Michael Connarty is no longer a Member of Parliament. This page has not been updated since 2015.
Biography:
Michael Connarty was re-elected MP for Linlithgow and East Falkirk in May 2010 with a majority of 12,553 votes.
Michael Connarty was born in Coatbridge. He was sent to work at the age of ten. He was educated at the local Roman Catholic High School (St. Patrick’s) on Muiryhall Street in the year below fellow MP John Reid and like John Reid he then studied at the University of Stirling, receiving a BA in Economics in 1972, and where he was elected as the President of the Student Association from 1970-1 before going on to University of Glasgow.
He then attended Jordanhill College in Glasgow where he received a Diploma in Childcare and Education (DCE) in 1975. He was a special needs teacher from 1976 until he was elected to the House of Commons in 1992. He was also an economics teacher at a secondary school. He became a councillor on the Stirling District Council in 1977, becoming its leader in 1980 until he left the council in 1990. He was a member of the Loch Lomond, Trossachs and Stirling Tourist Board 1981-1990. He also claimjs to have been a steelworker at one point.
He unsuccessfully contested the parliamentary constituency of Stirling at the 1983 General Election but finished 5,133 behind the Conservative and Unionist future Secretary of State for Scotland Michael Forsyth. Connarty faced Forsyth again at Stirling at the 1987 General Election. Connarty came very close, but Forsyth was the eventual winner by a margin of just 948.
Michael Connarty was elected to Westminster at the 1992 General Election for the Labour seat of Falkirk East with a majority of 7,969 following the retirement of the sitting MP Harry Ewing. Connarty used his maiden speech on May 13, 1992 to raise concerns about the fragility of the petrochemical industry at Grangemouth, the largest town in Falkirk East.
Following the 1997 General Election he became the Parliamentary Private Secretary the Minister of Film and Tourism Tom Clarke but this appointment lasted only until 1998 when Clarke was sacked from government. Connarty has spent his parliamentary career as a backbencher and since 1998 has been a member of the European Scrutiny Select Committee, which is the committee responsible for scrutinising the legislation set by the European Parliament.
He is the chairman of the Tribune Group of left-wing Labour MPs and he served as a justice of the peace 1977-1990. He has been married to Margaret Mary Doran since 1969 and they have a son and a daughter. He speaks French. Following the creation of the Scottish Parliament in 1999, the Scottish boundaries were redrawn and his constituency was enlarged and renamed as Linlithgow and East Falkirk. Until he retired at the 2005 General Election, Linlithgow was represented at Westminster by the Father of the House of Commons, Tam Dalyell.
He is a supporter of the British Humanist Association and is joint chair of the All Party Parliamentary Jazz Appreciation Group.
Constituency: Linlithgow and East Falkirk
Constituency Address: 5 Kerse Road
Grangemouth
FK3 8HQ
Constituency Tel: 01324 474832
Date of Birth: 3 September 1947
Party: Labour
Personal Website: http://www.mconnartymp.com/
