Ron Brown (Scottish politician)
Ronald Duncan Mclaren Brown ( * June 29, 1940 in West Pilton, Edinburgh, Scotland; † August 3, 2007 in Edinburgh ), known as Ron Brown and often referred to as Red Ron, a member of Parliament was for the Scottish Labour Party. He was first elected at the 1979 general election to the House of Commons and represented his constituency Edinburgh Leith until the general election in 1992, when he was not re-elected. Brown was suspended on several occasions of his mandate, the most famous case was the incident of 1988, when he damaged the ceremonial staff.
Early life
Brown was born in West Pilton in Edinburgh as a child of a working-class family. His father worked in mechanical engineering. He attended Pennywell Primary School, the Ainslie Park High School and the Bristo Technical Institute. He completed his military service in the Royal Corps of Signals and made after a five- year apprenticeship as a machine operator. An accident at work while working as an electrician led to a partial facial paralysis and scars, although he was treated surgically. He was an active member of the Amalgamated Union of Engineering Workers. Together with his wife May, who he married in 1963, he moved to two sons.
In the early 1970s he was elected for Central Leith in Edinburgh Town Council in 1974 and in the Lothian Regional Council. During the 1970s he repeatedly visited Muammar Gaddafi in Libya and tried to establish trade links between Scotland and the North African state. From his mouth you could also hear statements in support of the communist governments in Afghanistan, Albania and North Korea.
Parliamentary career
Brown was elected in 1979 as a representative of the people of the constituency Edinburgh Leith in the House of Commons after his predecessor, the Labour MP Ronald King Murray had retired to become a Senator of the College of Justice. Brown won the seat by a margin of 3000 votes. Although he was controversial, Brown was popular, and built with the following elections his lead in the general election in 1987, his margin was more than 11,000 votes.
During his employment at the house he was suspended by the Speaker three times. In April 1981 he was ruled out for five sitting days, as he called a liar the Conservative MP Nicholas Fairbairn and after he secured in July 1981 for twenty sitting days a protest banner at his deputies Bank.
During a debate on the poll tax in 1988 he seized the ceremonial staff and threw it on the ground. He then agreed to though, to read a written apology in the House, but added on this occasion added more comments and called his apology as " garbage", which earned him an exclusion of 20 meeting days. He also had to pay the Reparaturechnung of 1500 British pounds. His faction expelled him for three months.
In the course of a tax strike, he refused to pay these taxes and finally had to appear before a Sheriff Court.
The Labour Party closed it in 1991 after criminal damage he received a penal fee of 1000 pounds because he had caused damage in the apartment of his ex-girlfriend in Sussex. As a result, he was placed in the 1992 election no longer of Labour. He tried to get as an independent candidate 's election chances, but was with a vote share of 10.3 % only fifth. His successor was the official Labour candidate Malcolm Chisholm.
Life after parliamentary career
After he no longer belonged to the House of Commons, he remained active in public function, such as President of the Edinburgh Trade Unions Council.
Brown was a candidate of the Scottish Socialist Party in the elections to the Scottish Parliament in 1999, but was not elected. After separating off the led by Tommy Sheridan Solidarity remained Rown member of the SSP.