George Douglas Crawford (1 November 1939 – 17 April 2002) was a Scottish politician and journalist who served as Member of Parliament (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 ...

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 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. He was an Industrial Correspondent for the Glasgow Herald newspaper from 1963 to 1966, and then worked as Head of Publications for the Scottish Council for Development and Industry. 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 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 (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 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 Joan may refer to: People and fictional characters *Joan (given name), including a list of women, men and fictional characters *:Joan of Arc, a French military heroine *Joan (surname) Weather events *Tropical Storm Joan (disambiguation), multiple ...

, 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 ...

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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