Shona McIsaac (born 3 April 1960) is a

British Labour Party The Labour Party, often referred to as Labour, is a List of political parties in the United Kingdom, political party in the United Kingdom that sits on the Centre-left politics, centre-left of the political spectrum. The party has been describe ...

politician. She was the Member of Parliament (MP) for

Cleethorpes Cleethorpes () is a seaside town on the estuary of the Humber in North East Lincolnshire, Lincolnshire, England with a population of 29,678 in 2021. It has been permanently occupied since the 6th century, with fishing as its original industry ...

from

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 ...

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 ...

. She was defeated by

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

candidate

Martin Vickers Martin John Vickers (born 13 September 1950) is a British Conservative Party politician. He was elected as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Brigg and Immingham since the 2024 general election. He previously represented the Cleethorpes cons ...

in the 2010 election.

Early life

McIsaac was born in

Dunfermline Dunfermline (; , ) is a city, parish, and former royal burgh in Fife, Scotland, from the northern shore of the Firth of Forth. Dunfermline was the de facto capital of the Kingdom of Scotland between the 11th and 15th centuries. The earliest ...

Fife Fife ( , ; ; ) is a council areas of Scotland, council area and lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area in Scotland. A peninsula, it is bordered by the Firth of Tay to the north, the North Sea to the east, the Firth of Forth to the s ...

in Scotland.

Before politics

She went to the

SHAPE High School SHAPE American High School is a US Department of Defense Dependents high school (DoDDS) for grades 9–12 located at Maisières, a town north of the city of Mons in Belgium. SHAPE American High School provides education for the dependents of milit ...

Mons Mons commonly refers to: * Mons, Belgium, a city in Belgium * Mons pubis (mons Venus or mons veneris), in mammalian anatomy, the adipose tissue lying above the pubic bone * Mons (planetary nomenclature), a sizable extraterrestrial mountain * Batt ...

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

, then

Barne Barton Barne Barton is an area within St Budeaux, Plymouth, Devon, England. Geography Barne Barton is located to the North West of Plymouth about 2 miles by road, or 1 mile as the crow flies, from the Tamar Bridge. From the southern side of the hill ...

Secondary Modern school in

St Budeaux St Budeaux is an area and wards of the United Kingdom, ward in the north west of Plymouth in the England, English county of Devon. Original settlement The name St Budeaux comes from Budoc, Saint Budoc, the Bishop of Dol (Brittany). Around 480 ...

and Stoke Damerel High School for Girls in

Stoke, Plymouth Stoke, also referred to by its earlier name of Stoke Damerel, is an inner suburb of the city of Plymouth, Devon, England. In 1844, Stoke Damerel was described as a parish in Roborough Hundred, Roborough hundred, adjoining the borough of Plymou ...

, which closed in 1986. She read for a BSc in Geography at St. Aidan's College of

University of Durham Durham University (legally the University of Durham) is a collegiate public research university in Durham, England, founded by an Act of Parliament in 1832 and incorporated by royal charter in 1837. It was the first recognised university to ...

, being taught by

David Bellamy David James Bellamy (18 January 1933 – 11 December 2019) was an English academic, botanist, television presenter, author and prominent environmental campaigner in the UK and globally. His distinctive, energetic style of presenting became wel ...

, and graduated in 1981. She wrote and worked on women's weekly magazines, being deputy chief

sub-editor Copy editing (also known as copyediting and manuscript editing) is the process of revising written material (" copy") to improve quality and readability, as well as ensuring that a text is free of errors in grammar, style, and accuracy. ''The Ch ...

of ''

Bella Bella is a feminine given name. It is a diminutive form of names ending in -bella. ''Bella'' is related to the Italian, Spanish, Greek, Portuguese and Latin words for beautiful, and to the name Belle (given name), Belle, meaning ''beautiful'' in F ...

'', senior sub-editor of ''

Chat Chat or chats may refer to: Communication * Conversation, particularly casual * Online chat, text message communication over the Internet in real-time * Synchronous conferencing, a formal term for online chat * SMS chat, a form of text messagi ...

'' and chief sub-editor of ''

Woman A woman is an adult female human. Before adulthood, a female child or Adolescence, adolescent is referred to as a girl. Typically, women are of the female sex and inherit a pair of X chromosomes, one from each parent, and women with functi ...

''.

