Candidates and Constituency Assessments

'We, and millions across the globe, are saying to Tony Blair and George Bush...not in our name.' John Swinney, 13 th February, 2003.

Glasgow Pollok (Glasgow Region)

	Kenny Gibson MSP		Johann Lamont MSP
	M. Ashraf Anjum		Isabel Nelson
	Tommy Sheridan MSP	PE	Robert Ray

Glasgow Pollok saw major boundary changes in 1997, gaining 3,000 voters from Cathcart and it gained 17,000 voters from, and also lost 26,000 voters to Govan.

Pollok has been held by Labour since 1970. It changed hands three times between 1964 and 1970, but was once a safe Tory seat which returned Conservative MPs with majorities of 9,000 votes.

Until 1955, Pollok was the seat of Tory grandee, Thomas Dunlop Galbraith, who obtained majorities over Labour of 7,789 in 1950 and 5,651 in 1951. Upon his retiral in 1955 he was created Lord Strathclyde. He was the father of Tam Galloway Dunlop Galbraith, the Conservative MP for Glasgow Hillhead between 1948 and 1982 and the grandfather of Thomas Galloway Dunlop due Roy de Blicquy Galbraith, the second Lord Strathclyde and Tory leader in the House of Lords.

Lord Strathclyde was succeeded by J.C. George who obtained majorities of 8,845 over Labour in 1955 and 7,266 in 1959.

In 1964, Mr George retired. The Liberals contested the seat for the first time since , taking 11.5 % of the vote. While the Labour vote rose by 2.7 % to 44.6 %, the Tory vote fell by 14.2 % to 43.9 %, allowing Labour's A. Garrow to win the seat with a majority of just 296 over Tory R.D. Kernohan.

In 1966, Mr Garrow increased the Labour majority to 1,975 but his death a year later caused a by-election in Pollok. In a three-way fight, Professor Esmond Wright won the seat for the Conservatives. The Tories took 36.9 %, down 10.7 % on 1966, Labour took 31.2 %, down by 21.2 %, while George Leslie of the SNP took 28.2. Pollok was a warning of what would happen in the Hamilton by-election eight months later when Winnie Ewing won Labour's safest seat in Scotland. The Labour candidate was Dick Douglas who inherited Clackmannan & East Stirlingshire in 1970 but was defeated by the SNP's George Reid in February 1974. He became MP for Dunfermline in 1979 but resigned the whip in 1990 and later joined the SNP in protest at Labour's refusal to attempt to defend Scots against the imposition of the Poll Tax.

Professor Wright's tenure in Pollok only lasted three years and at the 1970 general election, Labour's James White regained Pollok for Labour. By October 1974 he had increased his majority to 7,091, largely due to a still divided opposition with the Conservatives and SNP only 1,163 votes apart. Labour took 18,695 votes, the Tories took 11,604 and the SNP took 10,441 votes.

In 1979, the SNP vote collapsed and James White was elected with an increased majority of 8,492 over the Conservatives.

In 1983, the boundary changes in Pollok were favourable to Labour with Conservative Strathbungo and Pollokshaws being transferred to Cathcart (This gave Cathcart, which was won by Labour's John Maxton from Teddy Taylor in 1979 a notional Tory majority 1,700.) Pollok absorbed much of the abolished Craigton seat of Bruce Milan and Mr White was elected with a healthy majority of 11,532 over the Conservatives.

In 1987 Mr White retired and was replaced by Jimmy Dunnachie who obtained a whopping 17,983 majority over the Tories with the combined opposition parties taking only 36.9% of the vote - changed days since 1967, when Labour had taken just 31.2 % of the vote.

