James McGovern (born 17 November 1956) 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 was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Dundee West from

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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 ...

Early life

McGovern was born in Glasgow, but moved to

Dundee Dundee (; ; or , ) is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, fourth-largest city in Scotland. The mid-year population estimate for the locality was . It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firt ...

at the age of 9. He was educated at the Catholic Lawside Academy. He left school at the age of 15 and at the age of 16 began an apprenticeship as a

glazier A glazier is a tradesperson responsible for cutting, installing, and removing glass (and materials used as substitutes for glass, such as some plastics).Elizabeth H. Oakes, ''Ferguson Career Resource Guide to Apprenticeship Programs'' ( Infoba ...

. In 1987, after being made redundant, he worked as a glazier for

Dundee City Council Dundee City Council is the Local government in Scotland, local authority for Dundee City council area, Dundee City, one of the 32 council areas of Scotland. In its modern form it was created in 1996. Dundee was formerly governed by a municipal c ...

. Whilst working for the council he was active within the

GMB union The GMB is a general trade union in the United Kingdom which has more than 560,000 members. Its members work in nearly all industrial sectors, in retail, security, schools, distribution, the utilities, social care, the National Health Service (N ...

. In 1997 he began working full-time for the union as Trade Union Organiser.

Parliamentary career

He was first elected to the

British House of Commons The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the upper house, the House of Lords, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. The House of Commons is an elected body consisting of 650 memb ...

at the 2005 general election for Dundee West with a 14.6% majority, following the retirement of the sitting Labour MP Ernie Ross. Since 2005, he has served on the

Scottish Affairs Committee The Scottish Affairs Select Committee is a select committee of the House of Commons in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The remit of the committee is to examine the expenditure, administration and policy of the Office of the Secretary of ...

. Between 2007 and 2008, he served as the Parliamentary Private Secretary to

Pat McFadden Patrick Bosco McFadden (born 26 March 1965) is a British politician who has served as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster since July 2024. A member of the Labour Party, he has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Wolverhampton South ...

, the

Minister of State Minister of state is a designation for a government minister, with varying meanings in different jurisdictions. In a number of European countries, the title is given as an honorific conferring a higher rank, often bestowed upon senior minister ...

at the

Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform The Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR) was a Departments of the United Kingdom Government, United Kingdom government department. The department was created on 28 June 2007 on the disbanding of the Department of Trade ...

, before resigning over the row surrounding the privatisation of

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. He was re-elected in 2010 with a majority of 19.6%. McGovern lost his appeal against the

Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority The Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA) is a public body in the United Kingdom created by the Parliamentary Standards Act 2009, largely as a response to the parliamentary expenses scandal of 2009. It establishes and monitors t ...

's rejection of a £23.90 single rail ticket from Dundee to Glasgow in April 2013. The ''

Sunday Herald The ''Sunday Herald'' was a Scottish Sunday newspaper, published between 7 February 1999 and 2 September 2018. Originally a broadsheet, it was published in compact format from 20 November 2005. The paper was known for having combined a centre- ...

'' reported that Parliamentary authorities determined that the detour was unconnected to McGovern's official work as an MP. He had been attending a Labour Party event in Glasgow. IPSA revealed that its bill for defending against McGovern's appeal was £27,000, to be met by the taxpayers. In February 2013, McGovern voted against the

Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013 The Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013 (c. 30) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which introduced same-sex marriage in England and Wales. Background Civil partnerships were Civil partnership in the United Kingdom, introduce ...

, opposing the legalisation of same-sex marriage within England and Wales. The MP subsequently declined to vote during the bill’s third and final reading. On 3 April 2015, McGovern announced he would not stand at the 2015 general election, citing ill health.

Personal life

He is married to Norma with two children and lives in the

Law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior, with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been variously described as a science and as the ar ...

part of Dundee.

References

External links

* *
Scottish Labour - James McGovern

{{DEFAULTSORT:McGovern, Jim 1956 births Living people Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Dundee constituencies Politicians from Dundee UK MPs 2005–2010 Scottish republicans UK MPs 2010–2015 Scottish Labour MPs Politicians from Glasgow