Oonagh McDonald
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Oonagh McDonald | |
|---|---|
| Member of Parliament for Thurrock | |
| In office 15 July 1976 – 18 May 1987 | |
| Preceded by | Hugh Delargy |
| Succeeded by | Tim Janman |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Oonagh Anne McDonald 21 February 1938 |
| Party | Labour |
| Alma mater | University of Bristol |
| Website | www.oonaghmcdonald.com |
Oonagh Anne McDonald CBE (born 21 February 1938)[1] is a British academic, businesswoman, and former Labour Party politician.
McDonald was born in Stockton-on-Tees, County Durham, the daughter of Dr HD McDonald, an Irish Protestant minister. The family moved to London and she was educated at the Roan School for Girls in Greenwich, East Barnet Grammar School and King's College London, where she gained a Master's degree in Theology in 1962 and a Ph.D in 1974. She worked variously as a teacher, lecturer, researcher and management consultant. She taught philosophy at the University of Bristol from 1965 to 1976. She also served as a member of the Financial Services Commission in Gibraltar and was a senior consultant on international regulatory and public policy issues.
Parliamentary career
McDonald unsuccessfully contested the seat of South Gloucestershire as the Labour Party candidate at both the February 1974 and October 1974 general elections. She was elected Member of Parliament for Thurrock in the 1976 by-election, following the death of Hugh Delargy. Prior to the by-election, there were only twenty seats in England with bigger Labour majorities than Thurrock. However while McDonald won, her majority was 14,241 votes less than her predecessor had enjoyed at the last election. Reporting the result of the election, The Glasgow Herald argued that as well as being caused by an increased Conservative vote and a significant vote for the far-right National Front, who had not previously stood in Thurrock, this was the result of the fact that "Labour voters in London dockland stayed away in droves".[2] However the same report noted that there was "relief" that Labour had held the seat and that for Prime Minister James Callaghan the most important thing was that McDonald's victory would "swell the Government's effective majority to three."[2]
She became Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Joel Barnett (later Lord Barnett), in 1977. She was then Opposition Spokesman on Defence from 1981 to 1983, and then Opposition Spokesman on Treasury and Economic Affairs from 1983 to 1987. At the 1987 general election, she lost Thurrock to the Conservative candidate, Tim Janman.
