Donald Dewar

As Scottish Secretary from 1997, Dewar wrote the white paper, won the referendum by 74 per cent for a parliament and 63 per cent for tax powers, and steered the Scotland Act 1998 through the Commons. Its key design choice, listing only the powers reserved to Westminster so that everything else was devolved, gave Holyrood a broad remit. He became the first First Minister in 1999 and died in office in 2000. His one obvious misjudgement was the Holyrood building, whose cost rose roughly tenfold.