This article's lead section may be too short to adequately summarize the key points.(September 2014) |
James McGovern | |
---|---|
Member of Parliament for Dundee West | |
In office 5 May 2005 –30 March 2015 | |
Preceded by | Ernie Ross |
Succeeded by | Chris Law |
Personal details | |
Born | Glasgow,Lanarkshire,Scotland | 17 November 1956
Nationality | Scottish |
Political party | Labour |
Spouse(s) | Norma McGovern |
James McGovern (born 17 November 1956) is a Scottish Labour politician who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Dundee West from 2005 to 2015.
McGovern was born in Glasgow,but moved to Dundee at the age of 9. He was educated at the Catholic Lawside Academy. He left school at the age of 15 and at the age of 16 began an apprenticeship as a glazier. In 1987,after being made redundant,he worked as a glazier for Dundee City Council. Whilst working for the council he was active within the GMB union. In 1997 he began working full-time for the union as Trade Union Organiser.
He was first elected to the British House of Commons at the 2005 general election for Dundee West with a 14.6% majority,following the retirement of the sitting Labour MP Ernie Ross. Since 2005,he has served on the Scottish Affairs Committee. Between 2007 and 2008,he served as the Parliamentary Private Secretary to Pat McFadden,the Minister of State at the Department for Business,Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, [1] before resigning over the row surrounding the privatisation of Royal Mail. [2] He was re-elected in 2010 with a majority of 19.6%.
McGovern lost his appeal against the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority's rejection of a £23.90 single rail ticket from Dundee to Glasgow in April 2013. [3] The Sunday Herald reported that Parliamentary authorities determined that the detour was unconnected to McGovern's official work as an MP. He had been attending a Labour Party event in Glasgow. IPSA revealed that its bill for defending against McGovern's appeal was £27,000,to be met by the taxpayers. [4]
On 3 April 2015,McGovern announced he would not stand at the 2015 general election,citing ill health. [5]
He is married to Norma with two children and lives in the Law part of Dundee.
Donald Campbell Dewar was a Scottish politician who served as inaugural First Minister of Scotland and Leader of the Scottish Labour Party from 1999 until his death in 2000. He previously served as Secretary of State for Scotland from 1997 to 1999. He was Member of Parliament (MP) for Glasgow Anniesland from 1978 to 2000. Dewar was also Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the equivalent seat from 1999 to 2000.
George Foulkes,Baron Foulkes of Cumnock PC is a Scottish politician and life peer who served as Minister of State for Scotland from 2001 to 2002. A member of the Scottish Labour Party and Co-operative Party,he was Member of Parliament (MP) for Carrick,Cumnock and Doon Valley,formerly South Ayrshire,from 1979 to 2005. He was later a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP),as one of the additional members for the Lothians region,from 2007 to 2011.
James Francis Murphy is a Scottish former politician who served as Leader of the Scottish Labour Party from 2014 to 2015 and Secretary of State for Scotland from 2008 to 2010. He was Member of Parliament (MP) for East Renfrewshire,formerly Eastwood,from 1997 to 2015. He identifies as a social democrat and has expressed support for a foreign policy of Western interventionism. He has been described as being on the political right of the Labour Party.
Ernest Ross was a British politician who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Dundee West from 1979 to 2005. He was a member of the Labour Party.
Robert Gordon Wilson was a Scottish politician and solicitor. He was the leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP) from 1979 to 1990,and was SNP Member of Parliament (MP) for Dundee East from 1974 to 1987. He was Rector of the University of Dundee from 1983 to 1986.
Michael John Martin,Baron Martin of Springburn,,was a British politician who served as Speaker of the House of Commons between 2000 and 2009. A member of the Labour Party,he was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Glasgow Springburn from 1979 to 2005 and for Glasgow North East until 2009. He was elected as Speaker of the House of Commons in 2000,remaining in the office for nine years until his involuntary resignation in 2009.
Margaret Patricia Curran is a Scottish Labour Party politician. She served in the British House of Commons as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Glasgow East from 2010 to 2015 and was Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland from 2011 until 2015. She was previously the Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for Glasgow Baillieston from 1999 to 2011,and held a number of posts within the Scottish Executive,including Minister for Parliamentary Business,Minister for Social Justice and Minister for Communities.
