Douglas Crawford

(George) Douglas Crawford (1 November 1939 – 17 April 2002) was a Scottish politician and journalist, educated at Glasgow Academy and St Catharine's College, Cambridge before working as a journalist in London.[1] He was an Industrial Correspondent for the Glasgow Herald newspaper from 1963 to 1966, and then worked as Head of Publications for the Scottish Council for Development and Industry.

Douglas Crawford
Member of the United Kingdom Parliament
for Perth and East Perthshire
In office
1974–1979
Personal details
Born1 November 1939 (1939-11)
Died17 April 2002 (aged 62)
Campbeltown, Scotland, United Kingdom
Political partyScottish National Party (SNP)

A convinced believer in the benefits of Scottish independence, he worked unofficially as an adviser and researcher to Winnie Ewing whilst she was the sole Scottish National Party parliamentarian from 1967 till 1970. He also served as SNP Director of Communications in the late 1960s before becoming a Vice-Chairman of the party in the early 1970s.

He was elected as Member of Parliament (MP) for Perth and East Perthshire at the October 1974 election as the party increased its number of representatives from 7 to 11. Elected with a majority of 793, he was given the financial portfolio in the SNP Parliamentary grouping, but lost his seat at the 1979 general election along with 8 of his colleagues. Although he garnered only 287 fewer votes than he had when he was elected, the Conservatives increased their vote by 3,609 to leave Crawford trailing by 3,103 votes.

Not long after his defeat he suffered a cerebral haemorrhage from which he recovered to contest the Perth and Kinross constituency in the 1983 election, but lost to Nicholas Fairbairn, the Conservative incumbent MP, who won with a 6,733 majority.

Crawford died in 2002 in Campbeltown.[1] He married (and later divorced) journalist Joan Burnie, with whom he had two children. His son, Ewan, at one stage worked for former SNP leader John Swinney.

References
  1. "Ex-MP and Herald journalist Crawford dies aged 62". The Herald. Glasgow. 19 April 2002. Retrieved 3 April 2017.
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Ian MacArthur		 Member of Parliament for Perth & East Perthshire
October 1974 – 1979		 Succeeded by
Bill Walker
Party political offices
Preceded by
Isobel Lindsay		 Scottish National Party Vice Chair (Publicity)
1974–1975		 Succeeded by
Janette Jones
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.