Bruce Millan

British politician (1927–2013)

  • James Callaghan
  • Michael Foot
Preceded byTeddy TaylorSucceeded byDonald DewarSecretary of State for ScotlandIn office
8 April 1976 – 4 May 1979Prime MinisterJames CallaghanPreceded byWillie RossSucceeded byGeorge YoungerMember of Parliament
for Glasgow GovanIn office
9 June 1983 – 18 October 1988Preceded byAndrew McMahonSucceeded byJim SillarsMember of Parliament
for Glasgow CraigtonIn office
8 October 1959 – 9 June 1983Preceded byJack BrowneSucceeded byConstituency abolished Personal detailsBorn(1927-10-05)5 October 1927
Dundee, ScotlandDied21 February 2013(2013-02-21) (aged 85)
Glasgow, ScotlandPolitical partyLabourSpouse
Gwendoline Fairey
(m. 1953)
Children2EducationHarris AcademyProfessionChartered accountant

Bruce Millan HonFRSE[1] (5 October 1927 – 21 February 2013) was a British Labour politician who served as a European Commissioner from 1989 to 1995.

Early life

Bruce Millan was born in Dundee, the son of a shipyard caulker and a jute weaver, and educated at Harris Academy in the city.[2] He was active in the Labour League of Youth while at school, and after it he undertook his national service with the Royal Corps of Signals while studying at the same time for accountancy examinations.[3] He became a chartered accountant in 1950.[4]

Millan married Gwendoline May Fairey on 22 August 1953. The couple had a son and a daughter.[3]

Parliamentary career

Millan unsuccessfully contested West Renfrewshire in the 1951 general election and Glasgow Craigton in that of 1955.

He was elected as Member of Parliament (MP) for Glasgow Craigton at the 1959 general election and served for that seat, and after its abolition in 1983 for Glasgow Govan, until 1988.[5] He served in the Wilson government of 1964–1970 as Under-Secretary of State for the Air Force from 1964 to 1966, as Under-Secretary of State for Scotland from 1966 to 1970, and in the Callaghan government of 1976–1979 as Secretary of State for Scotland;[6][7]: 47  he subsequently served as Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland under new leader Michael Foot. At the time of the 1981 Labour Party Shadow Cabinet election, the first time Millan won election to the Shadow Cabinet, he was described by The Glasgow Herald as being identified with the "Centre-to-right" of the Labour Party.[8]

After Parliament

Millan left Parliament in 1988, by applying for the Chiltern Hundreds, in order to take up the post of European Commissioner for Regional Policy and Cohesion, which he held until 1995.[6] The vacancy he left was filled by Jim Sillars of the SNP in the noteworthy Glasgow Govan by-election of 1988.[9]

In 1991, Millan received an honorary doctorate from Heriot-Watt University.[10]

Between 1999 and 2001 he chaired the Millan Committee, which proposed reforms to the provision of mental health care in Scotland.[6][9][11]: 91 

References

  1. ^ "Rt Hon Bruce Millan PC HonFRSE". Royal Society of Edinburgh. 28 October 2016. Retrieved 8 March 2020.
  2. ^ "Bruce Millan". The Telegraph. London. 26 February 2013. Retrieved 27 February 2013.
  3. ^ a b Wilson, Brian D. H. (1 January 2017). "Millan, Bruce (1927–2013), politician". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/106179. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  4. ^ "MILLAN, Rt Hon. Bruce". Who's Who & Who Was Who. Vol. 2023 (online ed.). A & C Black. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  5. ^ Wilson, Brian (25 February 2013). "Bruce Millan obituary". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 27 February 2013.
  6. ^ a b c "Former Scottish Secretary Bruce Millan dies aged 85". BBC News. 23 February 2013. Retrieved 27 February 2013.
  7. ^ Beckett, J. V. and Ken Brand (1997). Nottingham: An Illustrated History. Manchester: Manchester University Press. ISBN 0-7190-5175-4.
  8. ^ Parkhouse, Geoffrey (20 November 1981). "Size of Benn vote a new blow to Foot". The Glasgow Herald. p. 1. Retrieved 5 January 2021.
  9. ^ a b Gordon, Tom (23 February 2013). "Bruce Millan, former Scottish Secretary, dies at 85". The Herald. Retrieved 27 February 2013.
  10. ^ "Honorary Graduates – 1966 to present" (PDF). Heriot-Watt University. p. 8. Retrieved 27 April 2021.
  11. ^ Keating, Michael (2007). Scottish Social Democracy: Progressive Ideas for Public Policy. Brussels: P.I.E. Peter Lang. ISBN 978-9052010663.

External links

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Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Glasgow Craigton
19591983
Constituency abolished
Preceded by
Andrew McMahon
Member of Parliament for Glasgow Govan
19831988
Succeeded by
Political offices
Preceded by Secretary of State for Scotland
1976–1979
Succeeded by
Preceded by British European Commissioner
1989–1994
Served alongside: Leon Brittan
Succeeded by
Preceded by Succeeded by
Preceded by European Commissioner for Regional Policy
1989–1994
Succeeded by
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