Alick Buchanan-Smith (politician)

[1] When Margaret Thatcher succeeded Heath as Conservative leader The Glasgow Herald reported speculation that Buchanan-Smith was one of a group of "top Tories" who might refuse to serve under her.

[2] Ultimately he remained in post under Thatcher, but resigned in 1976, along with his junior shadow minister Malcolm Rifkind, when she changed the Conservative Party's policy to oppose Scottish devolution.

[4] Although the Conservatives returned to power following the 1979 general election, Buchanan-Smith's successor as Shadow Scottish Secretary, Teddy Taylor, lost his seat.

However, Trotter correctly predicted that Buchanan-Smith might be offered a ministerial post in another department if Thatcher was aiming to unify the Conservative Party.

[5] He is buried under a very modest memorial in the north-east corner of Currie Cemetery, next to his parents and eldest brother, Rev George Adam Buchanan-Smith (1929-1983).