In 1992 there was a minor earthquake in Pollok when Scottish Militant Labour's Tommy Sheridan came second in Pollok with 6,287 votes. The swing was a massive 19.5 % from Labour to Scottish Militant Labour and Jimmy Dunnachie's majority was more than halved from 17,983 in 1987 to 7,883 in 1992. Tommy Sheridan's performance was by far the best of any minor party in a UK election, beating even the Orkney & Shetland movement's 14.5 % in 1987 and Wendy Wood's 13.9 % in the Glasgow Bridgeton by-election in August 1946. In 1999, Tommy Sheridan was elected as Scottish Socialist Party MSP for Glasgow.

The late Jimmy Dunnachie retired in 1997 and was replaced as Labour candidate by Ian Davidson, who won Govan back from the SNP's Jim Sillars in 1992. Davidson moved to Pollok as a safer seat to defend than his old Govan constituency. Ironically, the boundary changes were to the advantage of the SNP who on the 1992 notional result were ahead of the Scottish Socialist Alliance here.

In 1997, Ian Davidson took 59.9 % of the vote, and won a 13,791 majority over the SNP's David Logan with 17.9 %. The Scottish Socialist Alliance's Tommy Sheridan came third with 3,639 votes (11.1 %). The Tories took 6.0 % and the Lib Dems 3.5 %.

Ian Davidson was one of the few Labour MPs who wished to stand for Holyrood and there was a scandal when he was rejected, along with Falkirk MPs Michael Connarty and Dennis Canavan by Rosemary McKenna's Network cabal in favour of more suitable candidates like Mrs McKenna's own daughter. Dennis Canavan was expelled from the Labour party when he stood as an Independent in Falkirk West, winning the seat with the biggest majority in Scotland. Ian Davidson did not stand as an Independent, but he had the full backing of his constituency party who have gone out of their way to select another left winger, Johann Lamont who had somehow managed to escape the witch hunt run by Rosemary 'Elle Supremo' McKenna and her Network Thought Police.

The SNP selected Cllr Kenneth Gibson, the SNP's spokesman on local government who stood in Monklands East against John Smith in 1987. Cllr Tommy Sheridan stood again for the Scottish Socialist Party.

Despite Labour's selection of a left winger, their vote dropped by 16.2 % to 43.7 %. Luckily for Labour the opposition was split between the SNP and the SSP and Johann Lamont was elected with a majority of 4,642 over the SNP. Cllr Kenny Gibson increased the SNP vote by 8.1 % to 25.9 %. Cllr Tommy Sheridan of the SSP increased their vote by 10.4 % to take 21.5 % in 1999. Kenny Gibson and Tommy Sheridan were both elected as Glasgow MSPs through the regional list, in third and fifth place respectively.

Johann Lamont was born in Glasgow in 1958 and educated at Woodside School, Glasgow University and after training at Jordanhill College she worked as a teacher. She was one of the few left wingers to get by Rosemary McKenna's selection committee, possibly because of her attempts to deselect George Galloway MP while a member of Hillhead constituency. Having supported Tommy Sheridan's bill against warrant sales, she will be hoping that the anti-Labour vote continued to be split between the Tommy Sheridan and Kenny Gibson, otherwise she could find herself as one of the first Labour MSPs to lose their seat.

Kenneth Gibson was born in Glasgow in 1961 and educated at Bellahouston Academy. He graduated from Stirling University with a BA in Economics before working in the construction and pharmaceutical industry. He became a Glasgow District Councillor in 1992 when he won Mosspark from Labour and also represented the ward in Glasgow City council until his election as an MSP when he was succeeded as councillor by his mother. Between 1998 and 1999, the SNP became the official opposition on Glasgow Council with Kenny Gibson leading the SNP group. Before being elected to the Scottish Parliament, he stood in Monklands East in the 1987 general election coming third with 12.9 % of the vote.

