John David Cairns (7 August 1966 – 9 May 2011) was a Scottish politician who served as

Minister of State for Scotland The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Scotland is a junior ministerial post (of Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State rank) in the Government of the United Kingdom, supporting the Secretary of State for Scotland. The post is also kno ...

from 2005 to 2008. A member of Scottish Labour Party, he was

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

Inverclyde Inverclyde ( sco, Inerclyde, gd, Inbhir Chluaidh, , "mouth of the Clyde") is one of 32 council areas used for local government in Scotland. Together with the East Renfrewshire and Renfrewshire council areas, Inverclyde forms part of the hist ...

, formerly Greenock and Inverclyde, from 2001 until his death in 2011.

Early life

Cairns was born and raised in Greenock. He attended Notre Dame High School in the town, before training for the

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

priesthood at the

Pontifical Gregorian University The Pontifical Gregorian University ( it, Pontificia Università Gregoriana; also known as the Gregorian or Gregoriana,) is a higher education ecclesiastical school ( pontifical university) located in Rome, Italy. The Gregorian originated as ...

in Rome. He continued his studies at the

Franciscan , image = FrancescoCoA PioM.svg , image_size = 200px , caption = A cross, Christ's arm and Saint Francis's arm, a universal symbol of the Franciscans , abbreviation = OFM , predecessor = , ...

International Centre in

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour. The Archbishop of Canterbury is the primate of ...

. From 1991 to 1994 he served as a priest in

Clapham Clapham () is a suburb in south west London, England, lying mostly within the London Borough of Lambeth, but with some areas (most notably Clapham Common) extending into the neighbouring London Borough of Wandsworth. History Early history ...

. He left the priesthood in 1994 and became director of the

Christian Socialist Movement Christians on the Left, formerly known as the Christian Socialist Movement (CSM), is a socialist society in the UK. The movement fulfils a need among Christian socialists for an organisation that would be both politically engaged and theologi ...

. In 1997 he became a research assistant to newly elected Labour MP,

Siobhain McDonagh Siobhain Ann McDonagh (born 20 February 1960) is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Mitcham and Morden since the 1997 general election. She served as an Assistant Whip in the Labour Government, ...

until he himself became an MP in 2001. In 1998 he was elected as a councillor in the

London Borough of Merton The London Borough of Merton () is a borough in Southwest London, England. The borough was formed under the London Government Act 1963 in 1965 by the merger of the Municipal Borough of Mitcham, the Municipal Borough of Wimbledon and the Merton ...

where he served until 2002.

Parliamentary career

Cairns had ambitions to enter

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. T ...

but was barred due to the Removal of Clergy Disqualification Act 1801 and the

Catholic Relief Act 1829 The Catholic Relief Act 1829, also known as the Catholic Emancipation Act 1829, was passed by the Parliament of the United Kingdom in 1829. It was the culmination of the process of Catholic emancipation throughout the United Kingdom of Great Br ...

which prevented present or former Roman Catholic priests from being elected to Parliament. To rectify this,

MP introduced the House of Commons Disqualification (Amendment) Bill in Parliament on 16 June 1999, but the Bill failed. The government subsequently introduced the House of Commons (Removal of Clergy Disqualification) Bill, which removed almost all restrictions on clergy of whatever denomination from sitting in the House of Commons. The only exception is

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britai ...

(Anglican) bishops, due to their reserved status as members of the

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by appointment, heredity or official function. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminste ...

. The bill passed on 11 May 2001. Cairns had already been selected as the Labour candidate in his home town following the retirement of

Norman Godman Norman Anthony Godman (19 April 1937 – 20 June 2018) was a Scottish Labour Party politician. Early life Godman was one of nine children born to a trawler skipper man and a mother who worked in fish processing. After leaving Westbourne Stree ...

. He was elected as the Labour MP for Greenock and Inverclyde at the 2001 general election with a majority of 9,890, becoming the first person born in Greenock to represent it in Parliament. He made his

maiden speech A maiden speech is the first speech given by a newly elected or appointed member of a legislature or parliament. Traditions surrounding maiden speeches vary from country to country. In many Westminster system governments, there is a convention th ...

on 4 July 2001. Cairns was appointed as the Parliamentary Private Secretary to the

Minister of State Minister of State is a title borne by politicians in certain countries governed under a parliamentary system. In some countries a Minister of State is a Junior Minister of government, who is assigned to assist a specific Cabinet Minister. In ...

at the

Department for Work and Pensions , type = Department , seal = , logo = Department for Work and Pensions logo.svg , logo_width = 166px , formed = , preceding1 = , jurisdiction = Government of the United Kingdom , headquarters = Caxton House7th Floor6–12 Tothill Stree ...

Malcolm Wicks in 2003, and following the 2005 general election, at which, due to the redrawing of boundaries his constituency was abolished and replaced with a larger

constituency, he became a member of the Labour government as the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Scotland. He then had the

Northern Ireland Office The Northern Ireland Office (NIO; ga, Oifig Thuaisceart Éireann, Ulster-Scots: ''Norlin Airlann Oaffis'') is a department of His Majesty's Government responsible for Northern Ireland affairs. The NIO is led by the Secretary of State for N ...

added to his responsibilities and in 2007 he became the

. He played a high profile role in the media as the principal defender of Scotland's role in the United Kingdom in opposition to the movement for Scottish independence. Cairns was Chair of

Labour Friends of Israel Labour Friends of Israel (LFI) is a group in the Parliament of the United Kingdom that promotes support for a strong bilateral relationship between Britain and Israel, and seeks to strengthen ties between the British Labour Party and the Isra ...

, and while he gave up the position when becoming a junior minister, he remained a committed member of the group. On 16 September 2008, Cairns resigned from the government during arguments in the Labour party over

Gordon Brown James Gordon Brown (born 20 February 1951) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 to 2010. He previously served as Chancellor of the Exchequer in Tony B ...

's leadership, saying that the time had come to "allow a leadership debate to run its course". He was the only minister to resign after rebel MPs began calling for a leadership contest. The ''Guardian'' later called it "a principled decision by a principled politician". In the 2010 general election, Cairns was returned as Member of Parliament for his constituency of Inverclyde with a majority of 14,416, which was an increase on his previous election.

Personal life and death

Cairns was openly gay, and at the time of his death, was in a relationship with Dermot Kehoe. In March 2011, Cairns was hospitalised in London for

acute pancreatitis Acute pancreatitis (AP) is a sudden inflammation of the pancreas. Causes in order of frequency include: 1) a gallstone impacted in the common bile duct beyond the point where the pancreatic duct joins it; 2) heavy alcohol use; 3) systemic disea ...

, and died at Royal Free Hospital on 9 May 2011, at the age of 44.

Notes

References

External links

*
Profile: David Cairns
David Thompson, ''

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...

'', 16 September 2008
David Cairns on Using Social Media in Election 2010

Video clips

''Newsnight'' 7 July 2007
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cairns, David 1966 births 2011 deaths Pontifical Gregorian University alumni Councillors in the London Borough of Merton Deaths from pancreatitis Gay politicians Labour Friends of Israel LGBT members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom Scottish LGBT politicians Scottish Labour MPs Northern Ireland Office junior ministers People from Greenock Politics of Inverclyde UK MPs 2001–2005 UK MPs 2005–2010 UK MPs 2010–2015 Laicized Roman Catholic priests 20th-century LGBT people 21st-century LGBT people