John MacDougall (Member of Parliament, 1947—2008)

John MacDougall was a long time member of Labour Party in Scotland. When Henry McLeish stepped down from the UK Parliament seat for Central Fife in 2005, MacDougall ran and won against Labor Party general secretary Alex Rowley, who many people had thought would be victorious. In MacDougall’s election campaign, his son mocked other Scottish party members for wearing underwear under their kilts because everyone knows that true Scotsmen go bare underneath their kilts.

In his early life, MacDougall earned his diploma in industrial management and naval architectural studies. He worked first as an apprentice caulker riveter at Rosyth Dockyard and then as a boilermaker at the oil rig construction yard at Methil beginning in 1964. Later he worked as a Shop Steward Convenor for GMB trade union. MacDougall’s experience in the shipyards made him a loyal member of the Scottish Labour Party. It also exposed MacDougall to the asbestos that caused his mesothelioma and eventually caused his death.

Personally, John MacDougall was known to be an honest and loyal man who always had the best interest of the people in mind. One interesting thing that MacDougall accomplished was the translation of several Robert Burns poems into English from the traditional language of Scotland for the celebration of Burns Day in 2003.

MacDougall passed away of mesothelioma in August 2008. He is survived by his wife Cathy and his two children.