 | 'I mean, Brian's supposed to be in charge of Africa, but he spends most of his time in bloody Dublin.... I mean he's a liability.' First Minister Henry McLeish to Scottish Secretary Helen Liddell, 6 th June 2001. |  |
| 'I mean, Brian's supposed to be in charge of Africa, but he spends most of his time in bloody Dublin.... I mean he's a liability.' First Minister Henry McLeish to Scottish Secretary Helen Liddell, 6 th June 2001. | |
 | Campbell Martin |  |
Allan Wilson MSP |
 |
Peter Ramsay |  |
John Boyd |
 | Sean Scott |
Cunninghame North was created in 1983 with 68% of its voters coming from Conservative Bute & North Ayrshire and 32% from Labour Central Ayrshire. The boundaries of Cunninghame North were unchanged in the review for the 1997 Westminster election.
Bute & North Ayrshire had a Conservative pedigree which stretched all the way back to 1918, while Central Ayrshire had been a Tory seat until 1959. Mr John Corrie became Conservative MP for Bute & North Ayrshire in February 1974 and held it with majorities of around 4,000 until 1983.
In 1983, the 6,000 voters in the Tory stronghold of Bute were transferred to Argyll while 17,000 voters from Dalry and other Labour communities in the Garnock Valley were added. This gave Labour a notional 300 majority in Cunninghame North. However, Mr Corrie won the new seat with a 1,600 majority over Labour. Labour's chances were not helped by the presence of the Social Democratic Party who took 18% of the vote.
In 1987, only 10 of Scotland's 21 Conservative MPs held their seats. Mr Corrie was one of the losers as Labour's Brian Wilson swept to victory with a majority of more than 4,000. Mr Wilson was well known in Scottish Political circles as the founder of the West Highland Press and an inveterate campaigner against devolution.
In 1992 there was a slight but unexpected Tory revival in Scotland. In Cunninghame North, Brian Wilson got a bit of a fright. The Tory vote remained stable but Brian Wilson's vote dropped by 3.3 % which allowed Conservative Edith Clarkson to come within 2,939 votes of unseating the Labour MP.
Cunninghame South was Labour's fourth most marginal Scottish seat in 1992. In May 1996 there was a local council by-election in the Conservative ward of Largs South. While the Conservative and SNP percentage votes were rock solid, Labour's slipped by 11% and the ex-socialists fell to third place after the SNP. Ironically, if this sort of swing had been repeated at the general election, the Chairman of the 1979 'Labour Vote No' campaign might have been looking for a seat in a Scottish Assembly.
In actual fact, at the 1997 Westminster election, Brian Wilson took 20,686 votes, more than twice the 9,647 cast for Margaret Mitchell who was left wondering why the Tory vote had Gone with the Wind. Cllr Kim Nichol came third for the SNP with 18.4 % with Karen Freel taking 5.5 % for the Lib Dems.
Although Brian Wilson should have been secure in Cunninghame North in 2001, he could not be complacent. The SNP candidate Campbell Martin. The Tory candidate was originally Dorothy Luckhurst who was pushed into fourth place in Clydebank & Milngavie in 1999. She also contested Glasgow Anniesland for the Tories in the Westminster by-election of November 2000, coming third with 10.8 %. However she stepped down and the Tories selected Richard Wilkinson in her place. The SSP selected Sean Scott, the SLP candidate was Louise McDaid, while Mary Cusick stood for the ProLife Alliance.
In June 2001, Brian Wilson was returned to Westminster with 46.1 % of the vote and a 8,398 majority over the SNP's Campbell Martin who polled 21.2 %. The Tories came third with 19.7 %, followed by the Lib Dems with 9.1 %, the SSP with 2.9 % and the ProLife Alliance with 1.1 %.
Brian Wilson was probably one of Labour's most talented British politicians. However, while he had shone in opposition, running Labour's rapid rebuttal unit, as a Minister he has been lacklustre. His fiery nature and bitter rhetoric against the SNP was useful in opposition but rabid anti-devolutionary sentiments from a government minister tended to cause embarrassment. As Chairman of the 'Labour Vote No' campaign', Brian Wilson was one of those who so effectively sabotaged Labour's last attempt at devolution for Scotland in 1979 and opened the door to 18 years of Tory government.
Brian Wilson has served twice as a Minister in Scotland and has twice had to be sent south in the run-up to elections to avoid embarrassing Labour with his anti-devolutionary views. Under Donald Dewar, he served as Minister of State with responsibility for Education and Industry, initiating the disastrous reforms which were to culminate the SQA disaster of 2000. In July 1998, in the run up to the Scottish election, Wilson was exiled to Peter Mandelson's Department of Trade & Industry. In Scotland, his portfolio of Industry was given to Lord Gus MacDonald and Education to the new part-time Deputy Secretary of State for Scotland, Helen Liddell. This arrangement allowed Liddell to continue the assault on the Scottish education system and Scottish teachers while giving her plenty of free time to attack the Scottish National Party at the taxpayers expense.
After the Scottish election, the positions were reversed. Liddell, was sent back to England in disgrace while Wilson was brought back as Deputy Secretary of State for Scotland in the now renamed and largely obsolete Scotland Office. In January 2001, with Peter Mandelson disgracing himself for the second time and another election on the cards, it was all change again. Brian Wilson was sent down south again as Minister of State at the Foreign & Commonwealth Office while Helen Liddell moved back to Scotland to the fully paid but almost totally obsolete post of Secretary of State for Scotland.
