Tribute to Andy Collier
Former NUJ member Andy Collier is remembered as a “giant of Scottish political journalism.”
Tribute by Craig Williams, former FoC for BBC Scotland.
Andrew Collier, who has died aged 68, was a long-time NUJ member and one of Scotland’s best-known political reporters, campaigners and commentators.
A burly, convivial man with an infectious laugh and quicksilver mind, Andy was wonderful company who enjoyed the gossip and intrigue of journalism and politics. But never in a nasty way; he was a warm and generous colleague and friend, popular across parties and among his former colleagues in the press pack.
Andy was born in Farnworth, Greater Manchester, and trained in local newspapers. But it was Scotland where he made his home from the 1970s and his love for his adopted country, as well as his interest in its governance and future direction, were constants in both his career and life.
After spells at Today and as Scotland correspondent for a number of national titles, he made his name as political editor of the Scottish Sun, where he was influential in moving the paper towards backing independence.
Their January 1992 headline ‘Rise now and be nation again’ was – and remains – a watershed moment in the move towards Scottish devolution and the 2014 independence referendum.
Andy later left the paper and built a busy freelance career writing about business and working in corporate communications. He was also in much demand as a broadcaster, especially as a newspaper reviewer on Radio Scotland’s flagship news and current affairs programme Good Morning Scotland, which is where I got to know him in the late 1990s.
The third act to Andy’s career came about through his commitment to Scottish independence. He spent five years as a communications advisor and speech writer to the SNP. In her obituary of her husband in The Herald newspaper, Maggie Stanfield emphasised Andy’s attempts to “combat the excesses of the ‘cybernats’, online supporters of independence who railed against what they termed the ‘mainstream media’.
He was critical of those pro-independence supporters who protested outside BBC Scotland in 2014, writing: “These angry, bullying and highly negative manifestations of a victim mentality were the very last thing we in the ‘Yes’ campaign needed just before the most vital vote in Scotland’s history.”
But he remained an optimist, forward-thinking proponent of the cause he believed in so much and I enjoyed our regular curries during that period and was grateful for his insight and generous time as I covered the campaign, vote and aftermath.
The past few years brought a move to Maggie’s native Northern Ireland and a number of health challenges, which accelerated in the final months of his life. I last saw him in July and, although he was much physically diminished by a recent spell in hospital, he was the same old Andy; talking politics, books, journalism, wanting to know what was going on in the trade.
There have been warm tributes to Andy from former colleagues and two of Scotland’s first ministers.
Tim Dawson, NUJ freelance organiser, said:
“Andy and I worked together for The Sunday Times. He exuded a gentle authority that made working with him an enriching pleasure – even if I was slightly in his awe. There was nothing soft pedalling about his reporting though. He was a great story-getter and a masterful wordsmith. Journalism is much the poorer for his passing.”
We all are. Andy was a devoted husband to Maggie, father to Anne Marie, stepfather to Nicholas and grandfather to Rupert. He leaves them, his brother and his former wife Bernadette, as well as many former colleagues who will remember him with fondness and respect.