Peter Karran (born 20 May 1960) is a Manx politician, who is a former leader of the

Liberal Vannin Party The Liberal Vannin Party (LVP; gv, Partee Libraalagh Vannin) is a political party in the Isle of Man. It was founded in 2006 by Peter Karran, then an Independent MHK for Onchan. Karran had been, until 2004, a member of the Manx Labour Party. ...

and former Minister of Education and Children. He was a

Member of the House of Keys The House of Keys () is the directly elected lower house of Tynwald, the parliament of the Isle of Man, the other branch being the Legislative Council. History The oldest known reference to the name is in a document of 1417, written in ...

for Middle, and then for Onchan, from 1985 to 2016. He was a member of the

Manx Labour Party The Manx Labour Party ( gv, Partee Obbraghys Vannin) is a political party on the Isle of Man that was founded in 1918. Policies The Manx Labour Party published a manifesto of policies in 2021. It proposed increasing government spending on educ ...

from 1981 but left in 2004. In August 2006 he founded the Liberal Vannin Party and became its first leader.

Career

Karran worked as a

joiner A joiner is an artisan and tradesperson who builds things by joining pieces of wood, particularly lighter and more ornamental work than that done by a carpenter, including furniture and the "fittings" of a house, ship, etc. Joiners may work in ...

. He stood for election in Middle in the 1981 Manx general election but was not elected. In 1985 he contested 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 f ...

in Middle and was elected, becoming the youngest ever elected Member in the House of Keys. In the 1986 general election, Karran contested Onchan and was elected. He repeated his success in Onchan in general elections in 1986, 1991, 1996, 2001, 2006 and 2011. He has been very popular ever since, topping the Onchan polls at most elections. (In 2006 he received more votes than any other candidate for the Keys: partly because Onchan was one of the few three-seat constituencies and so there were more votes available.) He was a

member (and one of their two MHKs) but left the party in 2004. In August 2006 he founded the

(LVP) and became its first leader. From 2011 to 2012 Karran served as the Minister of Education and Children under

Allan Bell Allan Robert Bell (born 20 June 1947) is a Manx politician who was the Chief Minister of the Isle of Man, having been elected to that position on 11 October 2011. He was an Independent Member of the House of Keys for Ramsey from 1984 to Sept ...

; however he was removed from the position for opposing the position of the Council of Ministers on the film industry. In February 2014, Karran renounced the leadership of the LVP in favour of

Kate Beecroft Kathleen Joan "Kate" Costain (formerly Beecroft) is a Manx politician who is a former Leader of the Liberal Vannin Party and was a Member of the House of Keys for Douglas South from 2011 to 2020. She changed her surname from Beecroft to Costai ...

MHK. Karran said that it "was time for a change". Around April 2016, Karran announced he would be standing down from the Keys after 31 years in Manx politics.

Controversy

Karran has been highly critical of the Manx Government, for example about the

Mount Murray Mount Murray is a hill above sea level on the Isle of Man located at the northern end of Santon, near the boundaries with Marown and Braddan parishes. It is named after Lord Henry Murray, 4th Lieutenant Governor of the Isle of Man. Often ref ...

scandal. He was criticised by many people on the island when he announced the closure of all of the island's government-run preschools. His election campaign was based around the protection of frontline services in the Isle of Man, and the school closures were seen as a direct contradiction to that.

Electoral performance

Karran contested several elections, first for the

and later for the

House of Keys elections

Note: Throughout the relevant period the Onchan constituency elected three MHKs and each elector was entitled to three votes. Thus for example achieving 28.1% of the vote might mean that anything up to 84.3% of the electors may have voted for him.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Karran, Peter Living people 1960 births British political party founders Liberal Vannin Party politicians Members of the House of Keys 1981–1986 Members of the House of Keys 1986–1991 Members of the House of Keys 1991–1996 Members of the House of Keys 1996–2001 Members of the House of Keys 2001–2006 Members of the House of Keys 2006–2011