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Affiliation | Labour |
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1981-01-01 |
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Name | J. Dickson "Dick" Mabon |
Address | Glasgow, Scotland,, , United Kingdom |
Email | None |
Website | None |
Born |
November 01, 1925
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Died | April 10, 2008
(82 years)
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Contributor | Old LW |
Last Modifed | Old LW Jan 23, 2012 04:34am |
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Info | Dr. Jesse Dickson Mabon was the unsuccessful Labour candidate for Bute and North Ayrshire in 1951, and Labour Co-operative candidate for Renfrewshire West in 1955. He was elected as Labour Co-operative member of parliament for Greenock at a by-election in December 1955, replacing Tony Benn as Labour's youngest MP. He held that seat (from 1974 Greenock and Port Glasgow) until 1983. He became a frontbench spokesman on health in 1962.
He was a junior minister as joint Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Scotland (1964–67) and as promoted to Minister of State for Scotland, 1967–70. After Labour lost the 1970 general election, he became Deputy Opposition Spokesman on Scotland, but resigned in April 1972 over Labour's attitude to the Common Market. Although he supported Roy Jenkins in the election for a new leader of the Labour party in 1976, Jim Callaghan appointed him as Minister of State in the Department of Energy (1976–79), where he took charge of North Sea oil. He was appointed a Privy Counsellor in 1977.
He was also a Member of the Council of Europe and of the Assembly of the Western European Union, 1970–72 and 1974–76, and of the North Atlantic Assembly, 1980–82. He was Chairman of the European Movement, 1975–76 (and deputy Chairman, 1979–83), and Founder Chairman of the Manifesto Group in the Parliamentary Labour Party (1974–76), set up to counter the left-wing Tribune group.
He became a member of the Social Democratic Party in October 1981. The party was founded by the Gang of Four in March 1981, but Mabon later called himself a founder member of the party. He unsuccessfully contested Renfrew West and Inverclyde for the SDP in 1983 after the local Liberals refused to stand their candidate down for him in his previous seat, and fought Renfrew West again for the SDP/Alliance in 1987, and also the Lothians seat in the 1984 election for the European Parliament.
He remained with the Owen splinter SDP group after the merger with the Liberals until the dissolution and then rejoined Labour in 1991.
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