Shona McIsaac

Shona McIsaac (born 3 April 1960) is a British Labour Party politician. She was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Cleethorpes from 1997 to 2010. She was defeated by Conservative candidate Martin Vickers in the 2010 election.

Shona McIsaac
Member of Parliament
for Cleethorpes
In office
1 May 1997 – 12 April 2010
Preceded byConstituency created
Succeeded byMartin Vickers
Personal details
Born (1960-04-03) 3 April 1960
Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland
Political partyLabour
SpousePeter Keith
Alma materDurham University

Early life

McIsaac was born in Dunfermline, Fife in Scotland.

Before politics

She went to the SHAPE High School in Mons in Belgium, then Barne Barton Secondary Modern school in St Budeaux and Stoke Damerel High School for Girls in Stoke, Plymouth, which closed in 1986. She read for a BSc in Geography at St. Aidan's College of University of Durham, being taught by David Bellamy, and graduated in 1981.

She wrote and worked on women's weekly magazines, being deputy chief sub-editor of Bella, senior sub-editor of Chat and chief sub-editor of Woman.[1]

Parliament

McIsaac started her political career as a councillor to the London Borough of Wandsworth in the Tooting ward in 1990. She was selected to stand for election for Labour in Cleethorpes through an all-women shortlist. She won the Cleethorpes seat with a majority of over 9,000, defeating Michael Brown, the sitting MP for the predecessor seat of Brigg and Cleethorpes. She was re-elected in 2001 with a majority of 5,620, and again four years later, finishing over 2,000 votes ahead of her Conservative rival.

She served as a Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Minister of State within the Department of Health.[2]

McIsaac proposed a bill limiting the use of fireworks, and supported anti-fox hunting measures.

McIsaac was described as a 'government loyalist' and a "super loyal backbencher".[3] According to the website TheyWorkForYou.com, McIsaac rarely rebelled against the Government, with the BBC stating "she regards it almost as a duty to support the government's agenda".[3] She supported the Government in the vote on the war in Iraq.[4]

In October 2009, following significant research, McIsaac launched a small campaign to raise awareness of the poor state of many of Britain's war memorials.[5] Her principal case study was of the war memorial in Wold Newton, a small village in her constituency.[6] She spoke on the subject in the House of Commons[7] and an article appeared in the Telegraph.[8]

In May 2010, she was defeated by Martin Vickers, losing by just over 4,000 votes. Following the general election, she blamed Gordon Brown personally on television for Labour's defeat.

Personal life

McIsaac lives in Cleethorpes with her husband Peter Keith, whom she married in 1994.[1] Keith unsuccessfully contested the seat of Cleethorpes in 2015 and 2017.

References
  1. "Candidate: Shona McIsaac". BBC News. Retrieved 30 March 2010.
  2. "The Public Whip — Voting Record - MPS for Cleethorpes".
  3. Mp, Labour (18 October 2002). "Shona McIsaac". BBC News. Retrieved 30 March 2010.
  4. "Shona McIsaac, former MP, Cleethorpes".
  5. "Wold Newton". Archived from the original on 25 July 2011. Retrieved 25 July 2011.
  6. "War and Memorials - Wold Newton".
  7. "House of Commons Hansard Debates for 21 Oct 2009 (Pt 0022)". Archived from the original on 4 June 2011. Retrieved 24 January 2010.
  8. Collins, Nick (27 October 2009). "Britain's war memorials in disrepair". The Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved 30 March 2010.

News items


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