Scottish Labour is a social democratic political party in Scotland. It is an autonomous section of the UK Labour Party. From a high of holding 56 of the 129 seats at the first Scottish parliament election in 1999,the Party has declined each election until getting just 22 MSPs elected at the 2021 election. The party currently holds one of 59 Scottish seats in the UK House of Commons.
Douglas Cuthbert Colquhoun Young was a Scottish poet,scholar,translator and politician. He was the leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP) 1942-1945,and was a classics professor at McMaster University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Helen Margaret McElhone was a Scottish politician. She worked together with her husband,Frank McElhone,during his time as a Member of Parliament (MP) representing Glasgow from 1969. After his sudden death,McElhone was elected as his successor;but within a year her Glasgow Queen's Park constituency was abolished in boundary changes and she lost out to a neighbouring MP in the selection for a new seat. She continued her political activity after leaving Parliament.
James Anthony Kelly is a Scottish politician who has served as General Secretary of the Scottish Labour Party since 2021. He was a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the Glasgow region between 2016 and 2021,having previously been MSP for Rutherglen,formerly Glasgow Rutherglen,from 2007 to 2016.
The Glasgow Queen's Park by-election,1982 was a parliamentary by-election held on 2 December 1982 for the House of Commons constituency of Glasgow Queen's Park.
Alexander Wilkie was a Labour Party politician in Scotland,best known for his service as a Member of Parliament for Dundee. Along with the Dundonian George Nicoll Barnes,Wilkie was one of the first-ever Labour MPs elected in Scotland.
Ruth Elizabeth Davidson,Baroness Davidson of Lundin Links,is a Scottish politician who served as Leader of the Scottish Conservative Party from 2011 to 2019 and was the Leader of the Conservative Party in the Scottish Parliament from 2020 to May 2021. She served as a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for Glasgow from 2011 to 2016 and for Edinburgh Central from 2016 to 2021.
The 2011 Scottish Labour Party leadership election was an internal party election to choose a new leader of the Scottish Labour Party. The election followed the announcement by Iain Gray that he would stand down as leader in the autumn of 2011 following the party's heavy defeat to the Scottish National Party in May's Scottish Parliament general election. Gray won the previous contest in September 2008.
The Organisation of Scottish Labour is a body established under the national rules of the UK Labour Party.
Natalie McGarry is a former Scottish politician who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Glasgow East from 2015 to 2017. She was elected as a Scottish National Party (SNP) candidate in the 2015 general election but resigned the SNP whip after six months and sat as an independent until the end of the parliamentary session in May 2017.
The 2015 United Kingdom general election in Scotland was held on 7 May 2015 and all 59 seats were contested under the first-past-the-post electoral system. Unlike the 2010 general election,where no seats changed party,the Scottish National Party (SNP) won all but three seats in Scotland in an unprecedented landslide victory,gaining a total of 56 seats and taking the largest share of the Scottish vote in sixty years,at exactly 50 per cent. The Labour Party suffered its worst ever election defeat in Scotland,losing 40 of the 41 seats they were defending,including the seats of Scottish Labour leader Jim Murphy and the then Shadow Foreign Secretary Douglas Alexander. The Liberal Democrats lost ten of the eleven seats they were defending,with the then Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander and former leader Charles Kennedy losing their seats. The election also saw the worst performance by the Conservative Party,which received its lowest share of the vote since its creation in 1965,although it retained the one seat that it previously held. In all,50 of the 59 seats changed party,49 of them being won by first-time MPs.
Kirsten Frances Oswald is a Scottish National Party (SNP) politician serving as the SNP Deputy Westminster Leader since 2020. First elected as the Member of Parliament (MP) for East Renfrewshire in 2015,she was unseated at the 2017 snap election but subsequently re-elected at the 2019 election.
The 2015 Scottish Labour Party leadership election was formally triggered on 16 May 2015 by the resignation of Jim Murphy as Leader of the Scottish Labour Party,which took effect on 13 June 2015,following the party's defeat at the 2015 general election. A new leader and deputy leader would be chosen following the resignations of Jim Murphy and Kezia Dugdale. In the meantime,former Scottish Labour leader Iain Gray took over as acting leader. On 15 August,Dugdale was elected to lead the party,while Alex Rowley was chosen to become her deputy.