’s homes. At that time, orphanages existed for rich people – children of people who had died and they left money. But there were no orphanages for poor people, so these kids lived on the street. Müller never asked people for money, he only prayed and asked God for money and it always came. He ran these huge orphanages in Bristol.

The other one I’d have dinner with would be DL Moody. I don’t know if you’ve heard of him either. He lived in 1837 to 1899, he was from Chicago, and he started something called the Moody Bible Institute. He came to the UK, he was an evangelist, but he did a lot of work with poor folk and had a big impact on Glasgow. A number of institutions got set up in Glasgow, some of which are still going.

What was your best holiday?

I’ve had a lot of good holidays – I enjoy travelling. This year, I’m hoping to get to the Western Isles and maybe visit Mingulay for the first time, which I’ve never been to.

But if I had to pin it down, it would be Greenland a couple years ago. I went for a couple of weeks, and it was fabulous, just amazing. The size – it’s the second biggest island in the world after Australia, but there’s only 56,000 people there. Its population is tiny. You’ve got all this ice and the icebergs and the glaciers and all that – just seeing how the people live. They’re really at the edge, it was a bit Wild West, some of it.

Are you quite well travelled?

I lived in Nepal for three years. That was a good experience, then I came back through China and Russia. I do like city breaks – often in February recess I go for a city break, this year I was in Istanbul. Last summer, I was in the three Baltic states, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. But I’ve never been to America. I’ve very briefly been in Africa.

What are your retirement plans?

Having a dog gives you a real structure. It’s a good for interaction with friends and neighbours, so that’s a possibility. I’ll probably get more involved in the church. I’m quite curtailed at the moment, I can do things at the weekend, but I can’t do midweek. Maybe the community council.

A return to your roots in local politics?

Yes. People have said ‘would you go back to the city council or not’? I don’t think so. You’ve got to let younger people take it on. It’s not good that older people carry on. I mean, there’s still things to do, you can give advice, but I don’t approve of all the people just hanging onto their position.

You are coming to the end of your political career here, so what is your advice to someone starting out?

To be independent. Independence is a word that used in different ways, but I do think there’s a problem in here with too many people just blindly following the party line. That’s got me into a lot of trouble, I’ll take that risk. But we could do with a bit more of it – you can be faithful to your party and still be quite critical or take like a different view. Parliament benefits from that, and you see it some of the committees – the finance committee often take quite an independent line on things. I’d encourage people in that space, I think.

The danger is people come in and go up in the party and they’re just totally fanatical about the party, right or wrong. If the party changes its policy, does a U-turn tomorrow then they just do a U-turn as well. There are people in here – Richard Leonard or Alec Rowley, Kenny Gibson, Michelle Thomson – there’s a number across the parties who are just a bit more independently-minded. I’d be encouraging anyone new to follow that.

All those examples are proof it doesn’t have to cost you, either.

No, absolutely not. It can cost you promotion as a minister. When I was first elected in 2011, Alex Salmond said to a number of us who were new, ‘I’m not making any of the new people ministers but you’re all people that potentially could be’. He did say that to me. But then very quickly after that, I spoke about same-sex marriage and that was it. That was the end of any chance, really, of being a minister.

Looking back on it, I’m glad I wasn’t a minister because then you’re even more tied into the thing – you’ve got less freedom. As a backbencher you’ve got a bit more. That’s why I’ve spoken out about abortion, same-sex marriage, different things, some of which are theoretically free votes. On the [Gender Recognition Reform Bill], nine voted against the government in the SNP and nothing happened. We weren’t even spoken to after.