In 1977, the Labour MP Tam Dalyell asked a parliamentary question about whether Scottish MPs should be able to vote on English matters following devolution. This thorny constitutional conundrum came to be known by the name of his constituency: the West Lothian question.
The constituency was renamed Linlithgow in 1983. Tam Dalyell continued to represent it until 2005, when he retired from active politics. He'd been Father of the House since the retirement of Sir Edward Heath in 2001. He died in 2017, aged 84, at his family seat, the House of the Binns (in West Lothian, roughly midway between Linlithgow and Queensferry).
© Haydn Thompson 2025