Tributes paid to ‘remarkable life’ of Clive Fairweather at memorial

• Friends and family of the ‘maverick’ father-of-three told how Scotland had lost a peoples’ champion who always championed the underdog

They were joined by senior politicians and representatives from charities which help former service personnel at a memorial service for Mr Fairweather, who died after a short illness aged 68 last month.

Friends and family of the “maverick” father-of-three told how Scotland had lost a peoples’ champion who believed in “championing the underdog” and carried out his public duty with “good humour”.

His glittering army career - which included commanding a SAS team which recaptured the Iranian embassy in 1980 after terrorists held staff hostage - was praised by a number of former colleagues who recalled countless good-humoured tales from his time in the Army.

Major General Andrew MacKay told the 600-strong gathering at Edinburgh’s Canongate Kirk: “By anyone’s standards, Clive was unique, a one off.

“He enjoyed nothing more than taking on a different view, he was a maverick.

“He has a willingness to speak he truth to people in power and help those unable to speak for themselves. To act in the way he did, challenging authority, required above all, moral courage. He had genuine support and care for the underdog, the disadvantaged.

The retired Major General told how despite his prestigious service career and accomplishments he never lost his human touch which was evident in the way he fought for prison reform in Scotland, in particular improving conditions for female offenders.

The SNP’s foreign affairs and defence spokesman, Angus Robertson, and Housing and Transport minister Keith Brown and former Scottish Parliament Presiding Officer Alex Fergusson were among the Canongate congregation which heard how Mr Fairweather’s long military career began with him joining the King’s Own Scottish Borderers as a private soldier before rising to full colonel. He went on to complete three tours with the SAS and was security adviser to the Iranian and Jordanian royal households in 1970-71.

He guarded Hitler’s deputy Rudolf Hess in Berlin’s notorious Spandau prison and was second-in-command of the SAS at the Iranian embassy siege in London in 1980. His last job in the military was at Edinburgh Castle, where he was security officer for the Edinburgh Military Tattoo.

Between 1994 to 2002, he worked as Chief Inspector of Prisons in Scotland and was made a Commander of the British Empire in 2003 for his lifetime of public and national service. He later became chief fundraiser for the ex-service personnel charities including Combat Stress and Gardening Leave.

Reverend Neil Gardner, who led the poignant 70-minute service, described how Mr Fairweather led a “remarkable life”.

He said: “An unruly influence is how best describes his life. He stood up for many people who left is too early he too has been asked to leave early, earlier than he deserved.”