Margaret Patricia Curran (born 24 November 1958) is a
Scottish Labour Party politician. She served in the
British House of Commons
The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the upper house, the House of Lords, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England.
The House of Commons is an elected body consisting of 65 ...
as the
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 ...
(MP) for
Glasgow East from
2010
File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...
to
2015
File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the April ...
and was Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland from 2011 until 2015. She was previously the
Member of the Scottish Parliament
Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP; gd, Ball Pàrlamaid na h-Alba, BPA; sco, Memmer o the Scots Pairliament, MSP) is the title given to any one of the 129 individuals elected to serve in the Scottish Parliament.
Electoral system
The add ...
(MSP) for
Glasgow Baillieston from 1999 to 2011, and held a number of posts within the
Scottish Executive, including
Minister for Parliamentary Business,
Minister for Social Justice and
Minister for Communities
The Department for Communities (DfC, Irish: ''An Roinn Pobal'', Ulster Scots: ''Depairtment fur Commonities'') is a devolved Northern Ireland government department in the Northern Ireland Executive. The minister with overall responsibilit ...
.
Early life and education
Curran was born in
Glasgow
Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popu ...
, the daughter of Irish parents James Curran and Rose McConnellogue.
She was educated at Our Lady and St Francis School in Glasgow.
Curran attended the
University of Glasgow
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, image_size = 150px
, caption = Coat of arms
Flag
, latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis
, motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita
, ...
, where she graduated with an
MA degree in History and Economic History in 1981. She first became politically active in the university's Labour Club in the late 1970s, where she was associated with future
Scottish Labour leader Johann Lamont and future Labour
MSP 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
Scottish Labour Students (SLS) is a student society affiliated to Scottish Labour, and part of the UK wide organisation Labour Students.
It aims to bring Labour values to campuses and represent students within the Labour Party throughout Scotl ...
. In 1977, she was involved in the unsuccessful campaign to elect
Hortensia Allende, the former
First Lady of Chile, as
Rector of the University of Glasgow.
She was a community worker, and then a lecturer in community education at the
University of Strathclyde
The University of Strathclyde ( gd, Oilthigh Shrath Chluaidh) is a public research university located in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded in 1796 as the Andersonian Institute, it is Glasgow's second-oldest university, having received its royal chart ...
, a subject she holds a Certificate in.
Curran was
Mohammad Sarwar's election agent at
Glasgow Govan for the
1997 general election. In 2021, Sarwar's son
Anas
''Anas'' is a genus of dabbling ducks. It includes the pintails, most teals, and the mallard and its close relatives. It formerly included additional species but following the publication of a molecular phylogenetic study in 2009 the genus was s ...
became Leader of the Scottish Labour Party.
Member of the Scottish Parliament
In 1999 Curran was elected to the new
Scottish Parliament
The Scottish Parliament ( gd, Pàrlamaid na h-Alba ; sco, Scots Pairlament) is the devolved, unicameral legislature of Scotland. Located in the Holyrood area of the capital city, Edinburgh, it is frequently referred to by the metonym Holyr ...
, and was promoted to a junior minister when
Henry McLeish became
First Minister
A first minister is any of a variety of leaders of government cabinets. The term literally has the same meaning as "prime minister" but is typically chosen to distinguish the office-holder from a superior prime minister. Currently the title of '' ...
and later became a member of the
Scottish Executive. 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 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 Scottish Labour's losses in that later election, she was widely viewed as a popular potential successor to
Jack McConnell
Jack Wilson McConnell, Baron McConnell of Glenscorrodale, (born 30 June 1960) is a Scottish politician who served as First Minister of Scotland and Leader of the Labour Party in Scotland from 2001 to 2007. McConnell served as the Minister fo ...
as its leader, but decided not to stand against
Wendy Alexander. Curran pledged her support to
Iain Gray who was standing against
Cathy Jamieson
Catherine Mary Jamieson (born 3 November 1956) is a Scottish business director, currently a director at Kilmarnock Football Club and former politician. She served as the Deputy Leader of the Labour Party in Scotland from 2000 to 2008. She p ...
and
Andy Kerr Andrew Kerr (1878–1969) was an American football coach.
Andrew or Andy Kerr may also refer to:
*Andrew Kerr (Australian politician)
Andrew Taylor Kerr (10 November 1837 – 15 November 1907) was an Australian politician.
He was born at Gr ...
. Iain Gray was voted Scottish Labour Party Leader and appointed Curran to manage the party's 2011 election manifesto.
She stood down as MSP for Glasgow Baillieston at the 2011 Scottish election.
2008 Glasgow East by-election
On 30 June 2008,
David Marshall,
MP for
Glasgow East, resigned from the
House of Commons on grounds of ill health, triggering a
by-election
A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election ( Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to ...
. The Labour candidate for the by-election was to have been announced on 4 July, though the announcement was postponed when the likely choice, local councillor George Ryan, chose to withdraw from the nomination process. On 5 July, Curran placed herself forward for nomination on the Labour Party's shortlist and was confirmed as their candidate on 7 July. The by-election took place on 24 July 2008 and Curran was defeated by
John Mason of the
Scottish National Party by 365 votes. The swing from Labour was 22.54%.
