Margaret Anne Ewing (''née'' McAdam, formerly Bain; 1 September 1945 – 21 March 2006) was a
Scottish
Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including:
*Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland
*Scottish English
*Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...
politician and journalist. She served as a
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, ...
(SNP)
Member of Parliament for
East Dunbartonshire
East Dunbartonshire (; , ) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland. It borders Glasgow City Council Area to the south, North Lanarkshire to the east, Stirling (council area), Stirling to the north, and West Dunbartonshire to the west. East ...
from 1974 to 1979 and
Moray
Moray ( ; or ) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland. It lies in the north-east of the country, with a coastline on the Moray Firth, and borders the council areas of Aberdeenshire and Highland. Its council is based in Elgin, the area' ...
from 1987 to 2001, and was the
Member of the Scottish Parliament
Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP; ; ) is the title given to any one of the 129 individuals elected to serve in the Scottish Parliament.
Electoral system
The additional member system produces a form of proportional representation, where ...
(MSP) for
Moray
Moray ( ; or ) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland. It lies in the north-east of the country, with a coastline on the Moray Firth, and borders the council areas of Aberdeenshire and Highland. Its council is based in Elgin, the area' ...
from 1999 until 2006.
Ewing was Deputy Leader of the Scottish National Party from 1984 to 1987 and leader of the SNP parliamentary group in the
House of Commons
The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...
from 1987 to 1999. She was a candidate for the SNP leadership in 1990.
Early life and career
Ewing was born Margaret Anne McAdam in
Lanark
Lanark ( ; ; ) is a town in South Lanarkshire, Scotland, located 20 kilometres to the south-east of Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, Hamilton. The town lies on the River Clyde, at its confluence with Mouse Water. In 2016, the town had a populatio ...
, the daughter of John McAdam, a farm labourer.
She was educated at
Biggar High School. At the age of twelve she was diagnosed with tuberculosis with a thirteen-month stay in hospital on account of this.
She went on to study at the
University of Glasgow
The University of Glasgow (abbreviated as ''Glas.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals; ) is a Public university, public research university in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded by papal bull in , it is the List of oldest universities in continuous ...
, graduating with an
MA degree in English language and
literature
Literature is any collection of Writing, written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially novels, Play (theatre), plays, and poetry, poems. It includes both print and Electroni ...
.
She was an English teacher at
St Modan's High School in
Stirling
Stirling (; ; ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in Central Belt, central Scotland, northeast of Glasgow and north-west of Edinburgh. The market town#Scotland, market town, surrounded by rich farmland, grew up connecting the roya ...
from 1970 to 1973, before serving as principal teacher of
remedial education
Remedial education (also known as developmental education, basic skills education, compensatory education, preparatory education, and academic upgrading) is assigned to assist students in order to achieve expected competencies in core academic sk ...
from 1973 to 1974.
Political career
Ewing joined the Scottish National Party as a student in 1966 and was president of the student group at the university. She was elected as
Member of Parliament (MP) for
East Dunbartonshire
East Dunbartonshire (; , ) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland. It borders Glasgow City Council Area to the south, North Lanarkshire to the east, Stirling (council area), Stirling to the north, and West Dunbartonshire to the west. East ...
at the
October 1974 election, by just 22 votes, when she was known as Margaret Bain; she had failed to win the seat at the
previous election in February. In 1976 during a devolution debate she told the House of Commons that she identified as a Scot, a European and "a citizen of the world", but did not "feel British" and had "never identified... as British".
At one point she burst into tears in the House of Commons when a devolution proposal was defeated. With the downturn in SNP electoral fortunes at the
1979 Election she lost her seat in the House of Commons. After working for a period as an administrator in social services in Glasgow, she unsuccessfully contested the
Strathkelvin and Bearsden constituency at the
1983 Election.
Ewing then worked as a freelance journalist.
Now known as Margaret Ewing, she was selected by the SNP as their candidate for
Moray
Moray ( ; or ) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland. It lies in the north-east of the country, with a coastline on the Moray Firth, and borders the council areas of Aberdeenshire and Highland. Its council is based in Elgin, the area' ...
at the
1987 election. She was re-elected to
Westminster
Westminster is the main settlement of the City of Westminster in Central London, Central London, England. It extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street and has many famous landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, Buckingham Palace, ...
and again in
1992
1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations.
Events January
* January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General.
* January 6
** The Republ ...
and
1997
Events January
* January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States.
* January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis.
* January 1 ...
, holding this seat until standing down at the
2001 general election to concentrate on
Holyrood. She stood for the leadership of the SNP in 1990 but lost out to
Alex Salmond
Alexander Elliot Anderson Salmond ( ; 31 December 1954 – 12 October 2024) was a Scottish politician who served as First Minister of Scotland from 2007 to 2014. A prominent figure in the Scottish nationalist movement, he was Leader of the Sc ...
despite the backing of many prominent SNP members (such as
Jim Sillars). Ewing had become leader of the SNP's parliamentary group after the 1987 election. The leadership vacancy was caused by the fact that the SNP Chairman
Gordon Wilson had lost his seat at Dundee
Dundee East and previous group leader
Donald Stewart had retired from parliament. While the three SNP MPs elected in 1987 had not been members of the previous parliament, both Ewing and
Andrew Welsh had served in parliament in the past. A post-election meeting held at
Perth
Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...
between Ewing, Welsh, Salmond (newly elected as MP for
Banff and Buchan
Banff and Buchan is a committee area of the Aberdeenshire Council, Scotland, covering an area along the northern coast of the council area. The main towns are Banff and Fraserburgh. Fishing and agriculture are important industries, together with ...
) and Wilson led to Ewing's appointment with Welsh becoming the group's chief whip.
In 1999, at the
first Scottish Parliament election she was returned to represent
Moray
Moray ( ; or ) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland. It lies in the north-east of the country, with a coastline on the Moray Firth, and borders the council areas of Aberdeenshire and Highland. Its council is based in Elgin, the area' ...
. She was returned again in
2003
2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater.
In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War.
Demographic ...
.
In August 2005, Ewing had announced that she was not seeking re-election at the
2007 Scottish Parliament elections. The SNP comfortably retained her vacant seat at the
by-election
A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, or a bypoll in India, is an election used to fill an office that has become vacant between general elections.
A vacancy may arise as a result of an incumben ...
which took place on 27 April 2006.
Death
Ewing died from breast cancer, aged 60, on 21 March 2006.
Family
She was married twice: firstly to Donald Bain, a SNP research officer in 1968 (divorced 1980),
and secondly to
Fergus Ewing in 1983, who is the son of
Winnie Ewing and who also became a
Member of the Scottish Parliament
Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP; ; ) is the title given to any one of the 129 individuals elected to serve in the Scottish Parliament.
Electoral system
The additional member system produces a form of proportional representation, where ...
. Her sister-in-law
Annabelle Ewing is also an SNP politician.
References
External links
*
*
SNP tribute pageSNP veteran Margaret Ewing dies(BBC)
Times obituary
, -
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ewing, Margaret
1945 births
2006 deaths
Deaths from breast cancer in Scotland
Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Scottish constituencies
Female members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Scottish constituencies
Politics of Moray
Scottish journalists
Scottish women journalists
Scottish National Party MPs
Scottish National Party MSPs
Scottish schoolteachers
Alumni of the University of Glasgow
Alumni of the University of Strathclyde
UK MPs 1974–1979
UK MPs 1987–1992
UK MPs 1992–1997
UK MPs 1997–2001
Members of the Scottish Parliament 1999–2003
Members of the Scottish Parliament 2003–2007
Female members of the Scottish Parliament
20th-century Scottish women politicians
M