biography
| sex:
| male
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| lived:
| (1938–94)
|
| biography:
| British politician, born in Dalmally, Argyll and Bute, W Scotland, UK. He studied at Glasgow University, was called to the Scottish bar in 1967, and made a QC in 1983. He became a Labour MP in 1970, held junior government posts under Harold Wilson, and in 1978 was appointed secretary of trade and industry by James Callaghan. From 1979 he was Opposition Front Bench spokesman on trade, energy, and employment, consolidating his reputation on becoming shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer in 1988. A heart attack in the same year seemed to threaten his career, but he made a full recovery in 1989, and succeeded Neil Kinnock as Labour leader after the 1992 general election. A highly respected figure, his unexpected death after a further heart attack in 1994 caused an unusually strong sense of national loss. |
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