* Unfortunately we have not been able to include any caricatures in this week's issue as our caricaturist, Dominic Johnston, is unwell. We have therefore included photographs of the regional MSPs instead. We wish Dominic a speedy recovery.

Linda Fabiani MSP (SNP)

Biography

Linda Fabiani was born in Glasgow in 1956 and attended Hyndland School in Glasgow. She attained SHND SEC Studies at Napier University, Edinburgh and a Diploma in Housing Studies at Glasgow University.

She is a member of the Institute of Housing and the TGWU (ACTS).

Linda Fabiani is a member of the Equal Opportunities Committee.

Donald Gorrie MSP (LD)

Biography

Born in India in 1933, Donald Gorrie studied at Corpus Christi College in Oxford where he obtained MA Hons in Modern History. He was a schoolteacher and taught part-time at University and College. He is married and has two sons.

Donald Gorrie was Liberal Democrat Spokesperson on Scottish Local Government and Education, Housing, Social Work, Sport and Youth in Scotland from 1997-99. He is currently a member of the Executive of the Scottish Constitutional Convention and has been author or editor of several Scottish Liberal manifestos and pamphlets. He is a committee member of Castle Rock Housing Association and a board member of Queen’s Hall in Edinburgh.

Donald Gorrie was elected MP for West Edinburgh in 1997. He was first elected to Edinburgh Town Council in a by-election for Corstorphine ward in 1971. He was Councillor for the same area for 26 years, through various boundary changes. He was Leader of Liberal Democrat or Alliance or Liberal Groups for Lothian Regional Council from 1974-96 and for Edinburgh District Council from 1980-96. He was also Leader of the Liberal Democrat Group of 10 Councillors on the City of Edinburgh Council 1995-97.

He is a member of the Finance Committee and the Procedures Committee.

Donald Gorrie’s hopes for the region:

The Scottish Parliament and Executive have to show the people of Central Scotland and other regions that we have made a difference to their lives. We must achieve improvements to their community life through better schools, health services, transport, policing, environmental services, employment opportunities and training, which the Westminster system would not have given them. I will personally try to benefit Central Scotland people by pursuing my campaigns to fund voluntary organisations better, and to tackle the problems and violence caused by misuse of alcohol, under-age drinking and sectarian violence and harassment.

Lyndsay McIntosh MSP (Con)

Biography

Born in Glasgow in 1955, Lyndsay McIntosh attended Duncanrig Senior Secondary School in East Kilbride. She studied at Langside College, Dundee College of Commerce and Dundee College of Technology. She has an HNC in Secretarial Studies and a Postgraduate Diploma in Management Studies. Lyndsay McIntosh is married and has two children, a son and a daughter

Lyndsay McIntosh began work as a Legal Secretary before joining the Civil Service. She then took a sabbatical to gain her Diploma. She lived in Saudi Arabia for two years and then joined the Ladies Circle, PTA and Tory Party. She was appointed Justice of the Peace in 1993 and Lay Inspector of Schools in 1994. Her most recent position was a business consultant. She is a former member of the Inland Revenue Staff Federation

Lyndsay McIntosh stood as candidate for Fallside at local elections in 1992 and 1999. She stood as candidate in three by-elections, Greenfaulds in 1997, Condorrat in 1998 and Whinhall, also in 1998.

She is the Conservative Deputy Spokesperson on Home Affairs (with specific responsibility for drugs policy) and Deputy Convener of the Justice 2 Committee.

Michael Matheson MSP (SNP)

Biography

Born in Glasgow in 1970, Michael Matheson attended John Bosco Secondary School. He studied at Queen Margaret College where he obtained a BSc in Occupational Therapy. He also obtained BA and a Diploma in Applied Social Sciences through the Open University.

Michael Matheson previously worked as a community occupational therapist. He is a member of UNISON and the Council for Professions Supplementary to Medicine.

Away from politics, Michael Matheson is a keen mountaineer. He is a member of Ochils Mountain Rescue Team.

Michael Matheson stood as candidate for Hamilton North and Bellshill at the 1997 General election.

Michael Matheson is the SNP Shadow Deputy Minister for Justice and Equality and a member of the Justice 1 Committee.

Michael Matheson’s hopes for the region:

Many lives in Central Scotland will be affected by the down turn in the electronics industry, which will only compound the many areas within the region which suffer from high long-term unemployment. All politicians have a role to play in tackling this problem, whether it affects Grangemouth or Galston.

