George Douglas Crawford (1 November 1939 – 17 April 2002) was a Scottish politician and journalist who served as
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 of ...
(MP) for
Perth and East Perthshire from
1974
Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; f ...
to
1979
Events
January
* January 1
** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...
.
Crawford was educated at
Glasgow Academy
The Glasgow Academy is a coeducational independent day school for pupils aged 3–18 in Glasgow, Scotland. In 2016, it had the third-best Higher level exam results in Scotland. Founded in 1845, it is the oldest continuously fully independent ...
and
St Catharine's College, Cambridge
St Catharine's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1473 as Katharine Hall, it adopted its current name in 1860. The college is nicknamed "Catz". The college is located in the historic city-centre of Camb ...
, before working as a journalist in
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
.
He was an Industrial Correspondent for the ''
Glasgow Herald
''The Herald'' is a Scottish broadsheet newspaper founded in 1783. ''The Herald'' is the longest running national newspaper in the world and is the eighth oldest daily paper in the world. The title was simplified from ''The Glasgow Herald'' in ...
'' newspaper from 1963 to 1966, and then worked as Head of Publications for the
Scottish Council for Development and Industry
The Scottish Council for Development and Industry (SCDI), founded in 1931, is a non-governmental, membership organisation which aims to strengthen Scotland's economic competitiveness through influencing government and key stakeholders to creat ...
.
A convinced believer in the benefits of
Scottish independence
Scottish independence ( gd, Neo-eisimeileachd na h-Alba; sco, Scots unthirldom) is the idea of Scotland as a sovereign state, independent from the United Kingdom, and refers to the political movement that is campaigning to bring it about.
S ...
, he worked unofficially as an adviser and researcher to
Winnie Ewing
Winifred Margaret Ewing (' Woodburn; born 10 July 1929) is a Scottish politician, lawyer and figure within the independence movement who served as President of the Scottish National Party from 1987 to 2005. Ewing was a Member of the Scottish P ...
whilst she was the sole
Scottish National Party
The Scottish National Party (SNP; sco, Scots National Pairty, gd, Pàrtaidh Nàiseanta na h-Alba ) is a Scottish nationalist and social democratic political party in Scotland. The SNP supports and campaigns for Scottish independence from ...
parliamentarian from 1967 till 1970. He also served as SNP Director of Communications in the late 1960s before becoming a Vice-Chairman of the party in the early 1970s.
He was elected as
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 of ...
(MP) for
Perth and East Perthshire at the
October 1974 election as the party increased its number of representatives from 7 to 11. Elected with a majority of 793, he was given the financial portfolio in the SNP Parliamentary grouping, but lost his seat at the
1979 general election along with 8 of his colleagues. Although he garnered only 287 fewer votes than he had when he was elected, 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 ...
increased their vote by 3,609 to leave Crawford trailing by 3,103 votes.
Not long after his defeat he suffered a
cerebral haemorrhage
Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH), also known as cerebral bleed, intraparenchymal bleed, and hemorrhagic stroke, or haemorrhagic stroke, is a sudden bleeding into the tissues of the brain, into its ventricles, or into both. It is one kind of bleed ...
from which he recovered to contest the
Perth and Kinross
Perth and Kinross ( sco, Pairth an Kinross; gd, Peairt agus Ceann Rois) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland and a Lieutenancy Area. It borders onto the Aberdeenshire, Angus, Argyll and Bute, Clackmannanshire, Dundee, Fife, Highland and S ...
constituency in the
1983 election, but lost to
Nicholas Fairbairn
Sir Nicholas Hardwick Fairbairn, (24 December 1933 – 19 February 1995) was a Scottish politician.
He was the Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) for Kinross and Western Perthshire from October 1974 to 1983, and then for Perth and Kinros ...
, the Conservative incumbent MP, who won with a 6,733 majority.
Crawford died in 2002 in
Campbeltown
Campbeltown (; gd, Ceann Loch Chille Chiarain or ) is a town and former royal burgh in Argyll and Bute, Scotland. It lies by Campbeltown Loch on the Kintyre peninsula. Campbeltown became an important centre for Scotch whisky, and a busy fishing ...
.
He married (and later divorced) journalist
Joan Burnie, with whom he had two children. His son, Ewan, at one stage worked for former SNP leader
John Swinney
John Ramsay Swinney (born 13 April 1964) is a Scottish politician who has served as Deputy First Minister of Scotland since 2014 and Cabinet Secretary for Covid Recovery since 2021. He was the Leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP) from 200 ...
.
References
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External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Crawford, Douglas
1939 births
2002 deaths
Scottish journalists
Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Scottish constituencies
Scottish National Party MPs
UK MPs 1974–1979
Alumni of St Catharine's College, Cambridge
The Herald (Glasgow) people
People educated at the Glasgow Academy
Politics of Perth and Kinross