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John Mason (Scottish politician)
Encyclopedia
John Fingland Mason MSP
(born 15 May 1957) is a Scottish politician and the Scottish National Party
Member
of the Scottish Parliament
for Glasgow Shettleston
.
He was the SNP
Member of Parliament
for Glasgow East
from 2008
to 2010.
, Mason has lived in the East End of Glasgow for 20 years. His father was an electrical engineer and his mother a teacher.
He studied Accounting at the University of Glasgow
becoming an ICAS
Chartered Accountant
.
He worked for housing associations, nursing homes, and with a charity in London. He also spent three years in Kathmandu, Nepal
with an NGO (United Mission to Nepal
) representing churches from across the world. Mason is opposed to abortion
.
Mason is a supporter of Scottish First Division football team Clyde
and his other interests include involvement in Easterhouse Baptist Church, hill-walking, camping and reading (Scottish history).
for the Garrowhill
ward
in Glasgow City Council at a by-election in 1998 and was re-elected in 1999 and 2003.
He was elected in 2007 as the councillor for the new ward of Baillieston
, achieving the highest personal vote of any councillor in Glasgow
.
He rose to become the Leader of the Opposition in Glasgow City Council and led the SNP Council Group on the majority Labour-run Council between 1999 and 2008. He was the SNP's longest serving Glasgow councillor and during his term he led many protests against Labour's moves to weaken effective opposition by altering the council committee system.
In his ward, he attended a wide variety of community groups, including Garrowhill
and Swinton
Community Council
s, local school boards, tenants association, and Garrowhill Action Partnership. He was also on the management committee of Tenant Controlled Housing which aims to give local tenants control of their housing in place of Glasgow Housing Association
(GHA).
on the grounds of ill-health, thereby triggering a by-election
. In the days following Marshall's resignation, controversies emerged surrounding his House of Commons expenses, which included allegations of payments to family members. The decision by Labour to call a quick by-election (set for 24 July 2008) was partly attributed to Labour's troubled finances and fears of an SNP campaign building up enough momentum.John Mason was selected as SNP candidate for Glasgow East on 3 July.
After few weeks of major campaigning, John Mason won the by-election
in a surprise victory, defeating the Labour candidate Margaret Curran, MSP
for Glasgow Baillieston. Mason overturned a Labour majority of more than 13,500 to win the seat on a swing of more than 22%. It was Labour's third safest seat in Scotland.
As promised during the by-election, Mason resigned his council seat immediately after his election as MP. The subsequent by-election was won by the SNP. Mason served as the SNP's Westminster spokesperson on Work and Pensions
during his tenure as an MP. From 2009 until losing his seat in 2010, he also sat on the House of Common's Select Committee on Administration
. In an interview with the Guardian newspaper in April 2010, when questioned about his beliefs and how that could conflict with the rights of others in the UK, Mason acknowledged the difficulty that this issue raised with him, informing the newspaper that he had been warned to leave this issue alone by his party,
On 7 April 2010 he had the distinction of being the last MP to ask a question of Gordon Brown
in the final Prime Minister's Questions
of that Parliament.
seat with a majority of 586 votes. The turnout was 37.7%. During his time in Holyrood so far, Mason has called on the Scottish Government to make housing investment its top priority.
Coverage of the Glasgow East by-election, 2008
Member of the Scottish Parliament
Member of the Scottish Parliament is the title given to any one of the 129 individuals elected to serve in the Scottish Parliament.-Methods of Election:MSPs are elected in one of two ways:...
(born 15 May 1957) is a Scottish politician and the Scottish National Party
Scottish National Party
The Scottish National Party is a social-democratic political party in Scotland which campaigns for Scottish independence from the United Kingdom....
Member
Member of the Scottish Parliament
Member of the Scottish Parliament is the title given to any one of the 129 individuals elected to serve in the Scottish Parliament.-Methods of Election:MSPs are elected in one of two ways:...
of the Scottish Parliament
Scottish Parliament
The Scottish Parliament is the devolved national, unicameral legislature of Scotland, located in the Holyrood area of the capital, Edinburgh. The Parliament, informally referred to as "Holyrood", is a democratically elected body comprising 129 members known as Members of the Scottish Parliament...
for Glasgow Shettleston
Glasgow Shettleston (Scottish Parliament constituency)
Glasgow Shettleston is a constituency of the Scottish Parliament . It elects one Member of the Scottish Parliament by the plurality method of election...
.
