Gregg McClymont (born 3 June 1976) is a retirement expert, historian and former politician. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch East from

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 ...

until

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

Background and personal life

Born and brought up in Cumbernauld, he attended Kildrum Primary School and Cumbernauld High School from 1981 until 1993. He read history 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 in 1997, the year when he was also chair of Scottish Labour Students, before winning the Thouron Scholarship to study at the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

. Returning to Britain, he wrote a doctoral thesis in modern British history at

St John's College, Oxford St John's College is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford. Founded as a men's college in 1555, it has been coeducational since 1979.Communication from Michael Riordan, college archivist Its foun ...

. Subsequently, he became a tutorial fellow at

St Hugh's College, Oxford St Hugh's College is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford. It is located on a site on St Margaret's Road, to the north of the city centre. It was founded in 1886 by Elizabeth Wordsworth as a ...

, where he taught until May 2010.

Political life

He was selected to replace outgoing Labour MP Rosemary McKenna to fight the seat of Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch East at the 2010 general election. He won the seat with a 13,755 majority and over 57% of the votes cast. In parliament, McClymont sat on the House of Commons select committees on science and technology, and business, innovation and skills; and held the post of Parliamentary Private Secretary to shadow Secretary of State for Scotland Ann McKechin. In early 2011, he moved on to the Labour front bench as an assistant whip, before becoming the Shadow Pensions Minister for the

Department for Work and Pensions The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom. It is responsible for welfare spending, welfare, pensions and child maintenance ...

in October 2011. As Shadow Pensions Minister McClymont described proposals to reform annuities as a "good thing", but argued the

coalition A coalition is formed when two or more people or groups temporarily work together to achieve a common goal. The term is most frequently used to denote a formation of power in political, military, or economic spaces. Formation According to ''A G ...

's plans "lacked clarity". He also claimed that changes to pension credit schemes would see many pensioners getting a rise in pensions of just 87p. McClymont has been a strong critic of the British Government's economic policy. He has argued repeatedly in parliament for stronger safeguards for post offices following the privatisation of the Royal Mail. He has also sought to highlight the impact changes to housing benefit will have on his constituents in Cumbernauld as well as campaigning for compensation for victims of terror attacks overseas.

Academic publications

* McClymont, Gregg (2008)
"Socialism, Puritanism and Hedonism: The Parliamentary Labour Party's Attitude to Gambling, 1923–31"
''Twentieth Century British History''. 19 (3): 288–313. . * McClymong, Gregg (2011)
"The Cultural Politics of Tory Socialism: The Clarion in the Labour Movement During the 1890s"
In Griffiths, Clare; Nott, James J.; Whyte, William, eds. ''Classes, Cultures and Politics: Essays on British History for Ross McKibbin''. Oxford: Oxford University Press. . .

References

External links

Official website
*
Cumbernauldnl.info Chat to Gregg McClymont MP
* {{DEFAULTSORT:McClymont, Gregg 1976 births Living people Scottish Labour MPs UK MPs 2010–2015 Alumni of the University of Glasgow Fellows of St Hugh's College, Oxford People from Cumbernauld People educated at Cumbernauld Academy Politicians from North Lanarkshire