Ron Brown (Scottish politician)
Encyclopedia
Ronald Duncan Mclaren Brown (29 June 1938 – 3 August 2007), known as Ron Brown and nicknamed Red Ron, was a Scottish
Labour Party
Member of Parliament
(MP) in the United Kingdom
for the Edinburgh Leith constituency, from the 1979 general election
to the 1992 general election
. A controversial figure, he was suspended from the House of Commons
on several occasions, most famously in 1988 after damaging the Mace
.
in Edinburgh
. His father worked in engineering. He was educated at Pennywell Primary School, Ainslie Park High School
and the Bristo Technical Institute. He did National Service
in the Royal Signals, and then served five years as an apprentice fitter
. He worked as an electrician
with Bruce Peebles & Co. Ltd.
where an accident left him with partial facial paralysis and facial scarring despite plastic surgery
. He became an active member of the Amalgamated Union of Engineering Workers. He married May Smart in 1963. They had two sons.
In the 1970s he was elected a member of Edinburgh Town Council for Central Leith, and then a member of Lothian Regional Council from 1974. He visited Colonel Gaddafi
in Libya
several times in the 1970s, and tried to develop trade links between Scotland and Libya. He also made statements supporting the Communist regimes in Afghanistan
, Albania
and North Korea
.
Ronald King Murray
to become a Senator of the College of Justice
. Brown won the seat at the 1979 general election
with a majority of 3,000 votes. Although controversial, he was a popular and diligent constituency MP, increasing his majority to over 11,000 in the 1987 general election
.
He was suspended from the House of Commons three times by the Speaker and once by the parliamentary Labour Party. He was suspended twice in 1981: first, for five days in April 1981, for using unparliamentary language
, after calling Conservative MP Nicholas Fairbairn
a liar, and then for 20 days in July 1981 after he placed a protest banner on the Commons Table.
In 1988, he grabbed the House of Commons mace and threw it to the floor during a debate on the poll tax
. He agreed to read out a pre-written apology in the Commons, but then attempted to add comments of his own (e.g. saying he was 'grovelling' and that the apology was 'rubbish'), causing him to be suspended for 20 days. He also had to pay a £1,500 repair bill, and was suspended from the Labour party for three months. During the poll tax protests he refused to pay his community charge, eventually appearing before a sheriff court
.
He was expelled from the Labour Party in 1991 after being fined £1,000 for criminal damage for destroying the contents and fittings of the flat of Nonna Longden, his ex-lover, in Sussex (although he claimed a moral victory, having been acquitted on charges of theft) and deselected as the Labour candidate for Leith at the 1992 general election
. He contested his seat as an Independent Labour candidate in 1992 but lost to the official Labour candidate Malcolm Chisholm
, coming fifth with 10.3% of the vote.
he remained active in public life, acting as president of the Edinburgh Trade Union Council.
Brown stood as a candidate for the Scottish Socialist Party
in the inaugural election for the Scottish Parliament in 1999, but was not elected. He stayed with the SSP after the split by Solidarity
, led by Tommy Sheridan
.
His wife died in 1995. Brown died after a long illness caused by liver failure
. He was survived by his two sons. A statement released by his family said: "He will be greatly missed not only by family and friends but by the many socialists and ordinary people whose lives he touched."
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
Labour Party
Scottish Labour Party
The Scottish Labour Party is the section of the British Labour Party which operates in Scotland....
Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
(MP) in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
for the Edinburgh Leith constituency, from the 1979 general election
United Kingdom general election, 1979
The United Kingdom general election of 1979 was held on 3 May 1979 to elect 635 members to the British House of Commons. The Conservative Party, led by Margaret Thatcher ousted the incumbent Labour government of James Callaghan with a parliamentary majority of 43 seats...
to the 1992 general election
United Kingdom general election, 1992
The United Kingdom general election of 1992 was held on 9 April 1992, and was the fourth consecutive victory for the Conservative Party. This election result was one of the biggest surprises in 20th Century politics, as polling leading up to the day of the election showed Labour under leader Neil...
. A controversial figure, he was suspended from the House of Commons
British House of Commons
The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 650 members , who are known as Members...
on several occasions, most famously in 1988 after damaging the Mace
Ceremonial mace
The ceremonial mace is a highly ornamented staff of metal or wood, carried before a sovereign or other high official in civic ceremonies by a mace-bearer, intended to represent the official's authority. The mace, as used today, derives from the original mace used as a weapon...
.
