Roger Mullin | |
---|---|
Member of Parliament for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath | |
In office 7 May 2015 –3 May 2017 | |
Preceded by | Gordon Brown |
Succeeded by | Lesley Laird |
Personal details | |
Born | 12 March 1948 |
Nationality | Scottish |
Political party | Scottish National Party |
Spouse | Barbara Mullin |
Alma mater | University of Edinburgh |
William Arthur Roger Mullin (born 12 March 1948) is a former Scottish National Party (SNP) politician. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath from May 2015,until being defeated at the 2017 snap general election. [1] [2]
Roger Mullin graduated from the University of Edinburgh with a M.A. Honours degree in Sociology in 1977. He was a Member of the Institute of Personnel and Development and also holds a Higher National Certificate in Electrical and Electronic Engineering. [3]
He is an Honorary Professor at the University of Stirling, [4] and lectured postgraduates on Applied Decision Theory,The Political Environment,and Organisation Change. He wrote a monthly column in The Times Educational Supplement Scotland. He is now a Founding Director of Momentous Change Ltd. [5]
Mullin joined the SNP in 1966. [6] He is a former Vice-convener of the Scottish National Party.
He was the SNP candidate at the Paisley North by-election in 1990,where he finished in second place behind Irene Adams of the Labour Party,with 29.4% of the vote. [7] He also finished in second place at the 1992 general election in the same seat,with a reduced share of 23.3% of the vote. [8] He unsuccessfully fought three earlier Westminster campaigns at the February 1974 general election [9] in South Ayrshire,again in South Ayrshire at the October 1974 general election [10] and at Kirkcaldy in 1987. [11] His wife,Barbara Mullin,was also a candidate for the SNP at the 1992 general election in the Ayr constituency. However,neither he nor his wife were elected. [12]
In the 1999 Scottish Parliament election,he contested the Ayr constituency but came in third place.
In January 2015,Mullin was selected as the official SNP candidate for the Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath constituency and subsequently was elected on 7 May 2015 with 27,628 votes and a 52.2% share of the vote. Mullin had a majority of 9,974 votes over Kenny Selbie,the Labour Party candidate who was hoping to succeed former UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown,who retired after 32 years as an MP from what had once been Labour's safest seat in Scotland. Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath saw a turnout of 69.73%;the highest recorded for this constituency. [13]
As a Member of Parliament,Mullin was a Treasury Spokesperson for the SNP,and a member of the Regulatory Reform Select Committee [14] He led a campaign in Westminster to reform Scottish Limited Partnerships which had been exposed by the Herald newspaper in Scotland [15] as being vehicles for tax evasion and laundering of criminal assets. Since leaving Parliament,he has continued to comment [16] and campaign on Scottish Limited Partnerships,including being critical of the Law Society of Scotland's lack of effective action. [17] Mullin presented a ten-minute rule bill to parliament on 20 April 2016 entitled Forensic Linguistic (standards) Bill. [18] He also presented a Private Members Bill on Double Taxation Treaties for developing countries) [19] on 13 October 2015. Mullin led a Westminster Hall debate on the subject of The Use of Children as Suicide Bombers spelling out the significant rise on the use of children and young girls as human guided weapons. [20]
Mullin was Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Explosive Weapons,in which capacity he addressed the 19th International Meeting of Mine Action National Programme Directors and United Nations Advisers at the United Nations in Geneva 2016. [21] He led a Westminster Foundation for Democracy project in Iraqi Kurdistan,and while in Kurdistan,became the first British MP to enter the City of Mosul during hostilities [22] to see at first hand work being undertaken to begin to clear the city of improvised explosive devices.
In 2016,he was appointed by the SNP leader and Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon to the party's Scottish Growth Commission. [23]
After leaving the House of Commons,Mullin was appointed Special Envoy for the All Party Parliamentary Group on Explosive Threats in July 2017. [24] He has also undertaken research into Brexit and Scottish Business and initial research into a stock exchange for Scotland [25] along with former SNP MP Michelle Thomson.
In May 2018,Mullin became part of the Advisory Team of the African Entrepreneurial Network. [26]
In November 2020,Mullin was elected onto the SNP National Executive Committee. [27]
Annabelle Janet Ewing is a Scottish politician and lawyer who has served as Deputy Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament,alongside Liam McArthur,since May 2021. A member of the Scottish National Party (SNP),she has been the Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the Cowdenbeath constituency since 2016,having previously been an MSP for the Mid Scotland and Fife region from 2011 to 2016.
Stewart Hosie is a Scottish National Party (SNP) politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Dundee East from 2005 to 2024. He served as the SNP Treasury Spokesperson from 2022 to 2023,and previously from 2015 to 2017. He served as the SNP Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Shadow Minister for the Cabinet Office since 2021. He served as Deputy Leader of the SNP to Nicola Sturgeon from November 2014 to October 2016. He was also the SNP Deputy Westminster Leader and the SNP Treasury Spokesperson from May 2015,until he was succeeded in both positions by Kirsty Blackman in June 2017.