He was the SNP
Scottish National Party
The Scottish National Party is a social-democratic political party in Scotland which campaigns for Scottish independence from the United Kingdom....
Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
for Glasgow East
Glasgow East (UK Parliament constituency)
Glasgow East is a constituency of the British House of Commons, located in the city of Glasgow, Scotland. It elects one Member of Parliament at least once every five years using the First-past-the-post system of voting....
from 2008
Glasgow East by-election, 2008
The 2008 Glasgow East by-election was a by-election for the UK Parliamentary constituency of Glasgow East which was held on 24 July 2008. The election was triggered when, on 30 June 2008, the sitting MP David Marshall stood down due to ill health....
to 2010.
Background
Originally from RutherglenRutherglen
Rutherglen is a town in South Lanarkshire, Scotland. In 1975, it lost its own local council and administratively became a component of the City of Glasgow. In 1996 Rutherglen was reallocated to the South Lanarkshire council area.-History:...
, Mason has lived in the East End of Glasgow for 20 years. His father was an electrical engineer and his mother a teacher.
He studied Accounting at the University of Glasgow
University of Glasgow
The University of Glasgow is the fourth-oldest university in the English-speaking world and one of Scotland's four ancient universities. Located in Glasgow, the university was founded in 1451 and is presently one of seventeen British higher education institutions ranked amongst the top 100 of the...
becoming an ICAS
Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland
The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland is the Scottish professional body of Chartered Accountants . It is a regulator, educator and influencer.ICAS act as a thought leader and voice of the professional business community...
Chartered Accountant
Chartered Accountant
Chartered Accountants were the first accountants to form a professional body, initially established in Britain in 1854. The Edinburgh Society of Accountants , the Glasgow Institute of Accountants and Actuaries and the Aberdeen Society of Accountants were each granted a royal charter almost from...
.
He worked for housing associations, nursing homes, and with a charity in London. He also spent three years in Kathmandu, Nepal
Nepal
Nepal , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked sovereign state located in South Asia. It is located in the Himalayas and bordered to the north by the People's Republic of China, and to the south, east, and west by the Republic of India...
with an NGO (United Mission to Nepal
United Mission to Nepal
The United Mission to Nepal was established in 1954 as a co-operative missionary endeavour between the people of Nepal and a number of Christian groups working along the border in India...
) representing churches from across the world. Mason is opposed to abortion
Abortion
Abortion is defined as the termination of pregnancy by the removal or expulsion from the uterus of a fetus or embryo prior to viability. An abortion can occur spontaneously, in which case it is usually called a miscarriage, or it can be purposely induced...
.
Mason is a supporter of Scottish First Division football team Clyde
Clyde F.C.
Clyde Football Club are a Scottish professional football team currently playing in the Third Division of the Scottish Football League. Although based for the last fifteen years in the new town of Cumbernauld, they are traditionally associated with an area that covers Rutherglen in South...
and his other interests include involvement in Easterhouse Baptist Church, hill-walking, camping and reading (Scottish history).
Councillor
Mason has lived in the East End of Glasgow for the past 20 years and was elected as the councillorCouncillor
A councillor or councilor is a member of a local government council, such as a city council.Often in the United States, the title is councilman or councilwoman.-United Kingdom:...
for the Garrowhill
Garrowhill
Garrowhill is an area of Glasgow, Scotland, 7 miles east of its city centre.For an aerial photograph of Garrowhill, go to Garrowhill railway station is on the North Clyde Line....
ward
Wards of the United Kingdom
A ward in the United Kingdom is an electoral district at sub-national level represented by one or more councillors. It is the primary unit of British administrative and electoral geography .-England:...
in Glasgow City Council at a by-election in 1998 and was re-elected in 1999 and 2003.
He was elected in 2007 as the councillor for the new ward of Baillieston
Baillieston
Baillieston is a suburb of Glasgow, Scotland. It is about 7 miles east of the city centre.It is also the name of Ward 20 of Glasgow City Council...
, achieving the highest personal vote of any councillor in Glasgow
Glasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
.
He rose to become the Leader of the Opposition in Glasgow City Council and led the SNP Council Group on the majority Labour-run Council between 1999 and 2008. He was the SNP's longest serving Glasgow councillor and during his term he led many protests against Labour's moves to weaken effective opposition by altering the council committee system.
