John MacDougall (British politician)

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He was an active constituency MP who was loyal to the Labour government. From 2007 he was diagnosed with malignant mesothelioma, and due to his illness, his participation in Parliament became fleeting, although he remained as an MP until his death in August the following year.

Early life

MacDougall was educated at Templehall Junior Secondary School in Kirkcaldy, Fife. He later obtained a diploma in industrial management and a certificate in naval architecture studies.<ref name="Dod's Guide">"Dod's Guide to the General Election, June 2001", Vacher Dod Publishing, 2001, p. 193.</ref> He began work as an apprentice caulker riveter at Rosyth Dockyard,<ref name="Rosyth betrayal">Erlend Clouston, "MoD leak alleges 'deceit and betrayal' over Rosyth", The Guardian, 4 May 1994.</ref> but his main working life was spent as a boilermaker from 1964 at the oil rig construction yard in Methil.<ref name="MP bio">John MacDougall, Your MP Template:Webarchive biography from personal website, accessed 14 June 2008.</ref> He became a shop steward for the GMB trade union, later full-time Shop Steward Convenor.<ref name="MP bio" /><ref name="Selected">James Landale, Tom Baldwin, "The working-class Labour male is back", The Times, 1 June 2000, p. 16.</ref>

Political career

Fife councillor

After joining the Labour Party in 1981, MacDougall was elected as a Labour Party member of Fife Regional Council for Burntisland<ref name="Life after">John Knox, "Life after unknown Labour soldier", BBC News Online, retrieved 2 October 2008.</ref> the following year. He became leader of the regional council in 1987, formally as Chairman of the Policy and Resources Committee, leaving work to be a full-time councillor,<ref name="MP bio" /> and serving until the Regional Council was abolished in the reform of local government.

MacDougall was elected to the new Fife unitary council in 1995 and became Convenor of the council when it assumed its powers in April 1996. MacDougall's position as leader led him to accept several other appointments, including as Chair of the Rosyth Dockyard and Naval Base Coordinating Committee, a director of Fife Enterprise, and Chair and director of Community Business Fife Ltd.<ref name="Dod's Guide" /> In the mid-1990s he led the council's efforts to keep the Rosyth base open, including writing to every Conservative MP to ask them to support a defence review not led by the Treasury.<ref name="Defence Review">Erlend Clouston, "Fife shivers on base line", The Guardian, 21 June 1994.</ref> He was a member of the Scottish Constitutional Convention which established the framework for the Scottish Parliament.<ref name="MP bio" />

Parliament

When Henry McLeish announced that he would stand down from his UK Parliament seat in Central Fife on moving to the Scottish Parliament, MacDougall was thought to be likely to be beaten to the selection as his successor by the former Labour Party general secretary Alex Rowley.<ref name="Rowley selection">Catherine MacLeod, "Labour's battle of the sexes", The Herald, 13 April 2000, p. 7.</ref> However MacDougall was announced as the winner of the ballot.<ref name="Selected" />

MacDougall won with a majority of 10,075.<ref name="Dod's Guide" />

Boundary changes

A boundary review cutting the number of United Kingdom Parliamentary seats in Scotland put MacDougall's seat in danger by enlarging it with parts taken from Kirkcaldy; it was rumoured that Kirkcaldy MP Lewis Moonie intended to challenge MacDougall.<ref name="Boundary change">Fraser Nelson, Alison Hardie, "Deal struck to save Brown in seats review", Scotsman, 7 February 2002, p. 9.</ref> MacDougall was said to be "absolutely distraught" and intended to defend himself.<ref name="Distraught">Charlie Methven, "MP edged out to keep Brown in the Commons", Daily Telegraph, 2 April 2002, p. 22.</ref> He was mentioned as a potential candidate for the Central Fife constituency in the Scottish Parliament when Henry McLeish announced his retirement;<ref name="Scottish Parliament move">Hamish Macdonell, "McLeish to quit parliament at next elections", Scotsman, 6 September 2002, p. 1</ref> however the selection went to his successor as council leader, Christine May. MacDougall won the selection for the new Glenrothes constituency when Lewis Moonie opted to retire instead.<ref name="Moonie retirement">Hamish Macdonell, "Ochil veteran latest Labour MP to retire", Scotsman, 2 February 2004, p. 2.</ref>

Burns translation

To celebrate Burns Night in 2003, MacDougall had some of Robert Burns' most famous poems translated out of the Scots language into contemporary English to make them comprehensible for English guests.<ref name="Burns translation">Lindsay McGarvie, "To a Sassenach: John translates Burns poems for English MPs", Sunday Mail, 26 January 2003, p. 27.</ref> When Labour MPs were reported to be plotting to get Tony Blair to resign the leadership in favour of Gordon Brown, MacDougall was quoted as a supporter of Brown in opposing the plotting as not in his interests.<ref name="Blair plot">James Kirkup, Gerri Peev, "PM caves in and will make public promise on resigning", Scotsman, 7 September 2006, p. 2.</ref>

Illness and death

In May 2007 MacDougall revealed that he had serious health problems. He had had major surgery and a lung removed after being diagnosed with Mesothelioma, which transpired after his death came from the shipyards, but his doctor expected him to return to full health after he took part in the MARS Trial.<ref name="Asbestosis">Scott Hussey, "Disease fight for MP John", The Sun, 18 May 2007, p. 2.</ref> In October it was said that he was likely to stand down in the event of a snap general election;<ref name="Standing down">"Drumlanrig", Scotland on Sunday, 7 October 2007, p. 19.</ref> however no election was called.

MacDougall was not recorded as having participated in any Parliamentary votes from early December 2007, and by June 2008 it was clear that his health problems were serious and there was a rumour that he would have to resign.<ref name="By-election fear">Vincent Moss, "By-election Fear for PM", Sunday Mirror, 8 June 2008, p. 8.</ref> However another rumour said that he was recovering and likely to return to work.<ref name="Recovery">"Drumlanrig", Scotland on Sunday, 8 June 2008, p. 17.</ref> MacDougall attended the House of Commons on 11 June 2008 to support the government on a knife-edge vote on pre-charge detention periods, giving an interview in which he admitted to having had an operation for pleural mesothelioma; he declared his intention to stand for re-election.<ref name="Mesothelioma">"Cancer MP's vow", Daily Record, 11 June 2008, p. 2.</ref> However, MacDougall died of mesothelioma at 6 AM on 13 August 2008 at the Victoria Hospital in Kirkcaldy.<ref name="Life after"/><ref name="Death">Template:Cite news</ref>

External links

• Template:Hansard-contribs
• John MacDougall official site
• Guardian Unlimited Politics – Ask Aristotle: John MacDougall MP
• TheyWorkForYou.com – John MacDougall MP
• BBC News – Life after unknown Labour soldier

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