My friend Colin Imrie, who has died aged 60 of lung cancer, spent his working life as a highly committed civil servant working in various areas of government, contributing particularly to policy in his native Scotland, where latterly he worked on the response to Brexit.
Born in Paisley, to Alex Imrie, a tax inspector, and his wife, Janette (nee Marr), Colin moved as a boy to Zambia, where his father worked for the newly independent African nation. He returned to Scotland for his later education at George Watson’s College in Edinburgh and, while at Aberdeen University, joined the SNP, helping to shift it from an anti-EU stance to one which saw the potential for small nations in the growing bloc. A postgraduate job in Germany as a human rights researcher at the Institut für Friedensforschung und Sicherheitspolitik at Hamburg University cemented his appreciation of the post-war continental model of cooperation.
He joined the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in 1982, and an early posting took him as second secretary, political affairs, to the British embassy in the Philippines, where he happened to be at the Malacañang Palace in Manila when it was stormed during the overthrow of President Ferdinand Marcos in 1986. He then moved to become first secretary, political affairs, at the British embassy in Brussels, helped by the fact that he spoke fluent Dutch, French and German.
After two years in that role he went to the Scottish Office, where he helped to set up a national park in the Cairngorms. He was seconded to the European Commission in Brussels in 1996 and subsequently to the FCO as energy and nuclear attache to UKRep (the UK Representation to the EU, 1997-99). On his return to Edinburgh he resumed serving what, with devolution, had become the Scottish Executive and worked on EU funding for Scotland and sustainability initiatives.
From 2004 to 2007 Colin was an independent policy consultant, before returning to the Scottish Executive, where, among other things, he set up the Scottish government’s core European relations team. A Scottish nationalist and passionate pro-European who saw no contradiction in those two identities, in one of his final papers, written from his hospice bed, he argued the case for Scotland to be given control of immigration policy post-Brexit.
A keen supporter of Hibernian football club, he loved discussing sport and politics with friends over a few beers, and celebrated his 60th birthday at a memorable ceilidh four weeks before his death. He considered his most important task to be supporting his wife, Vanessa (nee Glynn), in her role of chairing the European Movement in Scotland. They met when they were young diplomats at the FCO, and were married in 1984.
He is survived by Vanessa and by their daughter, Laura, and son, Douglas.
