IN March 1979, there was a serious discussion about driving the dying Labour MP for Batley and Morley some 200 miles from Yorkshire to the House of Commons. Sir Alfred Broughton (below) was keen to come.

The context was the ­now-famous motion of no confidence which had been lodged in Jim Callaghan’s government ­after the first Scottish devolution ­referendum crashed into the qualified majority rules which had been inserted into the first ­Scotland Act.

This wrecking amendment provided that devolution would only come into effect if 40% of the whole ­electorate voted in favour – effectively stymieing ­progress on Scottish home rule for 20 years.

Having survived one confidence motion in December 1978, the minority Labour ­government found itself under renewed ­assault by a united opposition. The phrase “knife-edge” was coined for political ­moments like this. The Conservatives, the SNP and David Steel’s Liberal Party were all now in favour of a general election – leaving just a handful of Northern Irish MPs, capable of securing the UK ­Government’s tottering majority.

Once human factors – including ­idiosyncratic individual preferences, ­personal pique, unpredictable party blocks, illness, drunkenness and random ­happenstance were factored in – the ­outcome was too close to call.

Every vote counted, and although “Doc” Broughton was deathly ill, he wanted to do his final duty to his party – even if that risked his premature death on the long ­ambulance ride down to London.

Still counted

Although physically unfit to join his Labour colleagues in the division lobby, House of Commons arcana meant that Broughton’s vote of confidence in the ­government would still be counted – so long as he arrived bodily and alive within the “precincts” of the Palace of ­Westminster.

Lying on his back in an ambulance in the Speaker’s Court, his vote might have saved the Callaghan administration. But given the parlous state of his health, his ­doctors believed there was every chance the ­long-serving Labour backbencher – who’d represented his Yorkshire constituency for 30 years – would die en route.

In a very British combination of ­cynicism, comedy, and vintage ­constitutional ­piffle, government whips........

© Herald Scotland