Willie Bain

Summary

William Thomas Bain (born 29 November 1972) is a Scottish politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Glasgow North East from 2009 to 2015. A member of the Labour Party, he was a Shadow DEFRA Minister from 2010 to 2011 and a Shadow Scotland Minister from 2011 to 2013.

William Bain
Bain in 2009
Shadow Minister for Scotland
In office
8 October 2011 – 8 October 2013
LeaderEd Miliband
Preceded byTom Greatrex
Succeeded byGordon Banks
Shadow Minister for Food
In office
27 May 2010 – 8 October 2011
LeaderHarriet Harman (Acting)
Ed Miliband
Preceded byRichard Benyon
Succeeded byFiona O'Donnell
Member of Parliament
for Glasgow North East
In office
12 November 2009 – 30 March 2015
Preceded byMichael Martin
Succeeded byAnne McLaughlin
Personal details
Born (1972-11-29) 29 November 1972 (age 51)[1]
Springburn, Glasgow, Scotland
Political partyLabour
Alma materStrathclyde University
ProfessionPolicy Advisor

Early life and career edit

Born at Stobhill Hospital in Glasgow, son of William, a lift engineer, and Catherine, a payroll clerk, Willie Bain grew up in the Carron area of Springburn.[2]

Raised in the Roman Catholic faith, Bain attended St Roch's Secondary School and Strathclyde University, graduating with a LLB in 1995. Thereafter, he completed a Diploma in Legal Practice in 1996, and moved into part-time lecturing and research at the University of Strathclyde Law School, working with the Law School's Centre for Parliamentary and Legislative Studies on research projects on devolution.

He completed a LLM by Research in Constitutional Law in 2004 and subsequently became a senior lecturer in Public and European law at London South Bank University between 2004 and 2009.[3] He was secretary of the Glasgow North East Constituency Labour Party and its predecessor constituency, Glasgow Springburn, from 1999 to 2009. Bain is a member of Unite, Progress, the Fabian Society, and Amnesty International.[4]

Parliamentary career edit

Following the resignation of local MP and Speaker of the House of Commons Michael Martin, William Bain was selected by the local CLP as the Labour candidate in the 2009 Glasgow North East by-election, subsequently winning the seat.[5]

Under the leadership of Ed Miliband, Bain served as Shadow Minister for Food and was later Shadow Scotland Office Minister, supporting the Shadow Scottish Secretary Margaret Curran.[6]

In 2012, Bain stated that the Scottish Labour MPs have a convention of not supporting motions put down by the Scottish National Party, which became known as the "Bain Principle".[7]

Bain, like most Labour MPs in Scotland, lost his seat in 2015 to the SNP, with Anne McLaughlin winning the seat.

Post-Parliamentary career edit

After leaving parliament in 2015, he became Head of Fintech & Financial Services at Inline Policy, a political consultancy, before moving to the British Retail Consortium in 2017, where he advised on Brexit and trade policy,[8] and then onto the British Chambers of Commerce as the Head of Trade Policy.

References edit

  1. ^ "William Bain MP". BBC Democracy Live. BBC. Archived from the original on 15 November 2009. Retrieved 25 July 2010.
  2. ^ "PPC Profile: Willie Bain | LabourList". LabourList | Labour's biggest independent grassroots e-network. 20 October 2009. Archived from the original on 5 August 2016. Retrieved 7 June 2016.
  3. ^ Mr William BAIN Archived 27 September 2011 at the Wayback Machine, London South Bank University
  4. ^ "Glasgow by-election: Candidates", bbc.co.uk, 4 November 2009.
  5. ^ "Labour wins in Glasgow North East Archived 13 November 2009 at the Wayback Machine", BBC News, 13 November 2009.
  6. ^ Cabinet reshuffle: Miliband promotes Curran to Scotland job, scotsman.com; accessed 24 September 2015.
  7. ^ Small, Mike (31 March 2012). "The Bain Principle". Bella Caledonia. Archived from the original on 27 February 2018.
  8. ^ BRC Appoints William Bain to accelerate its research and further strengthen its voice on Brexit, EPR Retail News; accessed February 2020.

External links edit

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Member of Parliament
for Glasgow North East

20092015
Succeeded by