Margaret Curran

For other people named Margaret Curran, see Margaret Curran (disambiguation).

Margaret Curran MP
Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland
Incumbent
Assumed office 7 October 2011
Leader	Ed Miliband
Preceded by	Ann McKechin
Member of Parliament for Glasgow East
Incumbent
Assumed office 6 May 2010
Preceded by	John Mason
Majority	11,840 (36.8%)
Minister for Parliamentary Business
In office 4 October 2004 – 17 May 2007
First Minister	Jack McConnell
Preceded by	Patricia Ferguson
Succeeded by	Bruce Crawford
Minister for Communities
In office 21 May 2003 – 4 October 2004
First Minister	Jack McConnell
Preceded by	Office Created
Succeeded by	Malcolm Chisholm
Minister for Social Justice
In office 9 May 2002 – 21 May 2003
First Minister	Jack McConnell
Preceded by	Iain Gray
Succeeded by	Office Abolished
Member of the Scottish Parliament for Glasgow Baillieston
In office 6 May 1999 – 5 May 2011
Preceded by	Constituency Created
Succeeded by	Constituency Abolished
Majority	3,934 (22.8%)
Personal details
Born	24 November 1958 (1958-11-24) (age 52)
Nationality	Scottish
Political party	Labour
Alma mater	University of Glasgow
Website	margaretcurran.org

Margaret Patricia Curran (born 24 November 1958) is a Scottish Labour Party politician, who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Glasgow East since 2010, and is currently Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland. She was previously Member of the Scottish Parliament for Glasgow Baillieston from 1999 to 2011, and held a number of posts within the Scottish Executive, including Minister for Parliamentary Business, Minister for Social Justice and Minister for Communities.

Background

Curran was educated at Our Lady and St Francis School, in Glasgow.

She first became politically active in the Glasgow University Labour Club in the late 1970s, where she was associated with Johann Lamont and Sarah Boyack. She held several posts in Labour student politics, including secretary and vice-chair of Glasgow University Labour Club, and chair and secretary of the Scottish Organisation of Labour Students. She was involved in the unsuccessful campaign to elect Hortensia Allende as rector in 1977.

She was a community worker, and then a lecturer in community education at the University of Strathclyde. She and her husband Rab live in Glasgow with their two sons. She was Mohammad Sarwar's election agent in Glasgow Govan in the 1997 general election.

Member of the Scottish Parliament

In 1999 she was elected to the new Scottish Parliament, and was promoted to a junior minister when Henry McLeish became First Minister and later became a member of the Scottish Executive.^[1] She served as convenor of the Social Inclusion committee, then was promoted to Deputy Minister for Social Justice. She then rose to become minister in that portfolio, which later changed to Minister for Communities, introducing the Homelessness (Scotland) Bill ^[2] in September 2002. She held the position of Minister for Parliamentary Business from 2004 until 2007.

She was re-elected comfortably in 2003 and again in 2007. Given the Scottish Labour Party's losses in that later election, she was widely viewed as a popular potential successor to Jack McConnell as its leader, but decided not to stand against Wendy Alexander. Curran was a favourite to succeed former Labour leader Wendy Alexander when she resigned following donation rows.^{[citation needed]} Curran instead pledged her support to Iain Gray who was standing against Cathy Jamieson and Andy Kerr. Iain Gray was voted Scottish Labour Party Leader and appointed Curran to manage the party's 2011 election manifesto.^[3] She stood down as MSP for Glasgow Baillieston at the 2011 Scottish election.

2008 Glasgow East by-election

Main article: Glasgow East by-election, 2008

On 30 June 2008 David Marshall, MP for Glasgow East, resigned from the House of Commons on grounds of ill health, triggering a by-election.^[4] The Labour candidate for the by-election was to have been announced on 4 July,^[5] though the announcement was postponed when the likely choice, local councillor George Ryan, chose to withdraw from the nomination process.^[6] On 5 July Curran placed herself forward for nomination on the Labour Party's shortlist and was confirmed as their candidate on 7 July.^[7][8] The by-election took place on 24 July 2008 and Curran was defeated by John Mason of the Scottish National Party by 365 votes.^[9] The swing from Labour was 22.54%.

Member of Parliament

In the general election, Curran back Glasgow East for Labour from the SNP. At the count, after her victory was pronounced, she walked out with the other candidates from the platform, refusing to make a speech while sharing the platform with the British National Party candidate.

From 2010-2011, she was Shadow Minister for Disabilities

On 7 October 2011 in a shadow cabinet reshuffle, Labour leader Ed Miliband sacked Ann McKechin and appointed Curran as her replacement for Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland.^[10] Willie Bain, MP for Glasgow North East, also became Curran's new deputy as Shadow Scotland Office Minister, replacing Tom Greatrex.^[11]

References

1. ^ Curran leads attack on antisocial behaviour
2. ^ Homelessness etc. (Scotland) Bill
3. ^ http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/the-staggers/2011/10/labour-curran-scotland
4. ^ "By-election looms after MP quits". BBC News (British Broadcasting Corporation). 2008-06-30. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/scotland_politics/7481746.stm. Retrieved 2008-06-30. 
5. ^ "Campaigning starts in by-election". BBC News (British Broadcasting Corporation). 2008-07-04. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/scotland_politics/7488404.stm. Retrieved 2008-07-04. 
6. ^ "Labour man quits by-election race". BBC News (British Broadcasting Corporation). 2008-07-05. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/scotland_politics/7491181.stm. Retrieved 2008-07-05. 
7. ^ "Labour MSP joins by-election race". BBC Scotland. 2008-07-05. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/7491574.stm. Retrieved 2008-07-05. 
8. ^ "Curran takes on by-election fight". BBC News. 2008-07-07. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/7493978.stm. Retrieved 2008-07-07. 
9. ^ SNP stuns Labour in Glasgow East, BBC News, 25 July 2008
10. ^ http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/the-staggers/2011/10/labour-curran-scotland
11. ^ Cabinet reshuffle: Miliband promotes Curran to Scotland job

External links

• Margaret Curran MSP official website
• Margaret Curran MSP Scottish Labour website
• Scottish Parliament biography
• Electoral history and profile at The Guardian
• Voting record at PublicWhip.org
• Record in Parliament at TheyWorkForYou.com
• Profile at Westminster Parliamentary Record
• Profile at BBC News Democracy Live
• Articles authored at Journalisted

Scottish Parliament
Preceded by Constituency Created	Member of the Scottish Parliament for Glasgow Baillieston 1999-2011	Succeeded by Constituency abolished
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by John Mason	Member of Parliament for Glasgow East 2010–present	Incumbent
Political offices
Preceded by Office Created	Deputy Minister for Social Justice 2000–2002	Succeeded by Des McNulty
Preceded by Iain Gray	Minister for Social Justice 2002-2003	Succeeded by Office Abolished
Preceded by Office Created	Minister for Communities 2003–2004	Succeeded by Malcolm Chisholm
Preceded by Patricia Ferguson	Minister for Parliamentary Business 2004–2007	Succeeded by Bruce Crawford
Preceded by Ann McKechin	Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland October 2011 - present	Succeeded by Incumbent

Persondata
Name	Curran, Margaret
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	24 November 1958
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death