For all Alex Salmond’s many flaws, he understood the business world. Liked it, even. Liked its leaders and was relaxed in their company. He understood the necessary role the private sector played in wealth creation, which could then be used to fund public services.
His successor Nicola Sturgeon was never comfortable in this environment. I’ve lost count of the number of businesspeople who have told me of attending meetings and dinners with Sturgeon and being discomfited by her seeming lack of interest in the conversation and the issues being discussed. Sturgeon was a social justice politician, happier among pressure groups, third-sector types and charities. No surprise – she once told me Michael Foot was her favourite Labour leader.
The widely recognised consequence of this was that relations between her government and the private sector were south of cool. The lack of respect she showed towards Scotland’s wealth creators was eventually reciprocated. Time and again, there would be talk from SNP ministers of a “reset” in the relationship, but it never really happened. The Nats were a party of high taxes and high spending, and rarely bothered to check how the revenue machine actually operated.
Kate Forbes sought to change this. The Deputy First Minister is on the right of her party and shared with Salmond a natural affinity for and understanding of business people. “What do you need me to do?” she regularly asks those she meets. She talks their language and shares their goals.
One indication of this was her appointment in 2020 of Mark Logan as the government’s chief entrepreneurial adviser, or “chief entrepreneur” as he was often known. Logan, who had been chief operating officer at the digital firm Skyscanner, one of Scotland’s few unicorns, which sold for £1.3bn, produced an excellent report on how to grow Scotland’s tech start-ups and boost overall its wider tech ecosystem. It was both an analysis and a route map, and led to the creation of structures that make it easier for new companies to access expertise and funding.
With the businesswoman Ana Stewart, Logan also co-authored a report on how to get more women involved in entrepreneurship. It was only in August that eight organisations, including the Royal Bank of Scotland, Scottish Enterprise and the University of Strathclyde, committed to pursuing the steps set out in that piece of work.
But earlier this week, Logan announced his resignation. This matters – although his work was perhaps of most interest to the tech community and policy wonks, he had proved a public figure of consequence. His work led to action, which led to outcomes. He was insistent on that, based on his experience in the private sector of how to get things done.
There were, inevitably, frustrations for Logan in dealing with the government machine. The civil service could be infuriatingly slow, certainly compared to the fast-moving, constantly iterating tech world. Some ministers showed more interest than others, while some seemed to work actively to prevent reform.
Forbes knew his worth, as did First Minister John Swinney, and neither wanted him to resign. She was especially excited about work recently begun on how technology could tackle the many problems facing the NHS – the Scottish health system has been even slower to adopt digital solutions than the English one. Logan was confident he could produce a handful of changes that would quickly improve the performance of the NHS.
So he is a loss. As one tech sector expert put it, “there’s lots to gain from a single person of that calibre bringing focus across government, public and private sectors.”
In the end, it wasn’t disillusionment with the complexities of government that drove Logan out, but negative stories about his remuneration. He was paid almost £200,000 to work part time, though he spent far more hours on the job than he was contracted for.
In a post on LinkedIn, he wrote that “although I am not in a political role, I am increasingly becoming a target for some in the right-wing of Scottish politics and their supporting publications, which, just as intended, has become draining”.
The salary was obviously a high one, by public-sector standards, though no doubt small compared to the riches provided by the sale of Skyscanner. The row follows similar scraps over the salary of Sue Gray, Keir Starmer’s former chief of staff, and the annual brouhaha over the payments to those at the very top of the public sector such as university vice-principals, council chief executives and the Scottish National Investment Bank (SNIB).
The question is, though – should you pay for what you get? SNIB, for example, is staffed by people who would earn more working in the private sector. But how do you build a successful state investment bank if you don’t recruit those with decent experience of finance and deal-making?
Similarly with Logan, if you want someone of his vast experience, proven abilities, success and world-class intellect, you can’t really do it on the cheap. It’s an irony that criticism of his salary was led by the Scottish Conservatives, who one might expect to display a more nuanced perspective.
It doesn’t look like Logan will be replaced, as the post of chief entrepreneur was effectively created to get him involved in key projects. “He’s one of a kind. It wasn’t ever about the role, it was always about him,” a source close to Forbes told me.
So for the sake of a political scalp, Scotland has lost a key thinker as it faces up to the essential embrace and growth of its technology footprint. The tech community has lost its champion at the heart of government. Forbes has lost one of the most useful and effective tools in her economy kit. I’m not sure who wins.
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