Ian Davidson (Scottish politician)

Infobox MP
honorific-prefix =
name = Ian Davidson
honorific-suffix =

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constituency_MP = Glasgow South West
Glasgow Pollok (1997-2005)
parliament =
majority = 13,896 (44.9%)
predecessor = Jimmy Dunnachie
successor = Incumbent
term_start = 1 May 1997
term_end =
constituency_MP2 = Glasgow Govan
parliament2 =
majority2 =
predecessor2 = Jim Sillars
successor2 = Mohammad Sarwar
term_start2 = 9 April 1992
term_end2 = 1 May 1997
birth_date = Birth date and age|1950|09|8|df=yes
birth_place = Jedburgh
death_date =
death_place =
nationality = Scottish
spouse =
party = Labour Co-operative
relations =
children =
residence =
alma_mater = Galashiels Academy
occupation =
profession =
religion =


website =
footnotes =

Ian Graham Davidson (born 8 September 1950, Jedburgh) is a Scottish Labour Party politician, and Labour Co-operative Member of Parliament for Glasgow South West. Davidson previously worked as a Community Service Manager and for a Labour Member of the European Parliament.

He has been an MP since 1992, originally for the seat of Glasgow Govan and, following boundary changes, for Glasgow Pollok from 1997 to 2005. After further major boundary changes across Scotland, Davidson stood in the 2005 general election for the new constituency of Glasgow South West, where he won the second biggest swing to Labour in Scotland. He is a member of the Public Accounts Select Committee and has lobbied to support the Scottish shipbuilding industry. He is also secretary of the influential Trade Union Group of Labour MPs.

Like his colleague and friend Dennis Canavan, he was rejected as a candidate for the Scottish Parliament by the Labour Party, and has felt free to criticise the government since. In 2002 he criticised Prince Michael of Kent for 'squatting' in Kensington Palace. More recently he has criticised the Prince of Wales over his personal finances. He was the chair of Labour Against the Euro before it ceased campaigning following the 2003 decision by Gordon Brown that the five economic tests for the UK to join the euro had not been met.

During the debate in the House of Commons over the decision whether to have a referendum over the EU Treaty of Lisbon (5 March 2008), Davidson drew jeers from his Labour colleagues for branding New Labour supporters "Maoists and Trotskyists". Davidson was putting forward the case for disobeying the party line and voting for a referendum.

He is now Chair of the [http://www.social-europe.org.uk Centre for a Social Europe] , a pro-EU but mildly sceptic left-of-centre think tank. He has been a member of the Scotland Office Select Committee since the 2005 General Election.

From 1973 to 1974, Davidson was Chair of the National Organisation of Labour Students. [http://www.epolitix.com/EN/MPWebsites/Ian+Davidson/FE13B911-2475-4723-A336-2F86C69B09F9.htm]

External links

* [http://www.epolitix.com/EN/MPWebsites/Ian+Davidson ePolitix - Ian Davidson] official site
* [http://politics.guardian.co.uk/person/0,9290,-1286,00.html Guardian Unlimited Politics - Ask Aristotle: Ian Davidson MP]
* [http://www.theyworkforyou.com/mp/ian_davidson/glasgow_south_west TheyWorkForYou.com - Ian Davidson MP]