Shona McIsaac (born 3 April 1960) is a British Labour Party politician. She was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Cleethorpes from

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; '' Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...

to 2010. She was defeated by

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...

candidate

Martin Vickers Martin John Vickers (born 13 September 1950) is a British Conservative Party politician. He was elected as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Cleethorpes at the 2010 general election. Early life Born in Cleethorpes, Lincolnshire, Vickers was ed ...

in the 2010 election.

Early life

McIsaac was born in Dunfermline, Fife in Scotland.

Before politics

She went to the SHAPE High School in Mons in

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

, then Barne Barton Secondary Modern school in

St Budeaux St Budeaux is an area and ward in the north west of Plymouth in the English county of Devon. Original settlement The name St Budeaux comes from Saint Budoc, the Bishop of Dol (Brittany). Around 480, Budoc is said to have founded a settlemen ...

and Stoke Damerel High School for Girls in Stoke, Plymouth, which closed in 1986. She read for a

BSc A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University ...

in Geography at St. Aidan's College of

University of Durham Durham University (legally the University of Durham) is a collegiate university, collegiate public university, public research university in Durham, England, Durham, England, founded by an Act of Parliament in 1832 and incorporated by royal charte ...

, being taught by

David Bellamy David James Bellamy (18 January 1933 – 11 December 2019) was an English botanist, television presenter, author and environmental campaigner. Early and personal life Bellamy was born in London to parents Winifred May (née Green) and Thoma ...

, and graduated in 1981. She wrote and worked on women's weekly magazines, being deputy chief

sub-editor Copy editing (also known as copyediting and manuscript editing) is the process of revising written material ( copy) to improve readability and fitness, as well as ensuring that text is free of grammatical and factual errors. ''The Chicago Manual o ...

of ''

Bella Bella is a feminine given name. It is a diminutive form of names ending in -bella. ''Bella'' is related to the Italian, Spanish, Greek, Portuguese and Latin words for beautiful, to the name Belle, meaning ''beautiful'' in French. It increased in ...

'', senior sub-editor of '' Chat'' and chief sub-editor of ''

Woman A woman is an adult female human. Prior to adulthood, a female human is referred to as a girl (a female child or adolescent). The plural ''women'' is sometimes used in certain phrases such as "women's rights" to denote female humans regardl ...

''.

Parliament

McIsaac started her political career as a councillor to the London Borough of Wandsworth in the

Tooting Tooting is a district in South London, forming part of the London Borough of Wandsworth and partly in the London Borough of Merton. It is located south south-west of Charing Cross. History Tooting has been settled since pre- Saxon times ...

ward in 1990. She was selected to stand for election for Labour in Cleethorpes through an all-women shortlist. She won the Cleethorpes seat with a majority of over 9,000, defeating Michael Brown, the sitting MP for the predecessor seat of

Brigg and Cleethorpes Brigg and Cleethorpes was a United Kingdom constituencies, constituency on the south bank of the Humber estuary which returned one Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, Hou ...

. She was re-elected in 2001 with a majority of 5,620, and again four years later, finishing over 2,000 votes ahead of her Conservative rival. She served as a 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 ...

within the

Department of Health A health department or health ministry is a part of government which focuses on issues related to the general health of the citizenry. Subnational entities, such as states, counties and cities, often also operate a health department of their ow ...

. McIsaac proposed a bill limiting the use of

fireworks Fireworks are a class of low explosive pyrotechnic devices used for aesthetic and entertainment purposes. They are most commonly used in fireworks displays (also called a fireworks show or pyrotechnics), combining a large number of devices ...

, and supported anti- fox hunting measures. McIsaac was described as a 'government loyalist' and a "super loyal backbencher". According to the website TheyWorkForYou.com, McIsaac rarely rebelled against the Government, with the BBC stating "she regards it almost as a duty to support the government's agenda". She supported the Government in the vote on the

war in Iraq This is a list of wars involving the Republic of Iraq and its predecessor states. Other armed conflicts involving Iraq * Wars during Mandatory Iraq ** Ikhwan raid on South Iraq 1921 * Smaller conflicts, revolutions, coups and periphery confli ...

. In October 2009, following significant research, McIsaac launched a small campaign to raise awareness of the poor state of many of Britain's war memorials. Her principal case study was of the war memorial in Wold Newton, a small village in her constituency. She spoke on the subject in the

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 ...

and an article appeared in the ''Telegraph''. In

May 2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The 2010 eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull, Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A ...

, she was defeated by

, losing by just over 4,000 votes. Following the general election, she blamed

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 ...

personally on television for Labour's defeat.

Personal life

McIsaac lives in Cleethorpes with her husband Peter Keith, whom she married in 1994. Keith unsuccessfully contested the seat of Cleethorpes in 2015 and 2017.

References

External links

Shona McIsaac MP

* ttps://www.theyworkforyou.com/mp/shona_mcisaac/cleethorpes TheyWorkForYou.com – Shona McIsaac MP
Her voting record at the Public Whip

BBC Politics profile

News items

Demanding a ban on animals in circuses in 2006

Assisting the extradition of Bob Kleasen in 2001
{{DEFAULTSORT:McIsaac, Shona 1960 births Living people Politicians from Dunfermline Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Female members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies UK MPs 1997–2001 UK MPs 2001–2005 UK MPs 2005–2010 Councillors in the London Borough of Wandsworth 20th-century British women politicians 21st-century British women politicians Alumni of St Aidan's College, Durham 20th-century English women 20th-century English people 21st-century English women 21st-century English people Women councillors in England