Early life
Brown was born into a working class family at West PiltonWest Pilton
West Pilton is a housing estate in Edinburgh, Scotland. It is north of Ferry Road, east of Muirhouse, and immediately west of East Pilton and then Granton....
in Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
. His father worked in engineering. He was educated at Pennywell Primary School, Ainslie Park High School
Ainslie Park High School
Ainslie Park High School was a state secondary school in East Pilton, Edinburgh, Scotland, prior to its demolition.- History :Built at the end of World War II and opened as a school, the building was designed to be used as an emergency hospital, such was the fear of the nuclear bomb being used...
and the Bristo Technical Institute. He did National Service
National service
National service is a common name for mandatory government service programmes . The term became common British usage during and for some years following the Second World War. Many young people spent one or more years in such programmes...
in the Royal Signals, and then served five years as an apprentice fitter
Fitter
Fitter may refer to:* Fitter , a Soviet attack aircraft* Fitter , a person who uses machine tools to make or modify parts* Comparative of the adjective "fit"-People named Fitter:* Alastair Fitter, British ecologist...
. He worked as an electrician
Electrician
An electrician is a tradesman specializing in electrical wiring of buildings, stationary machines and related equipment. Electricians may be employed in the installation of new electrical components or the maintenance and repair of existing electrical infrastructure. Electricians may also...
with Bruce Peebles & Co. Ltd.
Bruce Peebles & Co. Ltd.
Bruce Peebles & Co. Ltd. was an Edinburgh industrial electrical engineering company founded as D. Bruce Peebles & Co. by Scottish engineer David Bruce Peebles in Edinburgh in 1866...
where an accident left him with partial facial paralysis and facial scarring despite plastic surgery
Plastic surgery
Plastic surgery is a medical specialty concerned with the correction or restoration of form and function. Though cosmetic or aesthetic surgery is the best-known kind of plastic surgery, most plastic surgery is not cosmetic: plastic surgery includes many types of reconstructive surgery, hand...
. He became an active member of the Amalgamated Union of Engineering Workers. He married May Smart in 1963. They had two sons.
In the 1970s he was elected a member of Edinburgh Town Council for Central Leith, and then a member of Lothian Regional Council from 1974. He visited Colonel Gaddafi
Muammar al-Gaddafi
Muammar Muhammad Abu Minyar Gaddafi or "September 1942" 20 October 2011), commonly known as Muammar Gaddafi or Colonel Gaddafi, was the official ruler of the Libyan Arab Republic from 1969 to 1977 and then the "Brother Leader" of the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya from 1977 to 2011.He seized power in a...
in Libya
Libya
Libya is an African country in the Maghreb region of North Africa bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Sudan to the southeast, Chad and Niger to the south, and Algeria and Tunisia to the west....
several times in the 1970s, and tried to develop trade links between Scotland and Libya. He also made statements supporting the Communist regimes in Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
, Albania
Albania
Albania , officially known as the Republic of Albania , is a country in Southeastern Europe, in the Balkans region. It is bordered by Montenegro to the northwest, Kosovo to the northeast, the Republic of Macedonia to the east and Greece to the south and southeast. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea...
and North Korea
North Korea
The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea , , is a country in East Asia, occupying the northern half of the Korean Peninsula. Its capital and largest city is Pyongyang. The Korean Demilitarized Zone serves as the buffer zone between North Korea and South Korea...
.
Parliamentary career
Brown was selected to stand for Edinburgh Leith in 1979, following the retirement of Labour MP and Lord AdvocateLord Advocate
Her Majesty's Advocate , known as the Lord Advocate , is the chief legal officer of the Scottish Government and the Crown in Scotland for both civil and criminal matters that fall within the devolved powers of the Scottish Parliament...
Ronald King Murray
Ronald King Murray
Ronald King Murray, Lord Murray PC is a former Scottish Labour politician and judge.Educated at George Watson's College, Edinburgh, the University of Edinburgh and Jesus College, Oxford, he served in the REME and SEAC from 1941 to 1946. He was admitted as an advocate in 1953, served as an Advocate...
to become a Senator of the College of Justice
Senator of the College of Justice
The Senators of the College of Justice are judges of the College of Justice, a set of legal institutions involved in the administration of justice in Scotland. There are three types of Senator: Lords of Session ; Lords Commissioner of Justiciary ; and the Chairman of the Scottish Land Court...
