Hugh Lawrence Gaffney (born 10 August 1963) is a

Scottish Labour Scottish Labour (), is the part of the UK Labour Party (UK), Labour Party active in Scotland. Ideologically social democratic and Unionism in the United Kingdom, unionist, it holds 23 of 129 seats in the Scottish Parliament and 37 of 57 Sco ...

politician who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for

Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill Coatbridge and Bellshill is a constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament (MP) using the first-past-the-post voting system. It has been represented since 2024 by Frank McNall ...

from 2017 to 2019. He was a Member of

North Lanarkshire North Lanarkshire (; ) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland. It borders the north-east of the Glasgow City council area and contains many of Glasgow's suburbs, commuter towns, and villages. It also borders East Dunbartonshire, Falkirk (co ...

Council from 2017 to 2019.

Early life

Gaffney was raised in

Uddingston Uddingston (, ) is a small town in South Lanarkshire, Scotland. It is on the north side of the River Clyde, south-east of Glasgow city centre, and acts as a dormitory suburb for the city. Geography and boundaries Uddingston is located to t ...

South Lanarkshire South Lanarkshire (; ) is one of 32 unitary authorities of Scotland. It borders the south-east of the Glasgow City council area and contains some of Greater Glasgow's suburban towns, as well as many rural towns and villages. It also shares bor ...

; he has three brothers and two sisters. He is married and has three sons. Since he was in his twenties, until being elected, Gaffney worked for

Royal Mail Royal Mail Group Limited, trading as Royal Mail, is a British postal service and courier company. It is owned by International Distribution Services. It operates the brands Royal Mail (letters and parcels) and Parcelforce Worldwide (parcels) ...

and

Parcelforce Parcelforce Worldwide is a courier and logistics service in the United Kingdom. Parcelforce Worldwide is a trading name of Royal Mail, which is a subsidiary of International Distribution Services, and is organised within the UK Parcels, Inte ...

, and wore his former work uniform to Westminster on his first day 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 ...

Political career

Gaffney was elected to the

Council in 2017, representing the Thorniewood ward. In the 2017 general election, he stood as the Labour candidate for

, defeating the incumbent

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, ...

Phil Boswell Philip John Boswell (born 23 July 1963) is a Scottish National Party (SNP) politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill from 2015 to 2017. Early life and career Phil Boswell was born in Bellshill, r ...

. In the

2017 Scottish Labour leadership election Seventeen or 17 may refer to: *17 (number) * One of the years 17 BC, AD 17, 1917, 2017, 2117 Science * Chlorine, a halogen in the periodic table * 17 Thetis, an asteroid in the asteroid belt Literature Magazines * ''Seventeen'' (America ...

, Gaffney supported

Richard Leonard Richard Leonard (born January 1962) is a British politician who served as Leader of the Scottish Labour Party from 2017 to 2021. He has been a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP), as one of the additional members for the Central Scotland ...

to succeed

Kezia Dugdale Kezia Alexandra Ross Dugdale (born 28 August 1981) is a Scottish former politician who served as Leader of the Scottish Labour Party from 2015 to 2017. A former member of the Scottish Labour Party and Co-operative Party, she was a Member of th ...

to be

leader over the alternative candidate

Anas Sarwar Anas Sarwar (born 14 March 1983) is a Scottish Labour and Co-operative Party, Co-operative politician who has served as Leader of the Scottish Labour Party since 2021 Scottish Labour leadership election, 2021. He has been a Member of the Scottis ...

; Gaffney's own Constituency Labour Party (CLP) took a firm stance on supporting Leonard's campaign. In January 2018, Gaffney made jokes at a Labour Students Burns supper in which he used the phrases "bent" to describe gay people and "chinky" to describe Chinese food. He was not suspended from the Labour Party but instead given mandatory equality and diversity training. He later also apologised for the jokes. Gaffney resigned as a councillor in North Lanarkshire Council in July 2019, triggering a council by-election. In his resignation letter to the council's chief executive, Gaffney said he had been privileged to serve the community into which he had been born and bred. In the general election of December 2019, he was defeated by Steven Bonnar of the SNP.

Personal life

In 2010 Gaffney was one of the founding members of the Keir Hardie Society, alongside Scottish author and longtime Labour member Bob Holman and former Scottish Labour leader

, with whom Gaffney has been friends since the 1990s. Gaffney supports Albion Rovers Football Club.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gaffney, Hugh Living people Scottish Labour MPs UK MPs 2017–2019 Scottish Labour councillors 1963 births People from Uddingston Royal Mail people Councillors in North Lanarkshire Politicians from South Lanarkshire