Michael Shanks (politician)
Michael Shanks | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Member of Parliament for Rutherglen and Hamilton West | |
| Assumed office 5 October 2023 | |
| Preceded by | Margaret Ferrier |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Michael Graeme Shanks 1988 (age 35–36)[1] Ayrshire, Scotland[2] |
| Political party | Labour (before 2019, 2020–present) Independent (2019–2020) |
| Education | University of Glasgow |
| Signature | File:Michael Shanks politics signature.png |
Michael Graeme Shanks (born March 1988) is a Scottish Labour Party politician. He has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Rutherglen and Hamilton West since October 2023.
Political career
Shanks was an unsuccessful candidate for Glasgow City Council in 2012,[3] standing for the Scottish Labour Party in the Partick West ward and finishing fifth in the single transferable vote process in which four councillors were elected.[4] He contested the Glasgow Kelvin constituency in the 2016 Scottish Parliament election, coming third,[5] and the Glasgow North West constituency at the 2017 general election, coming second.[6][7][8] He had resigned from the party on the day of the 2019 European Parliament election, citing antisemitism and Brexit, but re-joined when Keir Starmer became leader.[9]
Having moved to Rutherglen from western Glasgow a year earlier,[2] he was selected to contest the Rutherglen and Hamilton West seat in May 2023,[9] in anticipation that the incumbent MP Margaret Ferrier, sanctioned for breaches of COVID-19 restrictions,[10] would lose her position via a recall petition – a process which was concluded with that outcome on 1 August.[11] In the by-election on 5 October, Labour and Shanks overturned the previous 7% Scottish National Party majority to win with a majority of 31% and a swing of 24%, with 58.6% of the vote share.[12][13]
Personal life
Shanks was employed as a modern studies teacher at Park Mains High School in Erskine, Renfrewshire.[14] He also runs a scout group for disabled children.[15]
In January 2022, he received news coverage for running all of Glasgow's 6143 streets.[16][17] He had began running during the first Covid lockdown in March 2020 having been motivated by an American athlete who had ran every street in San Francisco in 30 days.[17] Shanks described it as an "adventure" as opposed to a fitness challenge and completed it on 5 January 2022 when he ran down the city centre's George Square which he had saved for last.[18] Whilst running he gathered information about the area from people for a book he is planning on the social history of Glasgow inspired by the book Rambles Round Glasgow by Hugh MacDonald.[18][19]
References
- ^ "Michael Graeme SHANKS". Gov.uk.
- ^ a b SNP accused of desperation over 'local' claim in Rutherglen by-election, Tom Gordon, The Herald, 6 August 2023
- ^ After 31 years, you'd have thought they might have some policies…, Michael Shanks, Labour Hame, 3 February 2012
- ^ "Election Results 2012". glasgow.gov.uk. Archived from the original on 6 July 2012.
- ^ Glasgow Kelvin Scottish Parliament constituency, BBC News, 2016
- ^ LabourList (2 May 2017). "The full list of the Labour Party's general election candidates in Scotland". LabourList. Retrieved 6 October 2023.
- ^ Who is Michael Shanks? Meet Labour's newest Scottish MP, Adam Robertson, The National, 6 October 2023
- ^ Glasgow North West parliamentary constituency – Election 2017, BBC News, 2017
- ^ a b Learmonth, Andrew (9 May 2023). "Labour pick activist who quit party to be by-election candidate". The Herald. Archived from the original on 28 July 2023. Retrieved 28 July 2023.
- ^ "Margaret Ferrier suspended from Commons over Covid rule breach". BBC News. 6 June 2023. Retrieved 6 October 2023.
- ^ Mitchell, James (1 August 2023). "By-election to be held after COVID rule-breaker MP Margaret Ferrier loses seat". Sky News. Retrieved 6 October 2023.
- ^ Scottish Labour wins key Rutherglen and Hamilton West by-election, Craig Meighan, STV News, 6 October 2023
- ^ 'Seismic night in Scotland': Labour crushes SNP in Rutherglen and Hamilton West byelection, Libby Brooks, The Guardian, 6 October 2023
- ^ Erskine teacher on a quest to run every street, Hamish Morrison, The Renfrewshire Gazette, 16 June 2021
- ^ Paterson, Stewart (5 January 2022). "Meet Michael: the man who ran every single Glasgow street". Glasgow Times. Archived from the original on 1 August 2023. Retrieved 1 August 2023.
- ^ Paterson, Stewart (10 May 2023). "Labour pick man who ran every Glasgow street for Margaret Ferrier seat". Glasgow Times. Archived from the original on 28 July 2023. Retrieved 28 July 2023.
- ^ a b Whyte, Ava (5 January 2022). "Scots teacher Michael Shanks completes journey to run all 6143 streets in Glasgow". The National. Archived from the original on 1 August 2023. Retrieved 1 August 2023.
- ^ a b Brocklehurst, Steven (6 January 2022). "The man who ran all of Glasgow's 6,000 streets". BBC News. Archived from the original on 1 August 2023. Retrieved 1 August 2023.
- ^ Bartlett, Polly (3 April 2021). "I'm running along every one of Glasgow's 6000 streets". STV News. Archived from the original on 22 March 2023. Retrieved 1 August 2023.