Kevin Gallagher didn’t expect any notoriety from going on Question Time.
But after appearing on the show and making a case for Scotland’s democratic right to a referendum that’s exactly what he’s got.
To his family the 61-year-old is still Kevin; but on Twitter he has become known as Captain Scotland.
“I’m very humbled by it and it’s better than the usual Captain Bird’s Eye!” he said.
A clip of him telling Conservative MSP Craig Hoy and Labour MSP Pam Duncan-Glancy – both of whom seek to deny a second independence referendum – that they need to listen to the people of Scotland has been retweeted nearly 1500 times.
The clip ends with Gallagher saying: “You guys are custodians of our country. You work for us.”
“I think the final part of what I said is something I’ve wanted to say and shouted at the telly for the last twenty years of watching Question Time,” said Gallagher.
“I’ve applied so many times and never got on, I assumed because of my political views.
“But when the Labour MSP [Pam Duncan-Glancy] said that the SNP running on a one motion manifesto [in the event of a de facto independence referendum during the next General Election] was undemocratic I just had to shout and interrupt her, even though I know I probably shouldn’t have.
“I certainly got some dirty looks from some of the panel, including Fiona.”
But Gallagher said that Duncan-Glancy’s logic just didn’t make sense to him.
“If that’s what the SNP decide to do then surely that’s the most democratic thing in the world because people will then have a choice.
“They’ll know that if they vote for them [the SNP] then I’m voting for independence and if I don’t want it then I won’t vote for them.
“Sorry but that’s the best breakdown of democracy you could ever have."
Gallagher grew up in a council house in Clydebank with a “die-hard Labour-voting father”. It’s to him he credits his interest in politics.
“I remember my father pulling his hair out because here was Scotland voting for one party and being ruled by another.
Scotland’s up there with the most politically educated nations on earth, but some made the mistake of believing Westminster would ever deliver the promises they made back in 2014. They never will. Time’s up. #ScottishIndependence #bbcqt pic.twitter.com/Iili1jGIfA
— Phantom Power (@PhantomPower14) June 30, 2022
“And as I got older I started to question how that could happen.
“I was brought up and taught that Scotland was part of a Union. But by the time I was 18 it really didn’t matter what people in Scotland voted because we were always going to be ruled by what people south of the border voted.
“And there’s no offense meant by that – they use their votes just as we use ours – but collectively it meant that we were going through 12 years of a Tory government we didn’t vote for."
He recalls the infancy of the independence movement and seeing it grow into what it is today.
“Back then the SNP didn’t have any MPs. And through my life I’ve just watched it grow and grow. And it’s not stopped growing and that’s part of the point I was trying to make last night," he said.
Despite his newfound celebrity he doesn’t plan on running for office anytime soon.
His work running self-catering accommodation on his farm near Loch Ness takes up too much time for him to heavily involve himself in campaigning.
But he views the battle for independence much in the same way he views his own life: as a triumph of hope over fear.
“The biggest reason we lost the last referendum and the biggest potential reason we could lose the next referendum is fear," he explained.
“I worked for other people for the best part of my working life because I was too scared to go it alone.
“It was only through my partner that I got the courage to say ‘Let’s do this’ and here I am, six years down the line, running a successful business."
Ever the egalitarian, Gallagher views his new nickname as bigger than himself.
The memorable image of his snow-white beard is, he says, but a carrier for a larger meaning.
“If it was down to me I would kind of distort it slightly and say that Captain Scotland is not a name for me – it’s a phrase: captain Scotland.
“For everyone that is involved in the independence movement to captain Scotland forwards.
“It’s a brilliant phrase."