I hope Central will become the enterprise region of Scotland, with both local and international businesses succeeding. I certainly intend to play my part in making it happen.

Alex Neil MSP (SNP)

Biography

Born in Irvine in 1951, Alex Neil attended Ayr Academy. He studied at Dundee University where he graduated with an MA Hons in Economics. He worked as an economist and was proprietor of his own business. Alex Neil is married and has a son.

Alex Neil stood as candidate for Kilmarnock and Loudoun in the 1992 and 1997 General Elections. He stood as candidate for Glasgow Central at a 1989 by-election and also stood for Strathclyde Regional Council in 1998. He is a former Chairman of a Scottish and National organisation of Labour students. He left the Labour Party in 1976 to help form the Scottish Labour Party. He joined the SNP in 1985.

Alex Neil is a member of the Institution of Economic Development and Glasgow Arts Club.

He is the SNP Spokesperson on Social Security, and the Convener of the Enterprise and Lifelong Learning Committee.

Alex Neil’s hopes for the region:

My aspiration for the people of Central Scotland is simply to encourage and help them gain their independence. People in Scotland should have the confidence to take responsibility for their own affairs and raise their horizons high.

However, in a strategic sense, I am aware that, without independence, our Parliament is severely constrained in terms of what it can do to make a difference for the better. For example, even though it is the largest oil producer in Europe, Scotland has some of the highest fuel prices in the world, but the Scottish Parliament is under London’s thumb, not allowed to manage its own resources as it sees fit.

Gil Paterson MSP (SNP)

Biography

Born in Glasgow in 1942, Gil Paterson was educated at Possilpark Secondary School. He has one son.

Gil Paterson was previously a private company owner. He is a member of NIBS. Gil Paterson stood as candidate at a Westminster by-election in 1980 and at the General Election in 1987. He has also been Councillor for Strathclyde Regional Council.

He is a member of the Local Government Committee and the Procedures Committee.

Andrew Wilson MSP (SNP)

Biography

Born in Lanark in 1970, Andrew Wilson studied at the Universities of St Andrews and Strathclyde. He graduated in 1993 with an Honours degree in Economics and Politics and joined the Government Economic Service.

He worked as an economist in the UK Forestry Commission and the Scottish Office. In 1997 he joined the economics office of the Royal Bank of Scotland as a business economist.

Andrew Wilson is the Shadow Finance Minister in the Scottish Parliament. In 1996 he joined the Headquarters staff of the Scottish National Party working as party economist and Senior Researcher. His focus was on producing the SNP’s election budget for their manifesto and developing their policy position on economic and enterprise development. His political interests are public finance, the economy, housing and freedom of information.

He is the SNP Spokesperson on Finance and a member of the Finance Committee.

Constituency MSPs for Central

Political inheritance

Events

The region stretches from Falkirk in the north of the region and curves down and around Glasgow to Kilmarnock in the south. It encompasses two of Scotland’s new towns, Cumbernauld and East Kilbride. The region is largely industrial in character and includes many areas and communities affected by the decline of the traditional engineering, coal, iron and steel industries. One of Scotland’s main prisons, Shotts, is also within the boundaries of this region.

Given its mining background it is not surprising that a number of the earlier Labour MPs for the region started life down the mines, some as young as 11. They include John Robertson (1867-1926) MP for Bothwell, 1919-1926; Duncan Graham (1867-1942) MP for Hamilton, 1918-1942 and his successor, Thomas Fraser (1911-1988), MP for Hamilton 1943-1967.

The region has played an important part in the history of the Scottish National Party seeing the election of their first Member of Parliament in 1945.

Personalities

Conservatives

David Pinkerton Fleming (1877-1944), MP for Dumbartonshire 1924-1926 was Solicitor­General for Scotland, twice, 1922-1923 and again from 1924-1926.

Sir Alec Douglas Home (1903-1995), Prime Minister from October 1963 – October 1964, first sat in the House of Commons as the member for Lanark. As Lord Dunglass he sat from 1931-1945. He was returned again in 1950, resigning his seat the following year when he succeeded his father as the Earl of Home.