Tommy Sheridan was born in Glasgow in 1964 and educated at Lourdes School. He graduated from Stirling University with a BA in Economics and Politics. Initially a member of the Labour Party, Sheridan came to prominence as an Anti Poll Tax protester and was jailed in 1991. He won almost 20 % of the vote in Pollok in the 1992 general election as a Militant Labour candidate and was later elected as Glasgow District councillor for Pollok, a ward which he has held since then. In the 1994 European elections he came third in Glasgow with 7.6 % of the vote as a Militant and in the 1997 general election he took 11.1 % for the Scottish Socialist Alliance. He was elected as Glasgow's fifth list MSP in 1999 when the Scottish Socialist Party took 7.25 % of the vote in the city, coming just 1,658 votes behind the Tories and 108 votes ahead of the Liberal Democrats.

Tommy Sheridan is one of the best known of Scotland's MSPs and leaves nobody indifferent. He sponsored a bill for the abolition of warrant sales, which the parliament approved but the Executive has done it's best to sabotage. He has been in trouble with the parliamentary authorities when the Caring Face of New Labour, Rona Brankin, reported him for attempting to aid one of her constituents - a blind woman whom sheriff officers had attempted to throw naked into the street. Sheridan was jailed for a second time in December 2000 for refusing to pay a fine after he was arrested while at an anti-nuclear protest at Faslane. Sheridan believes that Tony Blair is guilty of crimes against humanity for his onslaught on the Iraqi people and wants the Scottish Parliament to be a referendum on Blair's guilt. Undoubtedly, many people, like Sheridan, believe that Blair is a war criminal and should be locked up in the cell next to Slobodan Milosovitch.

The Tory candidate is M. Ashraf Anjum while the Lib Dems have selected Isabel Nelson. Robert Ray is standing as a Parent Excluded.

Assessment:

Rank on Scottish National Party hit list: 38
Swing required for Scottish National Party gain: 8.90 % from Labour to Scottish National Party

Rank on Scottish Socialist Party hit list: 1
Swing required for Scottish Socialist Party gain: 11.11 % from Labour to Scottish Socialist Party

6 th May 1999 Holyrood Election - Constituency result

Logo	Party	Candidate	Votes	%	% change
	Labour	Johann Lamont	11,405	43.73 %	- 16.18 %
	Scottish National Party	Cllr Kenny Gibson	6,763	25.93 %	+ 8.06 %
	Scottish Socialist Party	Cllr Tommy Sheridan	5,611	21.51 %	+ 10.42 %
	Conservative	Rory O'Brien	1,370	5.25 %	- 0.78 %
	Liberal Democrat	James King	931	3.57 %	+ 0.10 %
	Lab win	Lab majority	4,642	17.80 %	- 24.24 %

6 th May 1999 Holyrood Election - Regional list result

Logo	Party	Votes	%
	Labour	12,261	47.09 %
	Scottish National Party	6,345	24.37 %
	Scottish Socialist Party	3,374	12.57 %
	Conservative & Unionist Party	1,463	5.62 %
	Liberal Democrats	1,132	4.35 %
	Scottish Green Party	483	1.85 %
	Socialist Labour Party	412	1.58 %
	Pro Life Alliance	243	0.93 %
	Scottish Unionist Party	214	0.82 %
	Communist Party of Britain	39	0.15 %
	Socialist Party of Great Britain	31	0.12 %
	Natural Law Party	25	0.10 %
	Humanist Party	13	0.05 %
	Bridget McGeechan, The People Choice	5	0.02 %
	Lab maj	5,916	22.72 %

1 st May 1997 Westminster Election

Logo	Party	Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	Ian Davidson	19,653	59.91%
	Scottish National Party	David Logan	5,862	17.87%
	Scottish Socialist Alliance	Tommy Sheridan	3,639	11.09%
	Conservative	Edwin Hamilton	1,979	6.03%
	Liberal Democrat	David Jago	1,137	3.47%
	Pro Life Alliance	Monica Gott	380	1.16%
	Referendum	Derek Haldane	152	0.46%
	Lab hold	Lab majority	13,791	42.04%

Links

• Kenny Gibson MSP (Scottish National Party)

• M. Ashraf Anjum (Conservative)

• Glasgow Pollok and Isabel Nelson (Lib Dem)