Gregg McClymont (born 3 June 1976) is a retirement expert, historian and former politician. He was the

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 of ...

(MP) for Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch East from

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

until

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

Background and personal life

Born and brought up in

Cumbernauld Cumbernauld (; gd, Comar nan Allt, meeting of the streams) is a large town in the historic county of Dunbartonshire and council area of North Lanarkshire, Scotland. It is the tenth most-populous locality in Scotland and the most populated t ...

, he attended Kildrum Primary School and

Cumbernauld High School Cumbernauld Academy (formerly Cumbernauld High School) was the first comprehensive secondary school in the then ' New Town' of Cumbernauld. It was designed by Scottish architects Gratton & McLean and it opened in 1964 and is a non-denominatio ...

from 1981 until 1993. He read history at the

University of Glasgow , image = UofG Coat of Arms.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms Flag , latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis , motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita , ...

, graduating in 1997, the year when he was also chair of

Scottish Labour Students Scottish Labour Students (SLS) is a student society affiliated to Scottish Labour, and part of the UK wide organisation Labour Students. It aims to bring Labour values to campuses and represent students within the Labour Party throughout Scot ...

, before winning the Thouron Scholarship to study at the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

. Returning to Britain, he wrote a doctoral thesis in modern British history at

St John's College, Oxford St John's College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. Founded as a men's college in 1555, it has been coeducational since 1979.Communication from Michael Riordan, college archivist Its founder, Sir Thomas White, intended to pro ...

. Subsequently, he became a tutorial fellow at

St Hugh's College, Oxford St Hugh's College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford. It is located on a site on St Margaret's Road, to the north of the city centre. It was founded in 1886 by Elizabeth Wordsworth as a women's college, and accepte ...

, where he taught until May 2010.

Political life

He was selected to replace outgoing Labour MP

Rosemary McKenna Rosemary McKenna ('' née'' Harvey; born 8 May 1941) is a Scottish Labour Party politician, who sat in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2010. She was elected as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Cumbernauld and Kilsyth ...

to fight the seat of Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch East at the 2010 general election. He won the seat with a 13,755 majority and over 57% of the votes cast. In parliament, McClymont sat on the House of Commons

select committees Select or SELECT may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Select'' (album), an album by Kim Wilde * ''Select'' (magazine), a British music magazine * ''MTV Select'', a television program * ''Select Live'', New Zealand's C4 music program ...

on science and technology, and business, innovation and skills; and held the post of

Parliamentary Private Secretary A Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) is a Member of Parliament (MP) in the United Kingdom who acts as an unpaid assistant to a minister or shadow minister. They are selected from backbench MPs as the 'eyes and ears' of the minister in the H ...

to shadow Secretary of State for Scotland Ann McKechin. In early 2011, he moved on to the Labour front bench as an assistant whip, before becoming the Shadow Pensions Minister for the Department of Work and Pensions in October 2011. As Shadow Pensions Minister McClymont described proposals to reform annuities as a "good thing", but argued the

coalition A coalition is a group formed when two or more people or groups temporarily work together to achieve a common goal. The term is most frequently used to denote a formation of power in political or economical spaces. Formation According to ''A Gui ...

's plans "lacked clarity". He also claimed that changes to pension credit schemes would see many pensioners getting a rise in pensions of just 87p. McClymont has been a strong critic of the British Government's economic policy. He has argued repeatedly in parliament for stronger safeguards for post offices following the privatisation of the Royal Mail. He has also sought to highlight the impact changes to housing benefit will have on his constituents in Cumbernauld as well as campaigning for compensation for victims of terror attacks overseas.

Academic publications

* McClymont, Gregg (2008)
"Socialism, Puritanism and Hedonism: The Parliamentary Labour Party's Attitude to Gambling, 1923–31"
''Twentieth Century British History''. 19 (3): 288–313. . * McClymong, Gregg (2011)
"The Cultural Politics of Tory Socialism: The Clarion in the Labour Movement During the 1890s"
In Griffiths, Clare; Nott, James J.; Whyte, William, eds. ''Classes, Cultures and Politics: Essays on British History for Ross McKibbin''. Oxford: Oxford University Press. . .

References

External links

Official website
*
Cumbernauldnl.info Chat to Gregg McClymont MP
* {{DEFAULTSORT:McClymont, Gregg 1976 births Living people Scottish Labour MPs UK MPs 2010–2015 Alumni of the University of Glasgow Fellows of St Hugh's College, Oxford People from Cumbernauld People educated at Cumbernauld Academy Politicians from North Lanarkshire