There is no love lost between Labour's ruling elite and few can have been surprised to hear Scotland's First Minister, Henry McLeish confide to Secretary of State for Scotland, Helen Liddell in June 2001 that Dr John Reid was a 'patronising bastard' and Brian Wilson was a 'liability'.
Unsurprisingly, as an arch opponent of devolution, Brian Wilson did not seek a seat in the hated Scottish Parliament, an institution which he had fought bitterly to sabotage for almost the whole of his political career. In the Scottish elections, Brian was replaced by another Wilson, this time Allan, a NUPE agent and former agent for Brian. Just why Allan Wilson stood for the Scottish Parliament is somewhat of a mystery as according to Allan Ross and Lynn Cochrane in the Scotsman, Allan shares Brian's 'bitter loathing' of the SNP and is also a long standing opponent of devolution.
The contrast between London Labour and Scotland's party was particularly evident in Cunninghame North in 1999. The SNP candidate was Kate Ullrich, who contested the Monklands East by-election against Helen Liddell in 1994. In one of Scotland's toughest ever by-election campaigns the by-election Mrs Ullrich increased the SNP vote by 26.9 % and reduced the Labour majority from 15,712 for John Smith to 1,640 for Mrs Liddell. It is generally assumed that Kay Ullrich would have won the by-election had Helen Liddell not done a masterly U-turn in the final days of the campaign, withdrawing her unconditional support of Monklands District Council and condemning them. Kay Ullrich is a former Senior Social Worker who was born in Prestwick and educated at Ayr Academy and Queen's College, Glasgow. She joined the SNP in 1965 and was SNP Vice President and Spokesperson for Health and Social Policy. In addition to Monklands East, Kay Ullrich contested three other general elections. In 1983 and 1987 she was the candidate in Cunninghame South, while in 1992 she increased the SNP vote by 5.0 % in Motherwell South, taking them into second place behind the Tories. The Tory candidate was Mike Johnston while the Lib Dems selected Calum Irving
In the 1999 Scottish election, Allan Wilson's majority was reduced to 4,796 over the SNP's Kay Ullrich The Labour vote fell by 7.4 % to 42.9 % while the SNP vote increased by 10.1 % to 28.6 %. The Tories came third with 19.9 %, followed by the Lib Dems with 8.7 %.
Kay Ullrich was elected to the Scottish Parliament as the third West of Scotland MSP thanks to her second place on the SNP's regional list. She was appointed SNP Shadow Minister for Health & Community Care by Alex Salmond , and SNP Chief Whip by John Swinney in September 2000. Kay Ullrich retired at the 2003 Scottish election.
Allan Wilson was born in 1954 in Glasgow and educated at Speirs School in Beith. He worked for NUPE and then UNISON before his election. The election agent for Brian Wilson, Allan Wilson was appointed as Deputy Minister for Sport & Culture by Henry McLeish and Deputy Minister for Deputy Minister for Rural Development by Jack McConnell.
The SNP candidate is Campbell Martin, Deputy Leader of SNP group in Cunninghame District Council between 1992 and 1996. He was Parliamentary Assistant to Kay Ullrich MSP, who contested the seat in 1999, and was Westminster candidate for the seat in 2001, coming second with 21.2 %.
The Tory candidate is Peter Ramsay, the Lib Dems have selected John Boyd, while the SSP candidate is Sean Scott.
In 1992, this was fourth most marginal seat in Scotland while in the 1999 European elections, Cunninghame North turned into a three way marginal. Labour 'won' the seat with 26.9 % giving them a 149 majority over the SNP with 26.0 %, who were themselves 41 votes ahead of the Tories with 25.7 %.
| Logo | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | % change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Labour | Allan Wilson | 14,369 | 42.90 % | - 7.40 % |
|
Scottish National Party | Kay Ullrich | 9,573 | 28.58 % | + 10.14 % |
|
Conservative | Mike Johnston | 6,649 | 19.85 % | -3.61 % |
|
Liberal Democrat | Calum Irving | 2,900 | 8.66 % | + 3.14 % |
|
Lab win | Lab majority | 4,796 | 14.32 % | - 12.52 % |
| Logo | Party | Votes | % |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Labour | 12,536 | 37.35 % |
|
Scottish National Party | 9,349 | 27.85 % |
|
Conservative & Unionist Party | 5,664 | 16.87 % |
|
Liberal Democrats | 2,798 | 8.34 % |
 |
Scottish Green Party | 981 | 2.92 % |
 |
Socialist Labour Party | 625 | 1.86 % |
|
Scottish Socialist Party | 523 | 1.56 % |
| Scottish Unionist Party | 351 | 1.05 % | |
 |
Pro Life Alliance | 331 | 0.99 % |
| Canon Kenyon Wright | 280 | 0.83 % | |
 |
Natural Law Party | 65 | 0.19 % |
| Independent Labour Keep Scotland's Water Public | 64 | 0.19 % | |
|
Lab maj | 3,187 | 9.50 % |
| Logo | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Labour | Brian Wilson | 20,686 | 50.30% |
|
Conservative | Cllr Margaret Mitchell | 9,647 | 23.46% |
|
Scottish National Party | Cllr Kim Nicoll | 7,584 | 18.44% |
|
Liberal Democrat | Karen Freel | 2,271 | 5.52% |
|
Socialist Labour Party | Louise McDaid | 501 | 1.22% |
 |
Referendum | Ian Winton | 440 | 1.07% |
|
Lab hold | Lab majority | 11,039 | 26.84% |
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