Labour

John Smith (1938-1994) was MP for North Lanarkshire 1970-1983 and then Monklands East from 1983 until his death. As the Leader of the Labour Party, and Leader of the Opposition, 1992-1994, he is seen as a prime mover for devolution. In a speech in Dundee in 1994 he said

" …I knew then that Scotland needed its own Parliament – and every day since 1979 more and more Scots have come to the same conclusion.

I believe that it is now the settled will of the Scottish people. And I can tell you that, for me personally, the establishment of Scotland’s own Parliament is unfinished business."

The region has had 4 Secretaries of State for Scotland since the start of the Second World War. They were:

Thomas Johnston (1881-1965) MP for Stirlingshire and Clackmannanshire West, 1922-1924, 1929-1931 and 1935-1945. He was Secretary of State for Scotland 1941-1945.

Joseph Westwood (1884-1948) MP for Stirling, Falkirk and Grangemouth 1935-1948. He was Secretary of State for Scotland 1945-1947.

William Ross (1911-1988) MP for Kilmarnock 1946-1979. He was Secretary of State for Scotland twice, 1964-1970 and 1974-1976.

John Reid (1947-) MP for Motherwell North 1987-1997 and then Hamilton North and Bellshill 1997- was Secretary of State for Scotland 1999-2001. In January 2001 he became Secretary of State for Northern Ireland.

George Robertson (1946-) MP for Hamilton 1978-1997 and Hamilton South 1997-1999 was Secretary of State for Defence from 1997-1999. He resigned in 1999 to take up the post of Secretary-General of NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organisation). He was created a life baron in the same year.

Craigie Aitchison (1882-1941) MP for Kilmarnock 1929-1933 was Lord Advocate for Scotland, 1929-1933.

Jennie Lee (1904-1988), MP for North Lanarkshire 1929-1931, established in 1937, with her husband Aneurin Bevan, the left-wing paper Tribune.

Liberal

Robert Cunninghame Graham (1852-1936) was MP for North West Lanarkshire from 1886-1892. A colourful figure, as a descendent of Robert II he was thought of, by some, as the ‘uncrowned king of Scots’. At the age of seventeen he paid the first of several visits to Spanish America and rode with gauchos over the South American plains, earning the nickname ‘Don Roberto’. He later travelled in Mexico, where he formed a close friendship with Buffalo Bill. He is said to have been the first member of the House of Commons to be suspended for using the word ‘damn’ in the House.

When the National Party of Scotland was founded in 1928 Cunninghame Graham was elected as its first president and in 1934, on its amalgamation with the Scottish Party, he became the President of the new Scottish National Party.

Grandson of the Prime Minister, William Glynne Charles Gladstone (1885-1915) was MP for the Kilmarnock District of Burghs from 1911-1915. He was killed in action in 1915.

Scottish National Party

As stated previously the region is important to the SNP with Robert McIntyre (1913-1998) being their first Member of Parliament. He was elected to represent Motherwell at a by-election in April 1945 and sat until his defeat in the general election in July of the same year.

The region also saw the election of the Party’s second MP, when Winnie Ewing MSP (1929-), again in a by-election, was elected as the member for Hamilton. She served the constituency from 1967-1970.

Another MSP who represented a constituency in this region was Margaret Bain (1945-). Now Margaret Ewing (MP and MSP for Moray) Margaret Bain was the MP for East Dunbartonshire from 1974-1979.

Other

Dennis Canavan MSP for Falkirk West was the Labour MP for Stirlingshire West, 1974-1983 and then Falkirk West, 1983-2000. During his last year as MP the Labour whip was withdrawn.

John Newbold (1888-1943) was MP for Motherwell, 1922-1923. He was the first Communist MP elected to Parliament.

Bibliography

Hassan, Gerry and Lynch, Peter. The almanac of Scottish politics. (London: Politico’s, 2001)

Keay, John and Keay, Julia (eds). Collins encyclopaedia of Scotland. (London: HarperCollins Publishers, 1994)

Dictionary of national biography on CD-ROM. Version 1.1. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998)

Dod’s Parliamentary companion 2001. (London: Dods Vacher, 2000)

Who’s who 1897-1998. CD-ROM version 1.1. (London: A&C Black, 1998).

Stenton, Michael and Lees, Stephen. Who’s who of British Members of Parliament. Vol III 1919-1945. Vol IV 1945-1979. (Sussex: Harvester Press, 1979, 1981).

Francesca McGrath
SPICe