Parliament

McIsaac started her political career as a councillor to the

London Borough of Wandsworth Wandsworth () is a London boroughs, London borough in South West (London sub region), South West London, England. It forms part of Inner London and has an estimated population of 329,677 inhabitants. Its main communities are Battersea, Balham, P ...

in the

Tooting Tooting is a district in South London, forming part of the London Borough of Wandsworth. It is located south south-west of Charing Cross. History Tooting has been settled since pre-Anglo-Saxons, Saxon times. The name is of Anglo-Saxon ori ...

ward in 1990. She was selected to stand for election for Labour in

through an

all-women shortlist All-women shortlists (AWS) is an affirmative action practice intended to increase the proportion of female Members of Parliament (MPs) in the United Kingdom, allowing only women to stand in particular constituencies for a particular political p ...

. She won the Cleethorpes seat with a majority of over 9,000, defeating Michael Brown, the sitting MP for the predecessor seat of Brigg and Cleethorpes. She was re-elected in

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

with a majority of 5,620, and again

four years later ''Four Years Later'', originally titled ''Four Years'' is an eight-part Australian-Indian romance drama, premiering on SBS and SBS on Demand on 2 October 2024. It is created, co-written, and executive produced by Mithila Gupta, and stars Shah ...

, finishing over 2,000 votes ahead of her Conservative rival. She served as a Parliamentary Private Secretary to 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 ...

within the

Department of Health A health department or health ministry is a part of government which focuses on issues related to the general health of the citizenry. Subnational entities, such as states, counties and cities, often also operate a health department of their o ...

. McIsaac proposed a bill limiting the use of

fireworks Fireworks are Explosive, low explosive Pyrotechnics, pyrotechnic devices used for aesthetic and entertainment purposes. They are most commonly used in fireworks displays (also called a fireworks show or pyrotechnics), combining a large numbe ...

, and supported anti-

fox hunting Fox hunting is an activity involving the tracking, chase and, if caught, the killing of a fox, normally a red fox, by trained foxhounds or other scent hounds. A group of unarmed followers, led by a "master of foxhounds" (or "master of hounds" ...

measures. McIsaac was described as a 'government loyalist' and a "super loyal backbencher". According to the website

TheyWorkForYou TheyWorkForYou is a parliamentary monitoring website operated by mySociety which aims to make it easier for UK citizens to understand what is going on in Westminster, as well as the Scottish Parliament, the Senedd and the Northern Ireland Assem ...

.com, McIsaac rarely rebelled against the Government, with the BBC stating "she regards it almost as a duty to support the government's agenda". She supported the Government in the vote on the

war in Iraq This is a list of wars involving the Republic of Iraq and its predecessor states. , style="background:#F88" , Coalition of Gulf War, Coalition victory * Kuwait, State of Kuwait resumes self-governance over all Kuwaiti sovereign territory * Esta ...

. In October 2009, following significant research, McIsaac launched a small campaign to raise awareness of the poor state of many of Britain's war memorials. Her principal case study was of the war memorial in Wold Newton, a small village in her constituency. She spoke on the subject 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 ...

and an article appeared in the ''Telegraph''. In May 2010, she was defeated by

, losing by just over 4,000 votes. Following the general election, she blamed

Gordon Brown James Gordon Brown (born 20 February 1951) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 to 2010. Previously, he was Chancellor of the Ex ...

personally on television for Labour's defeat.

Personal life

McIsaac lives in Cleethorpes with her husband Peter Keith, whom she married in 1994. Keith unsuccessfully contested the seat of Cleethorpes in 2015 and 2017.

References

External links

*
Guardian Unlimited Politics – Ask Aristotle: Shona McIsaac MP

TheyWorkForYou.com – Shona McIsaac MP

Her voting record at the Public Whip

BBC Politics profile

News items

Demanding a ban on animals in circuses in 2006

Assisting the extradition of Bob Kleasen in 2001
{{DEFAULTSORT:McIsaac, Shona 1960 births Living people Politicians from Dunfermline Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Female members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies UK MPs 1997–2001 UK MPs 2001–2005 UK MPs 2005–2010 Councillors in the London Borough of Wandsworth 20th-century British women politicians 21st-century British women politicians Alumni of St Aidan's College, Durham 20th-century English women 20th-century English politicians 21st-century English women 21st-century English politicians Women councillors in England