Member of Parliament
At the
2010 general election, Curran regained
Glasgow East for Labour from the Scottish National Party. After her electoral victory was announced, she walked out with the other candidates from the platform, refusing to make a speech whilst sharing the platform with the
British National Party candidate. From 2010 to 2011, she was
Shadow Minister for Disabled People.
On 7 October 2011, in a
Shadow Cabinet reshuffle
A cabinet reshuffle or shuffle occurs when a head of government rotates or changes the composition of ministers in their cabinet, or when the Head of State changes the head of government and a number of ministers. They are more common in parli ...
, Labour Party leader
Ed Miliband
Edward Samuel "Ed" Miliband (born 24 December 1969) is a British politician serving as Shadow Secretary of State for Climate Change and Net Zero since 2021. He has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Doncaster North since 2005. Miliba ...
sacked
Ann McKechin
Ann McKechin (born 22 April 1961) is a former British Labour Party politician and was Member of Parliament (MP) for Glasgow Maryhill from 2001 until 2005 and Glasgow North from 2005 to 2015. She was a junior minister under Gordon Brown before ...
and appointed Curran as her replacement for
Shadow
A shadow is a dark area where light from a light source is blocked by an opaque object. It occupies all of the three-dimensional volume behind an object with light in front of it. The cross section of a shadow is a two- dimensional silhouett ...
Secretary of State for Scotland.
Willie Bain, then-MP for
Glasgow North East, also became Curran's new deputy as Shadow
Scotland Office
The Office of the Secretary of State for Scotland ( gd, Oifis Rùnaire Stàite na h-Alba), often referred to as, and formerly officially called, the Scotland Office, is a department of His Majesty's Government headed by the Secretary of State ...
Minister, replacing
Tom Greatrex.
At the
2015 general election, she lost her seat to
Natalie McGarry
Natalie McGarry (born 7 September 1981) is a Scottish former politician who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Glasgow East from 2015 to 2017. She was elected as a Scottish National Party (SNP) candidate in the 2015 general election bu ...
of the
Scottish National Party. This was a landslide defeat for Scottish Labour; who lost forty of the forty-one seats they were defending, and were reduced to a
single MP at Westminster, with the SNP elected in 56 of Scotland's 59 seats. With many veteran Labour politicians losing their seats, including: then-Shadow Foreign Secretary
Douglas Alexander and then-Scottish Labour Party Leader,
Jim Murphy. Presenting speeches following their constituency's declaration, Curran declined to speak following the announcement of her own defeat.
Views on Alex Salmond
Curran was known to have a particularly difficult relationship with
SNP leader
Alex Salmond. In 2012, Curran accused Salmond and his government of having a "culture of casual dishonesty", and suggested his "blokeish attitude" made him a liability among women in Scotland during the
Scottish independence referendum
A referendum on Scottish independence from the United Kingdom was held in Scotland on 18 September 2014. The referendum question was, "Should Scotland be an independent country?", which voters answered with "Yes" or "No". The "No" side wo ...
campaign. In November 2011, she told
''Holyrood'' magazine that were Salmond to be killed by being run over by a bus, she would have no interest in finding out who the driver was. In April 2014, she dismissed Salmond's appeal to female voters, saying "Women will see through his cynical attempts to win them over" and described a speech he made as "drivel". Speaking about a work programme whilst 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 ...
, Curran stated "Every time I'm in Dundee people have raised their disappointment with the former
First Minister
A first minister is any of a variety of leaders of government cabinets. The term literally has the same meaning as "prime minister" but is typically chosen to distinguish the office-holder from a superior prime minister. Currently the title of '' ...
over his promise. Renewable energy is a sector Dundee badly needs and the city has been let down badly by his retreat from promise. I think Alex Salmond should apologise to the people of Dundee". These comments related to the fact that only 15% of Work Programme participants had proceeded to find a job.
Personal life
She and her husband Robert "Rab" Murray live in Glasgow with their two sons. Curran listed her recreations in ''
Who's Who'' as "reading, theatre,
American politics
The politics of the United States function within a framework of a constitutional federal republic and presidential system, with three distinct branches that share powers. These are: the U.S. Congress which forms the legislative branch, a b ...
" and "spending time with my sons".
References
External links
*
Margaret Curran MSPScottish Labour website
*
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Curran, Margaret
1958 births
Living people
Alumni of the University of Glasgow
Baillieston
Academics of the University of Strathclyde
Female members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Scottish constituencies
Labour MSPs
Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Glasgow constituencies
Members of the Scottish Parliament 1999–2003
Members of the Scottish Parliament 2003–2007
Members of the Scottish Parliament 2007–2011
Members of the Scottish Parliament for Glasgow constituencies
Scottish Labour MPs
Scottish people of Irish descent
UK MPs 2010–2015
Ministers of the Scottish Government
Women members of the Scottish Government
20th-century Scottish women politicians