Influential Liberal and Lib Dem politician who served as Scotland’s deputy first minister from the outset of devolution

Jim Wallace, Lord Wallace of Tankerness, who has died aged 71 following complications after surgery, was an influential Liberal figure who achieved the extremely rare distinction in politics of being disliked by almost nobody. Mild-mannered, pragmatic, sociable, with liberal values underpinned by a strong Christian faith, he was ever present in Scottish politics over four decades, during which his party re-emerged from the Celtic fringes to become part of Scottish and UK governments.

Wallace’s influence extended well beyond Scotland. As Liberal chief whip at Westminster after the 1987 general election, he was widely credited with minimising opposition to full-scale merger with the SDP to form the newly branded Liberal Democrats.