Margaret Curran

Background

Curran was born in Glasgow, the daughter of Irish parents. She was educated at Our Lady and St Francis School in Glasgow.

Curran attended the University of Glasgow, where she graduated with a degree in History and Economic History in 1981. She first became politically active in the Glasgow University Labour Club in the late 1970s, where she was associated with Johann Lamont and Sarah Boyack. She held several posts in Labour student politics, including secretary and vice-chair of Glasgow University Labour Club, and chair and secretary of the Scottish Organisation of Labour Students. She was involved in the unsuccessful campaign to elect Hortensia Allende as Rector of Glasgow University in 1977.

She was a community worker, and then a lecturer in community education at the University of Strathclyde. She and her husband Rab live in Glasgow with their two sons. She was Mohammad Sarwar's election agent in Glasgow Govan in the 1997 general election.

Member of the Scottish Parliament

In 1999 she was elected to the new Scottish Parliament, and was promoted to a junior minister when Henry McLeish became First Minister and later became a member of the Scottish Executive. She served as convenor of the Social Inclusion committee, then was promoted to Deputy Minister for Social Justice. She then rose to become minister in that portfolio, which later changed to Minister for Communities, introducing the Homelessness (Scotland) Bill in September 2002. She held the position of Minister for Parliamentary Business from 2004 until 2007.

She was re-elected comfortably in 2003 and again in 2007. Given the Scottish Labour Party's losses in that later election, she was widely viewed as a popular potential successor to Jack McConnell as its leader, but decided not to stand against Wendy Alexander. Curran pledged her support to Iain Gray who was standing against Cathy Jamieson and Andy Kerr. Iain Gray was voted Scottish Labour Party Leader and appointed Curran to manage the party's 2011 election manifesto. She stood down as MSP for Glasgow Baillieston at the 2011 Scottish election.

2008 Glasgow East by-election

On 30 June 2008, David Marshall, MP for Glasgow East, resigned from the House of Commons on grounds of ill health, triggering a by-election. The Labour candidate for the by-election was to have been announced on 4 July, though the announcement was postponed when the likely choice, local councillor George Ryan, chose to withdraw from the nomination process. On 5 July, Curran placed herself forward for nomination on the Labour Party's shortlist and was confirmed as their candidate on 7 July. The by-election took place on 24 July 2008 and Curran was defeated by John Mason of the Scottish National Party by 365 votes. The swing from Labour was 22.54%.

Member of Parliament

In the 2010 general election, Curran regained Glasgow East for Labour from the SNP. At the count, after her victory was pronounced, she walked out with the other candidates from the platform, refusing to make a speech while sharing the platform with the British National Party candidate. From 2010 to 2011, she was Shadow Minister for Disabilities

On 7 October 2011, in a shadow cabinet reshuffle, Labour leader Ed Miliband sacked Ann McKechin and appointed Curran as her replacement for Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland. Willie Bain, MP for Glasgow North East, also became Curran's new deputy as Shadow Scotland Office Minister, replacing Tom Greatrex.

For the year 2013–14, Curran was criticised for claiming more than £180,000 in expenses on top of her salary, including more than £19,000 on accommodation and nearly £16,000 on travel (as listed on the Independent Parliamentary Standards authority website).

At the 2015 general election, she lost her seat to Natalie McGarry of the Scottish National Party. This was in an election landslide where Scottish Labour were reduced from 41 members of parliament to a single MP at Westminster, as the SNP's candidates were elected in 56 of Scotland's 59 seats. With many Labour politicians losing their seats, including Douglas Alexander and Jim Murphy, presenting speeches following their constituency's declaration, Curran declined to speak following the announcement of her own defeat.