Margaret Curran (politician)

Infobox MSP
honorific-prefix =
name = Margaret Curran
honorific-suffix = MSP


imagesize = 150px
caption =
office = Minister for Parliamentary Business
firstminister = Jack McConnell
term_start = 4 October 2004
term_end = 17 May 2007
predecessor = Patricia Ferguson
successor = Bruce Crawford
office1 = Minister for Communities
term_start1 = 21 May 2003
term_end1 = 4 October 2004
firstminister1 = Jack McConnell
predecessor1 = New position
successor1 = "Office created"
office2 = Minister for Social Justice
firstminister2 = Jack McConnell
term_start2 = 9 May 2002
term_end2 = 21 May 2003
predecessor2 = Iain Gray
successor2 = "Office abolished"
constituency_MP3 = Glasgow Baillieston
parliament3 = Scottish
majority3 = 3,934 (22.8%)
term_start3 = 6 May 1999
term_end3 =
predecessor3 = "new constiuency"
birth_date = Birth date and age|1958|11|24|df=yes
birth_place =
death_date =
death_place =
birthname =
nationality =
party = Scottish Labour Party
spouse =
relations =
children =
residence =
alma_mater = University of Glasgow
occupation =
profession =
cabinet =
committees =
religion =


website =
footnotes =

Margaret Curran (born 24 November 1958) is a former Minister for Parliamentary Business in the Scottish Executive, and Member of the Scottish Parliament for Glasgow Baillieston.

She became an MSP in the first elections to the Scottish Parliament in 1999, later holding positions as Deputy Minister for Social Justice and Minister for Communities.

Background

Before entering the Scottish Parliament she was a lecturer in community education at the University of Strathclyde and before that she was a community worker. She and her husband Rab live in Glasgow with their two sons.

She first became politically active in the University of Glasgow 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 of Glasgow University Labour Club, secretary of the Scottish Organisation of Labour Students, chair of that organisation, and vice-chair of the Labour Club, although in 1980 she resigned the last position following allegations of involvement in an attempt to rig the conference of the National Organisation of Labour Students.Fact|date=July 2008

She was Mohammad Sarwar's election agent in Glasgow Govan in the UK general election of 1997.

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. [ [http://www.communitycare.co.uk/Articles/2003/07/28/41550/Curran+leads+attack+on+antisocial+behaviour.html Curran leads attack on antisocial behaviour] ]

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. 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 but decided not to stand against Wendy Alexander who went on to succeed McConnell.

On 30 June 2008 David Marshall, MP for the Glasgow East constituency, resigned from the United Kingdom Parliament on grounds of ill health, triggering a by-election. [cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/scotland_politics/7481746.stm|title=By-election looms after MP quits|work=BBC News|publisher=British Broadcasting Corporation|date=2008-06-30|accessdate=2008-06-30] The Labour candidate for the by-election was to have been announced on 4 July, [cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/scotland_politics/7488404.stm|title=Campaigning starts in by-election |work=BBC News|publisher=British Broadcasting Corporation|date=2008-07-04|accessdate=2008-07-04] though the announcement was postponed when the likely choice, local councillor George Ryan, chose to withdraw from the nomination process. [cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/scotland_politics/7491181.stm|title=Labour man quits by-election race|date=2008-07-05|work=BBC News|publisher=British Broadcasting Corporation|accessdate=2008-07-05] On 5 July Curran placed herself forward for nomination on the Labour Party's shortlist and was confirmed as their candidate on 7 July. [citeweb|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/7491574.stm|title=Labour MSP joins by-election race|publisher=BBC Scotland|date=2008-07-05|accessdate=2008-07-05] [citeweb|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/7493978.stm|title=Curran takes on by-election fight|work=BBC News|date=2008-07-07|accessdate=2008-07-07] The by-election took place on 24 July 2008 and Curran was defeated by John Mason of the Scottish National Party by 365 votes. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/glasgow_and_west/7522153.stm SNP stuns Labour in Glasgow East] , "BBC News", 25 July 2008] The swing from Labour was 22.54%.

Margaret was a favourite to succeed former Labour leader Wendy Alexander when she resigned following donation rows.fact|date=September 2008 Margaret 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 Margaret to manage the party's new manifesto.fact|date=September 2008

References

External links

* [http://www.scottishlabour.org.uk/glasgow_baillieston Margaret Curran MSP] Scottish Labour website
* [http://www.margaretcurranmsp.co.uk/ Margaret Curran MSP] Personal website
* [http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/msp/membersPages/margaret_curran/index.htm Scottish Parliament biography]

###@@@KEY@@@###end
Template group
title = Margaret Curran
titlestyle = style="background:#eee;
list =