. Brown won the seat at the 1979 general election
United Kingdom general election, 1979
The United Kingdom general election of 1979 was held on 3 May 1979 to elect 635 members to the British House of Commons. The Conservative Party, led by Margaret Thatcher ousted the incumbent Labour government of James Callaghan with a parliamentary majority of 43 seats...
with a majority of 3,000 votes. Although controversial, he was a popular and diligent constituency MP, increasing his majority to over 11,000 in the 1987 general election
United Kingdom general election, 1987
The United Kingdom general election of 1987 was held on 11 June 1987, to elect 650 members to the British House of Commons. The election was the third consecutive election victory for the Conservative Party under the leadership of Margaret Thatcher, who became the first Prime Minister since the 2nd...
.
He was suspended from the House of Commons three times by the Speaker and once by the parliamentary Labour Party. He was suspended twice in 1981: first, for five days in April 1981, for using unparliamentary language
Unparliamentary language
In a Westminster system, unparliamentary language is words or phrases that are deemed to be inappropriate for use in the House whilst it is in session. This includes, but is not limited to the suggestion of dishonesty or profanity. The most prohibited case is any suggestion that another member is...
, after calling Conservative MP Nicholas Fairbairn
Nicholas Fairbairn
Sir Nicholas Hardwick Fairbairn, QC was a British politician.He was the Conservative Member of Parliament for Kinross and Western Perthshire, elected in 1974 and 1979, and Perth and Kinross, elected 1983, 1987, and 1992. He was Solicitor General for Scotland from 1979 to 1982...
a liar, and then for 20 days in July 1981 after he placed a protest banner on the Commons Table.
In 1988, he grabbed the House of Commons mace and threw it to the floor during a debate on the poll tax
Poll tax
A poll tax is a tax of a portioned, fixed amount per individual in accordance with the census . When a corvée is commuted for cash payment, in effect it becomes a poll tax...
. He agreed to read out a pre-written apology in the Commons, but then attempted to add comments of his own (e.g. saying he was 'grovelling' and that the apology was 'rubbish'), causing him to be suspended for 20 days. He also had to pay a £1,500 repair bill, and was suspended from the Labour party for three months. During the poll tax protests he refused to pay his community charge, eventually appearing before a sheriff court
Sheriff Court
Sheriff courts provide the local court service in Scotland, with each court serving a sheriff court district within a sheriffdom.Sheriff courts deal with a myriad of legal procedures which include:*Solemn and Summary Criminal cases...
.
He was expelled from the Labour Party in 1991 after being fined £1,000 for criminal damage for destroying the contents and fittings of the flat of Nonna Longden, his ex-lover, in Sussex (although he claimed a moral victory, having been acquitted on charges of theft) and deselected as the Labour candidate for Leith at the 1992 general election
United Kingdom general election, 1992
The United Kingdom general election of 1992 was held on 9 April 1992, and was the fourth consecutive victory for the Conservative Party. This election result was one of the biggest surprises in 20th Century politics, as polling leading up to the day of the election showed Labour under leader Neil...
. He contested his seat as an Independent Labour candidate in 1992 but lost to the official Labour candidate Malcolm Chisholm
Malcolm Chisholm
Malcolm Chisholm is a Scottish Labour Party politician, and a former Scottish Executive minister.-Background:Chisholm was educated at George Watson's College and the University of Edinburgh and became an English teacher. He is married with three children...
, coming fifth with 10.3% of the vote.
Later life
After leaving the House of CommonsBritish House of Commons
The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 650 members , who are known as Members...
he remained active in public life, acting as president of the Edinburgh Trade Union Council.
Brown stood as a candidate for the Scottish Socialist Party
Scottish Socialist Party
The Scottish Socialist Party is a left-wing Scottish political party. Positioning itself significantly to the left of Scotland's centre-left parties, the SSP campaigns on a socialist economic platform and for Scottish independence....
in the inaugural election for the Scottish Parliament in 1999, but was not elected. He stayed with the SSP after the split by Solidarity
Solidarity (Scotland)
Solidarity is a political party in Scotland, launched on September 3, 2006 as a breakaway from the Scottish Socialist Party in the aftermath of Tommy Sheridan's libel action...
, led by Tommy Sheridan
Tommy Sheridan
Tommy Sheridan is a Scottish socialist politician. He has had various prominent roles within the socialist movement in Scotland and is currently one of two co-convenors of the left-wing Scottish political party Solidarity....
.
His wife died in 1995. Brown died after a long illness caused by liver failure
Liver failure
Acute liver failure is the appearance of severe complications rapidly after the first signs of liver disease , and indicates that the liver has sustained severe damage . The complications are hepatic encephalopathy and impaired protein synthesis...
. He was survived by his two sons. A statement released by his family said: "He will be greatly missed not only by family and friends but by the many socialists and ordinary people whose lives he touched."