Ernest Ross (27 July 1942 – 17 October 2021) was a British politician 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
Dundee West from 1979 to 2005. He was a member of the
Labour Party.
Early life
Ross was born in
Dundee
Dundee (; sco, Dundee; gd, Dùn Dè or ) is Scotland's fourth-largest city and the 51st-most-populous built-up area in the United Kingdom. The mid-year population estimate for 2016 was , giving Dundee a population density of 2,478/km2 or ...
, Scotland, on 27 July 1942.
Both his parents were employed by
National Cash Register
NCR Corporation, previously known as National Cash Register, is an American software, consulting and technology company providing several professional services and electronic products. It manufactures self-service kiosks, point-of-sale termin ...
. He completed his primary education at St Joseph's and St Mary's primary schools before attending
St John's Roman Catholic High School.
After graduating, he first worked as an engineer in a
shipyard
A shipyard, also called a dockyard or boatyard, is a place where ships are built and repaired. These can be yachts, military vessels, cruise liners or other cargo or passenger ships. Dockyards are sometimes more associated with maintenance a ...
, then as a senior
quality control
Quality control (QC) is a process by which entities review the quality of all factors involved in production. ISO 9000 defines quality control as "a part of quality management focused on fulfilling quality requirements".
This approach places ...
engineer at
Timex.
He joined the
Labour Party in 1973.
Political career
Ross was elected
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
Dundee West in the
1979 general election, succeeding
Peter Doig
Peter Doig ( ; born 17 April 1959) is a Scottish painter. One of the most renowned living figurative painters, he has settled in Trinidad since 2002. In 2007, his painting ''White Canoe'' sold at Sotheby's for $11.3 million, then an auction rec ...
.
He supported
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 of the United Kingdom, Cabinet minister in the 1960s and 1970s. ...
in the
1981 Labour Party deputy leadership election.
Ross was re-elected five times until his retirement at the
2005 general election,
when he was succeeded by
Jim McGovern.
Ross sat on the
Foreign Affairs Select Committee
The Foreign Affairs Select Committee is one of many Parliamentary select committees of the United Kingdom, select committees of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, British House of Commons, which scrutinises the expenditure, administration ...
from July 1997 to March 1999, the
Standards and Privileges Committee from October 1996 to March 1997, and the Education & Employment Committee from November 1995 to March 1997. He also served on the
Court of Referees from June 1987 to May 2005.
While serving on the foreign affairs committee in 1999, he leaked a draft report to foreign secretary
Robin Cook
Robert Finlayson "Robin" Cook (28 February 19466 August 2005) was a British Labour politician who served as a Member of Parliament (MP) from 1974 until his death in 2005 and served in the Cabinet as Foreign Secretary from 1997 until 2001 whe ...
concerning the
Sandline affair and
Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone,)]. officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered by Liberia to the southeast and Guinea surrounds the northern half of the nation. Covering a total area of , Sierra ...
. Cook then erroneously mentioned the findings in interviews ahead of the publication of the report.
This led to Ross's resignation from the committee and
Suspension from the UK parliament, suspension from the
House of Commons
The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...
for ten days. He was consequently dubbed "the plumber", in reference to his ability to "fix
leaks
A leak is a way (usually an opening) for fluid to escape a container or fluid-containing system, such as a tank or a ship's hull, through which the contents of the container can escape or outside matter can enter the container. Leaks are usua ...
".
Ross was an ardent supporter of
Palestinian nationalism
Palestinian nationalism is the national movement of the Palestinian people that espouses self-determination and sovereignty over the region of Palestine.de Waart, 1994p. 223 Referencing Article 9 of ''The Palestinian National Charter of 1968' ...
, leading to him being nicknamed "the MP for
Nablus
Nablus ( ; ar, نابلس, Nābulus ; he, שכם, Šəḵem, ISO 259-3: ; Samaritan Hebrew: , romanized: ; el, Νεάπολις, Νeápolis) is a Palestinian city in the West Bank, located approximately north of Jerusalem, with a populati ...
West".
He backed the decision by
Dundee City Council
Dundee City Council is the local government authority for the City of Dundee. It was created in 1996 under the Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994.
History
Dundee City became a single-tier council in 1996, under the Local Government e ...
in 1980 to
twin
Twins are two offspring produced by the same pregnancy.MedicineNet > Definition of TwinLast Editorial Review: 19 June 2000 Twins can be either ''monozygotic'' ('identical'), meaning that they develop from one zygote, which splits and forms two em ...
the city with Nablus.
In April of the following year, he took part in a
good-will delegation from Dundee to visit Nablus and
Kuwait City
Kuwait City ( ar, مدينة الكويت) is the capital and largest city of Kuwait. Located at the heart of the country on the south shore of Kuwait Bay on the Persian Gulf, it is the political, cultural and economical centre of the emirate, ...
.
Personal life
Ross married Jane Moad in 1964. They remained married until his death. Together, they had three children: Stephen, Ali and Karen. He had cancer while serving his first term in Parliament but survived after undergoing
keyhole surgery
Laparoscopy () is an operation performed in the abdomen or pelvis using small incisions (usually 0.5–1.5 cm) with the aid of a camera. The laparoscope aids diagnosis or therapeutic interventions with a few small cuts in the abdomen.Medl ...
by
Alfred Cuschieri.
Ross died on 17 October 2021 in Dundee. He was 79 years old.
References
General sources
*
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ross, Ernie
1942 births
2021 deaths
Politicians from Dundee
Scottish Labour MPs
Technical, Administrative and Supervisory Section-sponsored MPs
UK MPs 1979–1983
UK MPs 1983–1987
UK MPs 1987–1992
UK MPs 1992–1997
UK MPs 1997–2001
UK MPs 2001–2005
Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Dundee constituencies