Candidates and Constituency Assessments

'Nowadays it is no longer enough simply to report objectively - we are now expected to be on message. Otherwise you are off message, out of the loop. If you are not for them, you're against them.' Murray Ritchie of the Herald, 14 th March 2000.

Na h-Eileanan An Iar

Candidates

	Labour	Dr Calum MacDonald MP
	Scottish National Party	Angus Brendan MacNeil
	Conservative & Unionist	Andy Maciver
	Liberal Democrat	Dr Jean Davis
	Scottish Socialist Party	Joanne Telfer
	Operation Christian Vote	Rev George Hargreaves

Candidates

The Labour candidate is the current MP for the Western Isles, Dr Calum MacDonald. He was born in 1956 in Stornway and educated at Bayble School and the Nicholson Institute in Stornoway, before studying at Edinburgh University and the University o California at Los Angeles. He lectured at the University of California for three years before returning to Scotland where he worked in the family kitchen and bathroom fittings business. Following the retiral of the SNP leader, Donald Stewart, who had held the Western Isles from 1970 until 1987, MacDonald won the seat for Labour with 42.7 % of the vote and a 2,340 majority over the SNP's Iain Smith. In 1992, MacDonald saw his percentage of the vote increase to 47.8 %, but his majority fall to 1,703 as SNP candidate Frances MacFarlane increased the SNP share of the vote by 8.7 % to 37.2 %. At the Labour landslide in 1997, MacDonald increased his vote to 55.60 % and his majority to 3,576 over the SNP's Dr Anne Lorne Gillies. However in 2001, MacDonal's share of the vote fell by 10.6 % to 45.0 % giving him a majority of just 1,074 over the SNP's Alasdair Nicholson. At the 2003 Scottish parliamentary elections, the SNP's Alasdair Nicolson reduced Labour's majority still further to just 720, while at the European elections in 2004, the SNP "won" the seat by 329 votes. After briefly serving as PPS to Donald Dewar after Labour's landslide in 1997, MacDonald was appointed as Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Scotland with responsibility for transport, housing and European affairs. However after the transfer of powers from the Scottish Office to the new Scottish parliament, MacDonald's post was abolshed and he has remained on the back benches ever since.

The Scottish National Party candidate is Angus B. MacNeil. Angus is a native Gaelic speaker from Barra. He was in School in Barra and the Nicholson Institute in Stornoway. He studied Civil Engineering at Strathclyde University and then worked as a reporter at the BBC in Inverness for 2 years before becoming a Primary Teacher. Angus worked for 2 years in Salen in Mull where he started the Gaelic Unit before moving to Fort William when he got married. Last year Angus returned to Barra to teach and now works in Eoligarry School at the north end of the island. At the 2001 Westminster election, Angus contested Inverness East, Nairn & Lochaber where he came second with 25.6 %.

The Conservative candidate is Andy Maciver, who is a graduate of the University of Edinburgh with a degree in economics and politics and a background in law. He is the Press Officer for the Conservative Party in Scotland and also Director of the Scottish Conservative Policy Forum. He was previously a researcher for Conservative MSPs in the Scottish Parliament.

The Lib Dem candidate, Dr Jean Davis, was born in 1954 and educated at Maghull Grammar School, North East Liverpool Technical College and Manchester University where she graduated with a medical degree. She is single and has works as an occupational physician. She is a member of the SSPCA and the Dogs trust and her interests include Travel, walking the dog and learning Gaelic. A former member of the Social Democratic party, she is now secretary of the Western Isles branch of the Lib Dems.

Te SSP candidate is Joanne Telfer, is 55 and lives in Carloway. A full time carer, she studied with the Open University, specialising in Environmental Science, and has applied her cutting-edge knowledge to promoting renewable energy with an emphasis on the need for strategic planning and public ownership.

The Operation Christian Vote candidate is the Rev George Hargreaves.

7 th June 2001 Westminster Election

Western Isles

Turnout: 13,159 (60.34 %)
Logo	Party	Candidate	Votes	%	% change
	Labour	Dr Calum MacDonald	5,924	45.02 %	- 10.58 %
	Scottish National Party	Alasdair Nicholson	4,850	36.86 %	+ 3.46 %
	Conservative	Douglas Taylor	1,250	9.50 %	+ 2.85 %
	Liberal Democrat	John Horne	849	6.45%	+ 3.38 %
	Scottish Socialist Party	Joanne Telfer	286	2.17 %	(+ 2.17 %)
	Labour hold	Labour majority	1,074	8.16 %	- 14.04 %

Local Government wards in the constituency

No boundary changes. This constituency is the old Western Isles seat.