Berwickshire,Roxburgh and Selkirk is a constituency of the British House of Commons,located in the south of Scotland within the Scottish Borders council area. It elects one Member of Parliament (MP) at least once every five years using the first-past-the-post system of voting. Since 2017 the MP has been John Lamont of the Conservative Party.
Cowdenbeath and Kirkcaldy is a county constituency representing the areas around the towns of Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath,in Fife,Scotland,in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.
The Dunfermline and West Fife by-election was held on 9 February 2006,following the death of the sitting Labour MP Rachel Squire,on 6 January. The by-election was the first seat to change hands in the 2005 Parliament,when Willie Rennie won the seat for the Liberal Democrats,gaining it from Labour by 1,800 votes. The BBC reported a swing from Labour to the Liberal Democrats of 16.24%.
Dunfermline East was a constituency of the Scottish Parliament (Holyrood). It elected one Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) by the plurality method of election.
Alan Brown is a Scottish National Party (SNP) politician who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Kilmarnock and Loudoun from 2015 until 2024. Brown previously served as the SNP spokesperson on Energy Security and Net Zero (2022–2023),Energy and Climate Change (2020–2022),Transport (2017–2020) and Infrastructure and Energy (2017–2018) in the House of Commons.
Christopher Murray Alexander Law is a Scottish National Party (SNP) politician serving as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Dundee Central,formerly Dundee West,since 2015. He was first elected at the 2015 general election,winning a seat that had been held by Labour for the previous 65 years. He served as SNP Spokesperson for International Development from 2017 to 2022,resigning from his position after the election of Stephen Flynn.
Douglas Chapman is a Scottish National Party (SNP) politician. He served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Dunfermline and West Fife from the 2015 general election until he stood down at the 2024 general election. He served as the SNP's Small Business,Enterprise and Innovation spokesperson whilst in Parliament.
Carol Monaghan is a Scottish National Party (SNP) politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Glasgow North West from 2015 until the seat's abolition in 2024. She is the SNP Science,Innovation,Technology and Education spokesperson in the House of Commons.
Brendan O'Hara is a Scottish National Party (SNP) politician. He serves as Member of Parliament (MP) for the constituency of Argyll,Bute and South Lochaber since the 2024,having previously represented the Argyll and Bute constituency from 2015 to 2024. He has been the SNP spokesperson for Foreign Affairs since September 2023. He served as the SNP Digital,Culture,Media and Sport spokesperson from 2017 to 2018,the SNP Defence spokesperson from 2015 to 2017,SNP International Development spokesperson from 2022 to 2023,and SNP Chief Whip in 2023.
Owen George Thompson is a Scottish National Party politician was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Midlothian from 2015 to 2017 and from 2019 to 2024. He was elected in 2015,defeated at the 2017 general election,and regained the seat at the 2019 general election.
Marion Fellows is a Scottish National Party (SNP) politician. From 2015 until 2024,she was the Member of Parliament for Motherwell and Wishaw. Between June 2017 and January 2020 she was the SNP spokesperson for Small Business,Enterprise and Innovations.
Stephen Patrick Gethins is a Scottish National Party (SNP) politician and academic serving as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Arbroath and Broughty Ferry since the 2024 general election.
Michelle Rhonda Thomson is a Scottish businesswoman and Scottish National Party (SNP) politician. She has been the Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for Falkirk East since May 2021.
Lesley Margaret Laird is a Scottish politician who served as Deputy Leader of the Scottish Labour Party from 2017 to 2019. She was Member of Parliament (MP) for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath from 2017 to 2019,and Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland during the same period. Laird was a Member of Fife Council from 2012 to 2018 and served as the Deputy Leader of the Council.
Martin David Whitfield is a Scottish Labour politician and former lawyer and primary school teacher who has been a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the South Scotland region and the Convener of the Standards and Procedures and Public Appointments Committee since 2021.
Stephen Mark Flynn is a Scottish politician who has served as the leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP) in the House of Commons since December 2022. He has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Aberdeen South since 2019.
James Neale Hanvey is a Scottish nationalist politician who served as the Leader of the Alba Party in the House of Commons from 2021 to 2024,and the Member of Parliament (MP) for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath from 2019 to 2024.
The Alba Party is a Scottish nationalist and pro-independence political party in Scotland,founded in February 2021,led by former first minister of Scotland and SNP leader Alex Salmond. Salmond launched the party's 2021 Scottish Parliament election campaign in March 2021,with the party standing list-only candidates. Two members of Parliament (MPs) in the UK House of Commons defected from the Scottish National Party (SNP) to the Alba Party on 27 March 2021,and member of the Scottish parliament Ash Regan defected on 28 October 2023. Several former SNP MPs also joined the Alba Party. To date no Alba Party candidate has been elected at any election.