Constituency : Greenock 1955-74, Greenock and Port Glasgow 1974-81 ( Labour ), 1981-83 (SDP )
Dickson was another not-altogether welcome recruit to the SDP ranks. One Liberal described him as bringing " a whiff of Tammany Hall to the proceedings".
Dickson was a butcher's son from Glasgow . He was educated locally and worked in the mines as a Bevin boy during the war. He then studied medicine at Glasgow University where he was very active in union politics. He stood for Bute and North Ayrshire in 1951 and Renfrewshire West in 1955 then was elected at a by-election in the latter year, becoming Labour's youngest MP. He became political columnist for the Daily Record for the next nine years. He was also visiting physician at a London hospital from 1958-64. He began his ministerial career as a junior minister in the Scottish Office then Minister of State for Scotland in 1967. In 1970, the Tories withdrew to give the Liberals a clear run at him but he survived. He was Scottish spokesman in opposition but resigned in order to support E.E.C. membership. In 1976, Callaghan made him Tony Benn's minder at Energy where he annoyed nationalists with a refusal to accept Scottish ownership of North Sea oil despite supporting devolution.He and Benn actually had a good working relationship. He was a key member of the right wing Manifesto Group. He worked hard in the pro-Europe campaign in 1975. He was an elder of the Church of Scotland.
Though he later claimed to be a founding member of the SDP, Dickson didn't leave until after helping Dennis Healey win the Labour deputy leadership in October 1981. Dennis Skinner highlighted that he was a consultant to both a whiskey company and a temperance group/
Dickson became a sticking-point in the Alliance seat negotiations. The local Liberals regarded him as a loathsome machine politician and refused to accept him as their candidate. He was forced to contest Renfrew West and Inverclyde instead where he came second to the Tories in a close three-way contest.
Dickson contested The Lothians in the 1984 European elections then Renfrew West and Inverclyde again in 1987. He came third in both contests. He was one of the merger negotiators on the SDP side .He left the Liberal Democrats after not being nominated for a peerage in 1990 and rejoined Labour in 1991.
Dickson was chairman of the children's charity SOS Children's Villages UK but failed to get any established in Scotland due to council opposition. He had various business interests including radio, electricity and coal mining.
He retired to Eastborne where he died in 2008 aged 82.
No comments:
Post a Comment