Norman Findlay Buchan (27 October 1922 – 23 October 1990) was a Labour Party politician, who was on the

left-wing Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in soci ...

of the party, and represented the West Renfrewshire seat from

1964 Events January * January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved. * January 5 - In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patriarc ...

until

1983 The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning ...

and the Paisley South seat from 1983 until his death in 1990.

Early life

A schoolteacher based in

Rutherglen Rutherglen (, sco, Ruglen, gd, An Ruadh-Ghleann) is a town in South Lanarkshire, Scotland, immediately south-east of the city of Glasgow, from its centre and directly south of the River Clyde. Having existed as a Lanarkshire burgh in its own ...

, he was interested in

folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has b ...

, compiling a book entitled ''101 Scottish Songs'', often referred to as ''The Wee Red Book''.

Political career

At the

1964 Rutherglen by-election There was a by-election for the constituency of Rutherglen in the House of Commons on 14 May 1964, not long before the 1964 general election. It was a Labour gain from the Conservatives, the candidate was Gregor Mackenzie. Unlike some by-electio ...

, he only lost the Labour selection meeting fairly narrowly to

Gregor Mackenzie James Gregor Mackenzie (15 November 1927 – 4 May 1992) was a British Labour Party politician. Early life Mackenzie was educated at the Royal Technical College and the University of Glasgow. He became a sales manager and a councillor on Glasgo ...

, and he went on to take West Renfrewshire from the

Conservatives Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...

at the general election later that year. Whilst a

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

, he served as Joint Under Secretary of State for Scotland from 1966 to 1970, and as Minister of State for Agriculture from 1974 to 1979. He later became Shadow Minister for the Arts in opposition. Buchan opposed an

early day motion In the Westminster parliamentary system, an early day motion (EDM) is a motion, expressed as a single sentence, tabled by members of Parliament that formally calls for debate "on an early day". In practice, they are rarely debated in the House a ...

to block the televised version of

Tony Harrison Tony Harrison (born 30 April 1937) is an English poet, translator and playwright. He was born in Beeston, Leeds and he received his education in Classics from Leeds Grammar School and Leeds University. He is one of Britain's foremost verse w ...

's poem " V" on

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...

, saying that members who opposed the broadcast had either not read or understood the poem. Buchan was also influential in changing the voting system for the referendum on Scottish Home Rule in the late 1970s. During Labour's 1981 deputy leadership election, he supported

John Silkin John Ernest Silkin (18 March 1923 – 26 April 1987) was a British left-wing Labour politician and solicitor. Early life He was the third son of Lewis Silkin, 1st Baron Silkin, and a younger brother of Samuel Silkin, Baron Silkin of Dulwic ...

, who stood representing the political centre of the party, on the first ballot and abstained on the second ballot after Silkin was eliminated and the contest came to

Tony Benn Anthony Neil Wedgwood Benn (3 April 1925 – 14 March 2014), known between 1960 and 1963 as Viscount Stansgate, was a British politician, writer and diarist who served as a Cabinet minister in the 1960s and 1970s. A member of the Labour Party, ...

on the left and Denis Healey on the right. Buchan said: "My brain turned against Benn, but my stomach turned against Healey." He died in 1990 (coincidentally, the MP for neighbouring Paisley North,

Allen Adams Allender Steele Adams (16 February 1946 – 5 September 1990), known as Allen Adams, was a Scottish Labour politician who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Paisley from 1979 to 1983 and Paisley North from 1983 to 1990. Adams was bo ...

, also died that year, resulting in by-elections being held in the same month for the two seats). He was succeeded as MP for Paisley South by

Gordon McMaster Gordon James McMaster (13 February 1960 – 28 July 1997) was a Scottish politician and horticulturist. Life and career McMaster was born in Johnstone. A horticulturist by training, he was also a lecturer at his alma mater, the Woodburn House Ho ...

, also of the Labour Party.

Family

He was married for 44 years (1946–1990) to Janey Buchan (née Kent), Labour

Member of the European Parliament A Member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the ECSC) first met in 1952, its ...

for Glasgow from 1979 to 1994. She died in Brighton on 14 January 2012. His only son, Alasdair Buchan, has been a journalist since 1968.

References

External links

*
The Norman & Janey Buchan Collection at Glasgow Caledonian University
{{DEFAULTSORT:Buchan, Norman 1922 births 1990 deaths Rutherglen Scottish schoolteachers 20th-century Scottish writers Scottish folk-song collectors Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Paisley constituencies Scottish Labour MPs UK MPs 1964–1966 UK MPs 1966–1970 UK MPs 1970–1974 UK MPs 1974 UK MPs 1974–1979 UK MPs 1979–1983 UK MPs 1983–1987 UK MPs 1987–1992 20th-century British musicologists Ministers in the Wilson governments, 1964–1970