John MacDougall

Published on Wednesday 13 August 2008 22:08

Labour MP for Glenrothes

Born: 8 December, 1947, in Dunfermline.

Died: 13 August, 2008, in Kirkcaldy, aged 60.

JOHN MacDougall rose from being an apprentice riveter at Rosyth Dockyard, a boilermaker for oil rig constructors and a union shop steward to become Labour member of parliament for Fife Central, later Glenrothes, all the time a close friend and ally of Prime Minister Gordon Brown, MP for neighbouring Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath. Ironically, MacDougall's death, from asbestos- related lung cancer, will mean a by- election in a month or two that will put the beleaguered Mr Brown under yet greater pressure after Labour's loss to the SNP last month in Glasgow East.

Mr Brown, who visited his dying friend in a Kirkcaldy hospital on Monday, described him as "a true servant of the people".

MacDougall was also known as a fervently pro-European politician, serving on several European bodies, including, as vice-president and treasurer from 1994-98, the Strasbourg-based Assembly of European Regions (AER), which brings together 260 regional councils from 33 European countries.

As leader of Fife Council at the time, he sought to improve ties between Fife and Europe in whichever way he could, notably trade. "Some 75 per cent of the UK's markets are in Europe and to say you are not European, faced with these tremendous percentages of fact, simply ignores three-quarters of your potential business," he once said.

John William MacDougall was born in Dunfermline in 1947 to a working-class family. He went to Templehall Secondary School in Kirkcaldy and lived most of his pre-political life in Burntisland, Fife.

He started his apprenticeship as a riveter at Rosyth. (He later went back to his studies and gained a certificate in naval architecture and a diploma in industrial management). After Rosyth, he became a boilermaker at the RGC oil rig construction yard in Methil, Fife, where he became shop steward and later shop stewards' convener for the General, Municipal, Boilermakers and Allied Trade Union (GMBATU). He was proud of the fact that he never had to call his workers out on strike. "I could win more for the men through argument and negotiation," he said.

MacDougall was already 34 when he joined the Labour Party in 1981 and was elected to Fife Regional Council the following year, remaining in the post until the reforms of local government, when he was elected to the new Fife Council in 1995 and the following year became its convener.

Throughout his council career he was an outspoken campaigner to ensure that the Ministry of Defence kept the Rosyth naval base open. He was also a member of the Scottish Constitutional Convention, which laid down the framework for the Scottish Parliament.

As council leader, MacDougall was proud that Fife became the first council in Scotland to introduce a free transport pass for the elderly. He promoted many other projects, including the superfast ferry service from Rosyth and the park-and-ride facility to reduce traffic on the Forth Road Bridge. He was also one of the first councillors to campaign for a second road bridge.

In Burntisland, he was instrumental in the opening of the Beacon leisure centre and swimming pool, and the launch of a local bus service.

MacDougall entered the House of Commons in 2001 after being elected Labour MP for what was then Fife Central.

During his election campaign, his opponents teased him over an SNP party political ad in which his son Scott played the part of a kilted SNP candidate who was deemed the only real Scotsman after someone checked under all the candidates' kilts.

In 2005, MacDougall retained the seat, though the constituency's borders had been redrawn and it was now known as Glenrothes, with a majority of 10,664. It would still have been considered a safe Labour seat until last month's massive swing to the SNP in Glasgow East.

MacDougall last attended Westminster on 11 June, travelling from Scotland by train despite knowing he was terminally ill, to support Mr Brown in the vote on the length of detention without charge for terrorism suspects. He had been receiving cancer treatment at Guy's Hospital, London, and revealed that he had undergone an operation for mesothelioma, a lung cancer which he blamed on his exposure to asbestos as a boilermaker.

In the final weeks of his life, in a wheelchair, MacDougall continued to work for his constituents. He campaigned against the Post Office's decision to open a branch upstairs in WH Smith in Glenrothes town centre, saying it was too inaccessible to the elderly or disabled.

A friend and Labour Party colleague, Scott Brady, recalled going with MacDougall into the sports and social bar in the Commons, frequented by MPs and lords, not long after MacDougall had undergone a course of chemotherapy. "I was astonished when everyone in the bar broke into applause," Mr Brady said. "I went to the bar to pay for our drinks and was politely informed by the barman: "Put that away, these are on us for John."

John MacDougall is survived by his mother, his wife, Catherine, a son and a daughter.

PHIL DAVISON