Death of 'maverick' Far North election candidate
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Gordon Campbell, the maverick independent candidate who livened up a series of election campaigns in the far north between 1999 and 2010, has died at the age of 82.
He once claimed to be “married to Dornoch”, having lived there for many years.
His attachment to Sutherland began when he moved to Ospisdale in 1942 as an evacuee from the London area.
Mr Campbell also felt a close affinity to Caithness and often referred to himself as “the Caithness Capercaillie”.
He fought six election campaigns in Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross.
Three were for the Holyrood seat and three for the Westminster constituency.
He finished either bottom or second bottom (three each), but despite his lack of electoral success he became known as a colourful and forceful character.
“I’m not a party hack,” he once pointed out.
The issues on which he campaigned included education, nuclear power and crime.
He also felt it was extremely important to protect the country’s Christian heritage.
As far back as 12 years ago he was promoting tidal power as “a great future energy source”.
Mr Campbell had many admirers, although others found his high-energy style a little too overbearing.
He gained a reputation for walking into private homes uninvited, and was asked to leave Skibo Castle and a supermarket on the same day during one election campaign.
However the irrepressible Mr Campbell remained cheerfully undeterred by such experiences.
“If you get chucked out of Skibo and Tesco on the same day then you’ve got a couple of very good campaign medals,” he said. “
I don’t mind being chucked out – I get chucked out everywhere, and I enjoy it, of course I do!”
Mr Campbell was once accused of upsetting German tourists by shouting “Who won the war?” at them.
And at an election meeting in Wick he likened his canvassing tactics to “a Messerschmitt bombing Thurso”.
However, Mr Campbell regarded himself as a “proper European”, having spent some 40 years working as a teacher and translator in Stuttgart, capital of southwest Germany’s Baden-Württemberg state,
He also spent several years in Australia and liked to describe outlying parts of Caithness and Sutherland as “the bush”.
Mr Campbell had a unique turn of phrase in his public pronouncements, often favouring alliteration, puns and rhymes.
In an interview in the run-up to the 2007 Scottish Parliament election he looked ahead to his imminent 70th birthday and declared that he was going to have “a coronation victory”,
This was a reference to his pride in the fact that he was born on the day George VI was crowned as king.
In the event he finished fifth out of five candidates, with 957 votes.
Mr Campbell passed away at his home in Poles Road, Dornoch, on Friday, January 24.
There will be a private interment at Creich cemetery, Bonar Bridge, followed by a service of thanksgiving in Dornoch Cathedral on Monday, February 3.
