Pauline Bryan, Baroness Bryan of Partick

Scottish socialist

The Right Honourable The Baroness Bryan of Partick
Bryan in 2019

Member of the House of Lords Lord Temporal
Incumbent
Assumed office 2 July 2018 Life Peerage

Personal details
Born	(1950-01-03) 3 January 1950 (age 74)
Political party	Labour

Pauline Christina Bryan, Baroness Bryan of Partick (born 3 January 1950)^[1] is a Scottish writer and socialist campaigner. She was nominated for a life peerage by the Leader of the Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn, in May 2018.^[2]^[3] On 20 June, she was created Baroness Bryan of Partick, of Partick in the City of Glasgow.^[4]

Bryan is part of the Red Paper Collective, a group of Labour activists who aim to provide an alternative from the perspective of the Labour movement to the "sterile nationalist v unionist debate" around the Scottish independence referendums.^[5] Bryan reviewed Neil Findlay's book about his bid for the leadership of the Scottish Labour Party, Socialism & Hope: A Journey Through Turbulent Times, for the Morning Star in 2017. In her review Bryan wrote that the election of Jeremy Corbyn as leader of the Labour Party "was a lifeline for the left. It rebuilt friendships and enthusiasm. ... By the 2017 election, we saw the beginnings of a renewed Scottish Labour Party and a renewed activist base who, regardless of what their MPs and MSPs thought, were committing themselves to a radical Labour Party".^[6]

Bryan is a founding member of the Keir Hardie Society, and was the editor of the 2015 book What Would Keir Hardie Say?.^[7] She is also a founding member of the Campaign for Socialism.^[8]

In October 2023, Bryan and eight others resigned from the executive board of the Glasgow Kelvin Constituency Labour Party following the comments of Keir Starmer on the 2023 Israel–Hamas war.^[9] The councillors resigned because a motion submitted to the Glasgow Kelvin Labour party was ruled "out of order and should not be debated at party meetings".^[10] This was after "Labour Officials" wrote CLP's stating that "any motions" about Gaza would be "out of order and should not be debated at party meetings".^[11] The motion called for the cessation of Israeli military action, but made no mention of the cessation of violence action by Hamas, Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad or Israeli settlers.

References

^ "Pauline Bryan". api.parliament.uk. Retrieved 29 June 2022.
^ "Queen confers Peerages: 18 May 2018". gov.uk. Retrieved 18 May 2018.
^ Dan Sabbagh (18 May 2018). "May names nine new Tory peers to boost party after Brexit defeats". The Guardian. Retrieved 18 May 2018.
^ "No. 62334". The London Gazette. 26 June 2018. p. 11316.
^ "About - redpaper.net". Red Paper. Retrieved 18 May 2018.
^ Pauline Bryan (25 September 2017). "You can't be a pessimist and a socialist". Morning Star. Retrieved 18 May 2018.
^ "'What would Keir Hardie say?' – the new book edited by Pauline Bryan". Keir Hardy Society. Retrieved 18 May 2018.
^ "History of the Campaign for Socialism — Campaign for Socialism". Campaign for Socialism. Retrieved 26 November 2018.
^ Neame, Katie (19 October 2023). "CLP committee quit en masse over "shut down debate" on Gaza". LabourList | Latest UK Labour Party news, analysis and comment. Retrieved 23 October 2023.
^ https://news.stv.tv/politics/nine-scottish-labour-glasgow-officials-quit-over-stifling-of-israel-palestine-debate
^ https://news.stv.tv/politics/nine-scottish-labour-glasgow-officials-quit-over-stifling-of-israel-palestine-debate