Margaret Curran
Margaret Curran | |
|---|---|
| File:MargaretCurran.jpg | |
| Minister for Parliamentary Business | |
| In office 4 October 2004 – 17 May 2007 | |
| First Minister | Jack McConnell |
| Preceded by | Patricia Ferguson |
| Succeeded by | Bruce Crawford |
| Minister for Communities | |
| In office 21 May 2003 – 4 October 2004 | |
| First Minister | Jack McConnell |
| Preceded by | Office Created |
| Succeeded by | Malcolm Chisholm |
| Minister for Social Justice | |
| In office 9 May 2002 – 21 May 2003 | |
| First Minister | Jack McConnell |
| Preceded by | Iain Gray |
| Succeeded by | Office Abolished |
| Member of the Scottish Parliament for Glasgow Baillieston | |
| Assumed office 6 May 1999 | |
| Preceded by | Constituency Created |
| Majority | 3,934 (22.8%) |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 24 November 1958 |
| Nationality | British |
| Political party | Labour |
| Alma mater | University of Glasgow |
Margaret Curran (born 24 November 1958) is a British Labour politician, who is both Member of the Scottish Parliament for Glasgow Baillieston and MP for Glasgow East. She has held a number of posts within the Scottish Executive, including Minister for Parliamentary Business, Minister for Social Justice and Minister for Communities.
Background
Before entering the Scottish Parliament she was a lecturer in community education at the University of Strathclyde and before that she was a community worker. She and her husband Rab live in Glasgow with their two sons.
She first became politically active in the Glasgow University Labour Club in the late 1970s, where she was associated with Johann Lamont and Sarah Boyack. She held several posts in Labour student politics, including secretary and vice-chair of Glasgow University Labour Club, and chair and secretary of the Scottish Organisation of Labour Students. She was Mohammad Sarwar's election agent in Glasgow Govan in the UK general election of 1997.
Member of the Scottish Parliament
In 1999 she was elected to the new Scottish Parliament, and was promoted to a junior minister when Henry McLeish became First Minister and later became a member of the Scottish Executive.[1]
She served as convenor of the Social Inclusion committee, then was promoted to Deputy Minister for Social Justice. She then rose to become minister in that portfolio, which later changed to Minister for Communities, introducing the Homelessness (Scotland) Bill [2] in September 2002. She held the position of Minister for Parliamentary Business from 2004 until 2007.
She was re-elected comfortably in 2003 and again in 2007. Given the Scottish Labour Party's losses in that later election, she was widely viewed as a popular potential successor to Jack McConnell as its leader, but decided not to stand against Wendy Alexander.
On 30 June 2008 David Marshall, MP for Glasgow East, resigned from the United Kingdom Parliament on grounds of ill health, triggering a by-election.[3] The Labour candidate for the by-election was to have been announced on 4 July,[4] though the announcement was postponed when the likely choice, local councillor George Ryan, chose to withdraw from the nomination process.[5] On 5 July Curran placed herself forward for nomination on the Labour Party's shortlist and was confirmed as their candidate on 7 July.[6][7] The by-election took place on 24 July 2008 and Curran was defeated by John Mason of the Scottish National Party by 365 votes.[8] The swing from Labour was 22.54%.
Curran was a favourite to succeed former Labour leader Wendy Alexander when she resigned following donation rows.[citation needed] Curran instead pledged her support to Iain Gray who was standing against Cathy Jamieson and Andy Kerr. Iain Gray was voted Scottish Labour Party Leader and appointed Curran to manage the party's new manifesto.[citation needed]
Margaret Curran is the Labour candidate for Glasgow East in the general election.
References
- ^ Curran leads attack on antisocial behaviour
- ^ Homelessness etc. (Scotland) Bill
- ^ "By-election looms after MP quits". BBC News. British Broadcasting Corporation. 2008-06-30. Retrieved 2008-06-30.
- ^ "Campaigning starts in by-election". BBC News. British Broadcasting Corporation. 2008-07-04. Retrieved 2008-07-04.
- ^ "Labour man quits by-election race". BBC News. British Broadcasting Corporation. 2008-07-05. Retrieved 2008-07-05.
- ^ "Labour MSP joins by-election race". BBC Scotland. 2008-07-05. Retrieved 2008-07-05.
- ^ "Curran takes on by-election fight". BBC News. 2008-07-07. Retrieved 2008-07-07.
- ^ SNP stuns Labour in Glasgow East, BBC News, 25 July 2008
External links
- Margaret Curran MSP Scottish Labour website
- Margaret Curran MSP Personal website
- Scottish Parliament biography