Gavin Steel Strang (born 10 July 1943) is a

Scottish Labour Party Scottish Labour (), is the part of the UK Labour Party active in Scotland. Ideologically social democratic and unionist, it holds 23 of 129 seats in the Scottish Parliament and 37 of 57 Scottish seats in the House of Commons. It is repres ...

politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for

Edinburgh East Edinburgh East was a burgh constituency of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elected one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election. It existed ...

from

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 1970 Tonghai earthquake, Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli ...

until

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

(including two terms for Edinburgh East and Musselburgh). He served as a minister in the 1974–79 Labour government under Prime Ministers

Harold Wilson James Harold Wilson, Baron Wilson of Rievaulx (11 March 1916 – 23 May 1995) was a British statesman and Labour Party (UK), Labour Party politician who twice served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, from 1964 to 1970 and again from 197 ...

and

James Callaghan Leonard James Callaghan, Baron Callaghan of Cardiff ( ; 27 March 191226 March 2005) was a British statesman and Labour Party (UK), Labour Party politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1976 to 1979 and Leader of the L ...

, as well as in the Cabinet under

Tony Blair Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He was Leader ...

. By the time of his retirement at the 2010 general election, he was the longest-serving Scottish MP.

Early life

A farmer's son, Strang grew up in

Perthshire Perthshire (Scottish English, locally: ; ), officially the County of Perth, is a Shires of Scotland, historic county and registration county in central Scotland. Geographically it extends from Strathmore, Angus and Perth & Kinross, Strathmore ...

and attended the independent Morrison's Academy in

Crieff Crieff (; , meaning "tree") is a Scottish market town in Perth and Kinross on the A85 road between Perth, Scotland, Perth and Crianlarich, and the A822 road, A822 between Greenloaning and Aberfeldy, Scotland, Aberfeldy. The A822 road, A822 joins ...

. After gaining a BSc in Genetics from the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...

in 1964, he gained a Diploma in Agricultural Science from

Churchill College, Cambridge Churchill College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. It has a primary focus on science, engineering and technology, but retains a strong interest in the arts ...

and a PhD in Agricultural Science from Edinburgh, presenting the thesis ''"The genetic aspects of litter productivity in British pigs"''. From 1966 to 1968, he was a member of the Tayside Economic Planning Consultative Group and, from 1968 to 1970, was a scientist at the

Agricultural and Food Research Council The Agricultural and Food Research Council (AFRC) was a British Research Council responsible for funding and managing scientific and technological developments in farming and horticulture. History The AFRC was formed in 1983 from its predecessor ...

and Animal Breeding Research Organisation in Edinburgh.

Parliamentary career

Strang was first elected in the 1970 general election after Labour MP George Willis, who had represented

since a 1954 by-election, retired. Strang was a minister under

and

, serving as Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department of Energy in 1974 and then at the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food until 1979. In 1990, he was the last person to ask

Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013), was a British stateswoman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of th ...

a question at

Prime Minister's Questions Prime Minister's Questions (PMQs, officially known as Questions to the Prime Minister, while colloquially known as Prime Minister's Question Time) is a constitutional convention (political custom), constitutional convention in the United Kingd ...

, which he used to criticise her impact on communities and the poor during her time in office. Following the 1997 general election, Strang was made Minister of State for Transport with a seat in the Cabinet. However, he was sacked in June 1998. After becoming a backbencher, he was sometimes critical of government policy. He campaigned against the privatisation of National Air Traffic Services, and on 31 October 2006, was one of twelve Labour MPs to back

Plaid Cymru Plaid Cymru ( ; , ; officially Plaid Cymru – the Party of Wales, and often referred to simply as Plaid) is a centre-left, Welsh nationalist list of political parties in Wales, political party in Wales, committed to Welsh independence from th ...

and the

Scottish National Party The Scottish National Party (SNP; ) is a Scottish nationalist and social democratic party. The party holds 61 of the 129 seats in the Scottish Parliament, and holds 9 out of the 57 Scottish seats in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, ...

's call for an inquiry into the

Iraq War The Iraq War (), also referred to as the Second Gulf War, was a prolonged conflict in Iraq lasting from 2003 to 2011. It began with 2003 invasion of Iraq, the invasion by a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition, which ...

. From 1997 to the 2005 general election, his seat was named Edinburgh East and Musselburgh. Strang was a member of the Tribune Group of MPs and the Campaign for Labour Party Democracy. He was Chairman of the All-Party Group for World Government and served on the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee. In November 2007, he announced he would stand down at the next

general election A general election is an electoral process to choose most or all members of a governing body at the same time. They are distinct from By-election, by-elections, which fill individual seats that have become vacant between general elections. Gener ...

, but later reversed the decision. On 27 June 2008, Strang again changed his mind, and announced that he would indeed stand down at the next general election.

Personal life

Strang married Bettina in 1973. They have a son, and he has two step sons. His wife has been the chair of the arm of the advocacy organisation Europa Donna. Bettina died in 2016.

References

External links

Guardian Unlimited Politics – Ask Aristotle: Gavin Strang MP

TheyWorkForYou.com – Gavin Strang MP

BBC Politics
* *http://www.genetics.med.ed.ac.uk , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Strang, Gavin 1943 births Living people Alumni of Churchill College, Cambridge Alumni of the University of Edinburgh People educated at Morrison's Academy Scottish Labour MPs Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Edinburgh constituencies People from Crieff Transport and General Workers' Union-sponsored MPs UK MPs 1970–1974 UK MPs 1974 UK MPs 1974–1979 UK MPs 1979–1983 UK MPs 1983–1987 UK MPs 1987–1992 UK MPs 1992–1997 UK MPs 1997–2001 UK MPs 2001–2005 UK MPs 2005–2010 New Labour