Iain Maciver writes …

CHANCELLOR Alistair Darling has revealed that he nearly drowned as a boy when he fell into a filthy Scottish harbour. He made the dramatic admission during his recent summer break at the Hebridean cottage he has restored and uses as a hideaway from the pressures of government.

The Chancellor, who was born in 1953, said that he had been visiting the islands each July since he was a year old. His mother had grown up in Stornoway and her family were from Great Bernera, the island now connected to Lewis with a road bridge, where his cottage is. It was originally a thatched blackhouse built by his great-great-grandfather in 1851.

Speaking to the Stornoway Gazette, Mr Darling said: “I was fishing for cuddies. It was pretty dirty in those days and I was covered in oil and fish. I remember my friend just watching on and my auntie thought I was a goner. But I managed to get out.”

Although he was formally educated in Kirkcaldy and at the private Loretto School in Musselburgh before attending the University of Aberdeen, the Chancellor also revealed that he had for a short period been a pupil at the Nicolson Institute, the secondary school in Stornoway.

Many in his family spoke Gaelic but Mr Darling admitted the language had beaten him.

“There was a time when I could understand some Gaelic but it is not something you can dip in and out of. My mother spoke Gaelic to my aunts and that’s what she did when she did not want us to know what she was saying.”