Thomas McCabe (28 April 1954 – 19 April 2015) was a Scottish politician who served as Minister for Parliament from 1999 to 2001 and Minister for Finance and Public Service Reform from 2004 to 2007. A member of the

Scottish Labour Party Scottish Labour ( gd, Pàrtaidh Làbarach na h-Alba, sco, Scots Labour Pairty; officially the Scottish Labour Party) is a social democratic political party in Scotland. It is an autonomous section of the UK Labour Party. From their peak o ...

, he was

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 ad ...

(MSP) for the Hamilton South constituency from

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shootin ...

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

Background

McCabe was educated at St. Martin's Secondary School,

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: People * Hamilton (name), a common British surname and occasional given name, usually of Scottish origin, including a list of persons with the surname ** The Duke of Hamilton, the premier peer of Scotland ** Lord Hamilt ...

, and obtained a Diploma in Public Sector Management from

Bell College of Technology Bell College was a higher education college based in Hamilton and Dumfries in Scotland. Founded in 1972, the College merged with the University of Paisley on 1 August 2007, it is now part of the renamed University of the West of Scotland. Histor ...

, Hamilton. He worked for Hoover plc (

Cambuslang Cambuslang ( sco, Cammuslang, from gd, Camas Lang) is a town on the south-eastern outskirts of Greater Glasgow, Scotland. With approximately 30,000 residents, it is the 27th largest town in Scotland by population, although, never having had a ...

) from 1974 to 1993, and then in social work with

Strathclyde Strathclyde ( in Gaelic, meaning "strath (valley) of the River Clyde") was one of nine former local government regions of Scotland created in 1975 by the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 and abolished in 1996 by the Local Government et ...

Regional Council and

North Lanarkshire North Lanarkshire ( sco, North Lanrikshire; gd, Siorrachd Lannraig a Tuath) is one of 32 council areas of Scotland. It borders the northeast of the City of Glasgow and contains many of Glasgow's suburbs and commuter towns and villages. It also ...

Council. He was elected to serve as a councillor for Hamilton District Council and became its leader, then served as the first leader of

South Lanarkshire Council South Lanarkshire Council ( gd, Comhairle Siorrachd Lannraig a Deas) is the unitary authority serving the South Lanarkshire council area in Scotland. The council has its headquarters in Hamilton, has 16,000 employees, and a budget of almost £1b ...

when it was created in 1996 after a reform of local government.Tributes to former Hamilton MSP Tom McCabe, who passed away this week aged 60
Daily Record, 23 April 2015

Member of the Scottish Parliament

McCabe was elected to the

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 Holyro ...

for Hamilton South in 1999. As this was the first constituency to declare its results, he was the first ever MSP to be elected. He was first appointed Minister for Parliament in the Scottish Executive from 1999 to 2001. Following

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 ...

's appointment as

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 '' ...

he was out of office until after the

2003 Scottish Parliament election The 2003 Scottish Parliament election was the second election of members to the Scottish Parliament. It was held on 1 May 2003 and it brought no change in terms of control of the Scottish Executive. Jack McConnell, the Labour Party MSP, rema ...

, when he returned as Deputy Minister for Health and Community Care. In October 2004 he was promoted to Minister for Finance and Public Service Reform in place of

Andy Kerr Andrew Kerr (1878–1969) was an American football coach. Andrew or Andy Kerr may also refer to: * Andrew Kerr (Australian politician) (1837–1907), New South Wales politician *Andrew Kerr (broadcaster), Scottish television presenter and journalis ...

. In March 2005 he set up the AEWG (Adult Entertainment Working Group), the Scottish advisory body set up within the Scottish Executive to investigate the legislative issues involved in the current proposed lapdancing ban in Scotland. The ban is currently opposed by such figures as Veronica Deneuve and the union group IUSW (the International Union of Sex Workers) a member of the GMB union. McCabe was one of several Labour casualties following the elections on 5 May 2011, losing his seat to

Christina McKelvie Christina McKelvie (born 4 March 1968) is a Scottish politician who has served as Minister for Equalities and Older People since 2018. A member of the Scottish National Party (SNP), she has been the Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for th ...

of the SNP in the newly formed Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse constituency.

Personal life

McCabe previously had a relationship with former Labour spin-doctor and journalist Lorraine Davidson. McCabe died from cancer in April 2015, after a period of illness. A new residential street in Hamilton was named in his honour two years after his death.Tom McCabe Gardens are named after the first leader of South Lanarkshire Council
Daily Record, 20 March 2017

References

External links

* , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:McCabe, Tom 1954 births 2015 deaths Members of the Scottish Parliament 1999–2003 Members of the Scottish Parliament 2003–2007 Members of the Scottish Parliament 2007–2011 Labour MSPs Scottish Labour councillors Councillors in South Lanarkshire Politicians from Hamilton, South Lanarkshire Finance ministers of Scotland Leaders of local authorities of Scotland