- John McAllion
John McAllion (born
13 February 1948 ,Glasgow, Scotland ) is a Scottishsocialist politician and a member of theScottish Socialist Party .He was originally a member of the
Scottish Labour Party (SLP) that was formed in 1976 byJim Sillars , when the SLP collapsed he chose to join the Labour Party (unlike Sillars who joined theScottish National Party ). A teacher by profession, McAllion became a Labour member ofTayside regional council of which he became the convenor in 1986. In the 1987 general election McAllion was elected Labour MP for the Dundee East constituency, defeating SNP leader Gordon Wilson, who had been the sitting MP since 1974.McAllion was a member of Scottish Labour Action putting him on the Scottish-nationalist wing of the Labour Party, and also of the Labour
Campaign for Socialism , placing him firmly on the left of the party. As befitted a member of the Scottish Labour Action group he strongly favouredhome rule for Scotland, and was often outspoken in his defence of civic-minded Scottish nationalism. In 1999 he was elected to theScottish Parliament to represent Dundee East.As an MSP he furthered his reputation as a left-winger, rebelling several times against the Labour led
Scottish Executive . He was also convenor of the Scottish Parliament's Petitions Committee. In 2000 he helped establish theScottish Left Review publication. At the 2003 parliament election he lost his seat toShona Robison , the SNP candidate. TheScottish Socialist Party (SSP) pulled out of contesting the seat in favour of McAllion, but ironically this may have assisted his defeat.Since the election defeat McAllion has been working with
Oxfam and resigned his membership of the Labour Party, subsequently joining theScottish Socialist Party .In 2006 McAllion stood for the SSP in the Dunfermline and West Fife by-election of
9 February ( [http://www.sundaymail.co.uk/news/tm_objectid=16612819&method=full&siteid=64736&headline=candidate-catherine-puts-labour-before-pregnancy--name_page.html] ).He was elected to the SSP executive at its conference in March 2006. He was elected co-chair (along with
Morag Balfour ) at its conference in October 2007, but he stood down during his term of office for personal reasons.
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