The 1997 Westminster Election

'At the very moment Michael Forsyth is covering anything not nailed down in tartan, the Labour Party is doing little to dispel the perception that the Scottish party is a puppet on a string being jerked elsewhere.' Ruth Wishart in the Herald 10 th February 1997.

The 1997 Westminster Election

Constituencies Changing Hands

Eleven seats changed hands at the 1997 general election. Labour won six seats from the Conservatives and one from the Liberal Democrats; the Scottish National Party won two seats from the Conservatives; the Liberal Democrats won two seats from the Conservatives and lost one to Labour; while the Conservatives lost a total of ten seats - six to Labour, two to the SNP and two to the Lib Dems. The SNP also held Perth which it had won as Perth & Kinross from the Conservatives in a by-election in 1995.

Constituency	Winner	Loser
Aberdeen South
Aberdeenshire West & Kincardine
Ayr
Dumfries
Eastwood
Edinburgh Pentlands
Edinburgh West
Galloway & Upper Nithsdale
Inverness East, Nairn & Lochaber
Stirling
Tayside North

Retiring MPs

10 of Scotland's 72 MPs - 6 Labour, 2 Conservatives and 2 Liberal Democrats - did not stand for re-election at the General Election on 1 st May 1997. At least five, Mike Watson, Norman Hogg, Sir Hector Monro, Sir Russell Johnston and Sir David Steel, entered the House of Lords. In May 1999, Lord Watson of Invergowrie and Lord Steel of Aikwood took up dual mandates when they were elected as members of the Scottish Parliament.

MP	Constituency	Party	Replacement	New Constituency
Dr Jeremy Bray	Middlesbrough West 1962 - 1970 Motherwell & Wishaw October 1974 - 1983 Motherwell South 1983 - 1997		Frank Roy	Motherwell & Wishaw
Jimmy Dunnachie	Glasgow Pollok 1987 - 1997		Ian Davidson MP (Glasgow Govan 1992 - 1997)	Glasgow Pollok
Norman Hogg (Later Lord Hogg of Cumbernauld)	Dunbartonshire East 1979 - 1983 Cumbernauld & Kilsyth 1983 - 1997		Cllr Rosemary McKenna	Cumbernauld & Kilsyth
Robert Hughes (Later Lord Hughes of Woodside)	Aberdeen North 1970 - 1997		Malcolm Savidge	Aberdeen North
Sir Russell Johnston (Later Lord Russell-Johnston)	Inverness 1964 - 1983 Inverness, Nairn & Lochaber 1983 - 1997		Stephen Gallacher (not elected)	Inverness East, Nairn & Lochaber
William McKelvey	Kilmarnock 1979 - 1983 Kilmarnock & Loudoun 1983 - 1997		Desmond Browne	Kilmarnock & Loudoun
Sir Hector Monro (Later Lord Monro of Langholm)	Dumfries 1964 - 1997		Struan Stevenson (not elected)	Dumfries
Sir David Steel (Later Lord Steel of Aikwood)	Roxburgh, Selkirk & Peebles March 1965 (by-election) - 1983 Tweeddale, Ettrick & Lauderdale 1983 - 1997		Michael Moore	Tweeddale, Ettrick & Lauderdale
Allan Stewart	Renfrewshire West 1979 - 1983 Eastwood 1983 - 1997		Paul Cullen (not elected)	Eastwood
Mike Watson (Later Lord Watson of Invergowrie)	Glasgow Central June 1989 (by-election) - 1997		None	Seat abolished

Defeated MPs

62 of Scotland's 72 MPs stood for re-election in 1997. Of these, 54 were elected and 8 (all Conservatives) were defeated. Of these, three, Lord James Douglas-Hamilton, Ian Lang and Michael Forsyth entered the House of Lords, (as Lord Selkirk of Douglas, Lord Lang of Monkton and Lord Forsyth of Drumlean respectively). Phil Gallie and Lord Selkirk of Douglas were elected to the Scottish Parliament as list MSPs for South of Scotland and Lothians in May 1999.

MP	Constituency	Party	Defeated by	Party
Lord James Douglas-Hamilton (Later Lord Selkirk of Douglas)	Edinburgh West October 1974 - 1997		Donald Gorrie
Michael Forsyth (Later Lord Forsyth of Drumlean)	Stirling 1983 - 1997		Anne McGuire
George Kynoch	Aberdeenshire West 1992 - 1997		Sir Robert Smith
Phil Gallie	Ayr 1992 - 1997		Sandra Osborne
Ian Lang (Later Lord Lang of Monkton)	Galloway 1979 - 1983 Galloway & Upper Nithsdale 1983 - 1997		Alasdair Morgan
Rt Hon Malcolm Rifkind QC	Edinburgh Pentlands February 1974 - 1997		Lynda Clark QC
Raymond Robertson	Aberdeen South 1992 - 1997		Anne Begg
Bill Walker	Perth & East Perthshire 1979 - 1983 Tayside North 1983 - 1997		John Swinney

Scotland's New MPs

At the 1997 general election, Scotland got 18 new MPs - 13 Labour, three Liberal Democrats and two Scottish National Party. Of these, Frank Doran had previous parliamentary experience, having served as MP for Aberdeen South from 1987 - 1992.

MP	Constituency	Party	Means of Election
Anne Begg	Aberdeen South		Defeated Raymond Robertson MP (Conservative)
Russell Brown	Dumfries		Defeated Struan Stevenson (Conservative) following retirment of Sir Hector Monro MP (Conservative)
Desmond Browne	Kilmarnock & Loudoun		Succeeded Willie McKelvie MP (Labour)
Frank Doran MP for Aberdeen South 1987 - 1992	Aberdeen Central		New Constituency
Lynda Clark	Edinburgh Pentlands		Defeated Malcolm Rifkind MP (Conservative)
Donald Gorrie	Edinburgh West		Defeated Lord James Douglas-Hamilton MP (Conservative)
Anne McGuire	Stirling		Defeated Michael Forsyth MP (Conservative)
Rosemary McKenna	Cumbernauld & Kilsyth		Norman Hogg MP (Labour) vacated seat in exchange for a Life Peerage
Michael Moore	Tweedale, Ettrick & Lauderdale		Succeeded Sir David Steel MP (Liberal Democrat)
Alasdair Morgan	Galloway & Upper Nithsdale		Defeated Ian Lang MP (Conservative)
Jim Murphy	Eastwood		Defeated Paul Cullen (Conservative) following retirement of Allan Stewart MP (Conservative)
Sandra Osborne	Ayr		Defeated Phil Gallie MP (Conservative)
Frank Roy	Motherwell & Wishaw		Succeeded Jeremy Bray MP (Labour)
Mohammad Sarwar	Glasgow Govan		Succeeded Ian Davidson MP (Labour) who moved to Glasgow Pollok when Jimmy Dunnachie MP retired
Malcolm Savidge	Aberdeen North		Succeeded Robert Hughes MP (Labour)
Sir Robert Smith Bt	Aberdeenshire West & Kincardine		Defeated George Kynock MP (Conservative)
David Stewart	Inverness East, Nairn & Lochaber		Defeated Stephen Gallacher (Lib Dem) following retirement of Sir Russell Johnston MP (Lib Dem)
John Swinney	Tayside North		Defeated Bill Walker MP (Conservative)