In his ward, he attended a wide variety of community groups, including Garrowhill
Garrowhill
Garrowhill is an area of Glasgow, Scotland, 7 miles east of its city centre.For an aerial photograph of Garrowhill, go to Garrowhill railway station is on the North Clyde Line....
and Swinton
Swinton, Glasgow
Swinton is an eastern suburb of the Scottish city of Glasgow, north of the areas of Baillieston and Garrowhill and is now concurrent with the nineteenth century Easterhouse village. Easterhouse train station gives direct access to the centre of Glasgow....
Community Council
Community council
A community council is a public representative body in Great Britain.In England they may be statutory parish councils by another name, under the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007, or they may be non-statutory bodies...
s, local school boards, tenants association, and Garrowhill Action Partnership. He was also on the management committee of Tenant Controlled Housing which aims to give local tenants control of their housing in place of Glasgow Housing Association
Glasgow Housing Association
Glasgow Housing Association is one of the largest social landlords in the UK, with more than 50,000 tenants and 26,500 factored homeowners across Glasgow....
(GHA).
Elected as Member of Parliament
On 30 June 2008 David Marshall, Labour MP for Glasgow East, resigned from the UK ParliamentParliament of the United Kingdom
The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom, British Crown dependencies and British overseas territories, located in London...
on the grounds of ill-health, thereby triggering a by-election
Glasgow East by-election, 2008
The 2008 Glasgow East by-election was a by-election for the UK Parliamentary constituency of Glasgow East which was held on 24 July 2008. The election was triggered when, on 30 June 2008, the sitting MP David Marshall stood down due to ill health....
. In the days following Marshall's resignation, controversies emerged surrounding his House of Commons expenses, which included allegations of payments to family members. The decision by Labour to call a quick by-election (set for 24 July 2008) was partly attributed to Labour's troubled finances and fears of an SNP campaign building up enough momentum.John Mason was selected as SNP candidate for Glasgow East on 3 July.
After few weeks of major campaigning, John Mason won the by-election
Glasgow East by-election, 2008
The 2008 Glasgow East by-election was a by-election for the UK Parliamentary constituency of Glasgow East which was held on 24 July 2008. The election was triggered when, on 30 June 2008, the sitting MP David Marshall stood down due to ill health....
in a surprise victory, defeating the Labour candidate Margaret Curran, MSP
Member of the Scottish Parliament
Member of the Scottish Parliament is the title given to any one of the 129 individuals elected to serve in the Scottish Parliament.-Methods of Election:MSPs are elected in one of two ways:...
for Glasgow Baillieston. Mason overturned a Labour majority of more than 13,500 to win the seat on a swing of more than 22%. It was Labour's third safest seat in Scotland.
As promised during the by-election, Mason resigned his council seat immediately after his election as MP. The subsequent by-election was won by the SNP. Mason served as the SNP's Westminster spokesperson on Work and Pensions
Department for Work and Pensions
The Department for Work and Pensions is the largest government department in the United Kingdom, created on June 8, 2001 from the merger of the employment part of the Department for Education and Employment and the Department of Social Security and headed by the Secretary of State for Work and...
during his tenure as an MP. From 2009 until losing his seat in 2010, he also sat on the House of Common's Select Committee on Administration
Administration Committee
The Administration Committee is a select committee of the House of Commons in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It has a remit "to consider the services provided for and by the House of Commons"...
. In an interview with the Guardian newspaper in April 2010, when questioned about his beliefs and how that could conflict with the rights of others in the UK, Mason acknowledged the difficulty that this issue raised with him, informing the newspaper that he had been warned to leave this issue alone by his party,
On 7 April 2010 he had the distinction of being the last MP to ask a question of Gordon Brown
Gordon Brown
James Gordon Brown is a British Labour Party politician who was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 until 2010. He previously served as Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Labour Government from 1997 to 2007...
in the final Prime Minister's Questions
Prime Minister's Questions
Prime minister's questions is a constitutional convention in the United Kingdom that takes place every Wednesday during which the prime minister spends half an hour answering questions from members of parliament...
of that Parliament.
Member of the Scottish Parliament
In the 2011 Scottish parliamentary election, he defeated his main rival, Labour's Frank McAveety, to win the Glasgow ShettlestonGlasgow Shettleston (Scottish Parliament constituency)
Glasgow Shettleston is a constituency of the Scottish Parliament . It elects one Member of the Scottish Parliament by the plurality method of election...
seat with a majority of 586 votes. The turnout was 37.7%. During his time in Holyrood so far, Mason has called on the Scottish Government to make housing investment its top priority.
External links
Coverage of the Glasgow East by-election, 2008