Steven Purcell is a former Scottish Labour Party politician who was

councillor A councillor is an elected representative for a local government council in some countries. Canada Due to the control that the provinces have over their municipal governments, terms that councillors serve vary from province to province. Unl ...

for the Drumchapel/Anniesland ward of

Glasgow City Council Glasgow City Council is the local government authority for the City of Glasgow, Scotland. It was created in 1996 under the Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994, largely with the boundaries of the post-1975 City of Glasgow district of the S ...

. He was

Leader of the council In England, local authorities are required to adopt one of three types of executive arrangements, having either an "elected mayor and cabinet", a "leader and cabinet", or a "committee system". The type of arrangement used determines how decisions ...

from 24 May 2005 until 2 March 2010, when he announced he would be standing down from this position due to

stress Stress may refer to: Science and medicine * Stress (biology), an organism's response to a stressor such as an environmental condition * Stress (linguistics), relative emphasis or prominence given to a syllable in a word, or to a word in a phrase ...

. He resigned his post as councillor on 5 March 2010. In late September 2011,

Strathclyde Police Strathclyde Police was the territorial police force responsible for the Scottish council areas of Argyll and Bute, City of Glasgow, East Ayrshire, East Dunbartonshire, East Renfrewshire, Inverclyde, North Ayrshire, North Lanarkshire, Renfrewshir ...

's major crime unit had completed a probe into Purcell over allegations of corruption and links with gangsters during his time as Leader of Glasgow City Council and have submitted reports to the Procurator-Fiscal. In January 2012, the

Crown Office The Crown Office, also known (especially in official papers) as the Crown Office in Chancery, is a section of the Ministry of Justice (formerly the Lord Chancellor's Department). It has custody of the Great Seal of the Realm, and has certain a ...

stated that there was insufficient evidence of criminality and no further action was currently appropriate.

Personal life

Born in 1972 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 popul ...

, Purcell has lived all of his life in the city's

Yoker Yoker ( gd, An Eochair) is an area of Glasgow, Scotland, on the northern bank of the Clyde east of Clydebank, west of the city centre. From the fourteenth century, the Renfrew Ferry has linked Yoker with Renfrew on the south bank. Although ...

area. He is a keen football fan and enjoys reading, music, history and debates among many interests. In 2006, he announced that he was gay and was separating from his wife.

Political life

He joined the Labour Party in 1986, and was first elected to Glasgow City Council in May 1995 for the ward of

Blairdardie Blairdardie is a neighbourhood in the Scottish city of Glasgow. It is situated north of the River Clyde in the north-west of the city and is surrounded by other residential areas: High Knightswood, Knightswood, Old Drumchapel, Drumchapel and ...

. During his time at the council he had been the council's Convener of Development & Regeneration Services and Convener of Education and later leader of the council.

Commonwealth Games

Purcell played a part in bringing the

2014 Commonwealth Games The 2014 Commonwealth Games ( gd, Geamannan a' Cho-fhlaitheis 2014), officially known as the XX Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Glasgow 2014, ( sco, Glesca 2014 or Glesga 2014; gd, Glaschu 2014), was an international multi-sport ev ...

to Glasgow, and was part of the Bid Team that mustered support for the games. On 9 November in Sri Lanka it was announced that Glasgow had won the games.

Resignation

On 2 March 2010, it was announced that Purcell was resigning as Leader of Glasgow City Council due to stress. It was revealed on 3 March 2010 that Purcell had been admitted to

Castle Craig Hospital Castle Craig Hospital is a private residential drug and alcohol rehabilitation clinic. It is located in Peeblesshire, Scotland. Castle Craig is an 18th-century country house set in of private parkland near the village of Blyth Bridge, around s ...

, a "drug and alcohol addictions hospital" in the

Scottish Borders The Scottish Borders ( sco, the Mairches, 'the Marches'; gd, Crìochan na h-Alba) is one of 32 council areas of Scotland. It borders the City of Edinburgh, Dumfries and Galloway, East Lothian, Midlothian, South Lanarkshire, West Lothi ...

on Saturday, 27 February 2010. It was later announced that he went missing from the hospital on Sunday, 28 February, with

Lothian and Borders Police Lothian and Borders Police was the territorial police force for the Scottish council areas of the City of Edinburgh, East Lothian, Midlothian, Scottish Borders and West Lothian between 1975 and 2013. The force's headquarters were in Fettes ...

being called to find him, before returning on his own later that day. He left the hospital on 2 March 2010. On 4 March 2010, ''

The Scotsman ''The Scotsman'' is a Scottish compact newspaper and daily news website headquartered in Edinburgh. First established as a radical political paper in 1817, it began daily publication in 1855 and remained a broadsheet until August 2004. Its par ...

'' newspaper alleged that Glasgow City Council's press relations staff were preparing a press-release that stated Purcell's resignation was due to a "chemical dependency", but were stopped from doing so by lawyers representing Purcell who later put out the press release citing "stress and exhaustion" as his reasons for resigning. A further press release by his lawyers was put out denying this, stating that according to Mr. Purcell's

psychiatrist A psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in psychiatry, the branch of medicine devoted to the diagnosis, prevention, study, and treatment of mental disorders. Psychiatrists are physicians and evaluate patients to determine whether their sy ...

, Dr. Florian Kaplick, "it needs to be noted that he was not treated for 'a drug problem'". On 5 March 2010, he stood down as councillor.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Purcell, Steven 1972 births Living people Politicians from Glasgow Scottish Labour councillors Councillors in Glasgow Gay politicians LGBT politicians from Scotland People educated at St Thomas Aquinas Secondary School, Glasgow Leaders of local authorities of Scotland