Colin Fox
Encyclopedia
Colin Fox is the national spokesperson of the Scottish Socialist Party
, and a former member for Lothian in the Scottish Parliament
. He lives in the Inch, Edinburgh
, with his partner Zillah and their two children.
Fox studied mathematics at Strathclyde University for a year before switching to Bell’s College, Hamilton, where he trained to be an accountant.
as "one of my heroes", and says that it was after attending a talk given by Benn at Glasgow University that he was inspired to get involved in politics.
He was a leading activist in the struggle against the poll tax
in Edinburgh as a member of Labour Party Young Socialists
, and became Lothian regional organiser of the SSP. He was selected as its no. 1 candidate in Lothian region for the Scottish Parliament election of 2003, and was elected. He lost his seat in the 2007 election.
On 28 November 2004 he announced his candidature for Convenor of the Scottish Socialist Party after the resignation of Tommy Sheridan
. At the SSP conference on 13 February 2005 Fox was elected with 252 votes against 154 for Alan McCombes
. He was re-elected unopposed at the February 2006, October 2006 and October 2007 conferences. In the March 2008 conference the position of convenor was abolished and replaced by two national spokespersons, a man and a woman. Fox is currently the sole spokesperson after Frances Curran stood down at the April 2011 conference.
He was the SSP's no. 1 candidate at the European Parliament election, 2009
and against Alastair Darling in Edinburgh South West
at the United Kingdom general election, 2010.
The SSP selected him as the no. 1 candidate in Lothian region in the Scottish Parliament election, 2011
.
In June 2005 he took part in a peaceful protest, interrupting Question Time
in the Scottish Parliament
, along with three other SSP MSPs, to highlight their claim that parliament had failed to secure the right to demonstrate outside the Gleneagles Hotel
where the G8
were meeting. As a consequence, he was suspended from the Scottish Parliament for the whole of September and the salaries of the four MSPs and their staff were stopped.
In 2007 he supported Greenpeace
on board their ship Arctic Sunrise in their campaign against the replacement of the UK's nuclear weapons. He had previously visited a nuclear power station on the grounds that ""I am a convinced opponent of nuclear power but an opponent who wants to conduct the debate about new nuclear capacity and our energy needs on the basis of facts. My visit to Torness is at my own request." In the same year he championed the cause of affordable access to housing with his support of Midlothian Council's investment in providing housing.
In 2008 he wrote to the First Minister Alex Salmond
seeking an assurance that any future meetings with members of the Northern Ireland Assembly would raise the issue of attitudes towards Lesbian and Gay rights by its ministers. This after 'Ian Paisely Jnr, then the Minister for Equality, had said “lesbians and gay men harm society” and that he is “repulsed” by them.'
More recently he has also been involved in opposing community education cuts, and has marched against cuts to public services.
Other issues he has campaigned around are Climate Change
, AIDs
, Peace
, Education
and animal welfare
.
In response to proposed tuition fee increases, Fox commented that previous student politicians, such as Jack Straw
and Charles Clarke
, "were only able to be active in student politics because they didn’t have 10,000 of debt hanging round their neck and they didn’t have to rush off to work in McDonald’s".
Festival and re-founded the Edinburgh People's Festival
, which aims to "advance education in the arts in Edinburgh and the Lothians" in 2002. He is also on the editorial board of the Scottish Left Review
.
He was one of several SSP members who gave evidence in both the Sheridan defamation case
and the subsequent trial for perjury.
In October 2008 Fox stood for Rector at St Andrews University. He came second, losing to Kevin Dunion
. He was asked to run for the position by members of St Andrews based student run groups such as Stop The War
, Lower Rents Now among others, this due to his previous experience with the pro-peace and social justice movements as well as attending debates at the university. Despite losing in 2008, he has remained active and keenly maintains his links with the university. He stood again in the 2011 election, this time finishing third behind Lord Michael Forsyth and successful candidate Alistair Moffat
.
His involvement in the St Andrews University Debating Society in 2005 was commented on in Holyrood. Named in the program as "the Rt Hon Sir Colin Fox MSP", it was remarked the event had impacted on his approach to his parliamentary work, attending in more formal attire. He is quoted as having said of the event "Once a lord, always a lord. But for me, once a knight is quite enough."
Scottish Socialist Party
The Scottish Socialist Party is a left-wing Scottish political party. Positioning itself significantly to the left of Scotland's centre-left parties, the SSP campaigns on a socialist economic platform and for Scottish independence....
, and a former member for Lothian in the Scottish Parliament
Scottish Parliament
The Scottish Parliament is the devolved national, unicameral legislature of Scotland, located in the Holyrood area of the capital, Edinburgh. The Parliament, informally referred to as "Holyrood", is a democratically elected body comprising 129 members known as Members of the Scottish Parliament...
. He lives in the Inch, Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
, with his partner Zillah and their two children.
Fox studied mathematics at Strathclyde University for a year before switching to Bell’s College, Hamilton, where he trained to be an accountant.
Political history
Fox describes Tony BennTony Benn
Anthony Neil Wedgwood "Tony" Benn, PC is a British Labour Party politician and a former MP and Cabinet Minister.His successful campaign to renounce his hereditary peerage was instrumental in the creation of the Peerage Act 1963...
as "one of my heroes", and says that it was after attending a talk given by Benn at Glasgow University that he was inspired to get involved in politics.
He was a leading activist in the struggle against the poll tax
Community Charge
The Community Charge, popularly known as the "poll tax", was a system of taxation introduced in replacement of the rates to part fund local government in Scotland from 1989, and England and Wales from 1990. It provided for a single flat-rate per-capita tax on every adult, at a rate set by the...
in Edinburgh as a member of Labour Party Young Socialists
Labour Party Young Socialists
The Labour Party Young Socialists was the name of the youth section of the British Labour Party from 1965 until 1993. The LPYS was the most successful of the youth sections of the Labour Party in the post war period, at one point having nearly 600 branches and attendances at its national...
, and became Lothian regional organiser of the SSP. He was selected as its no. 1 candidate in Lothian region for the Scottish Parliament election of 2003, and was elected. He lost his seat in the 2007 election.
On 28 November 2004 he announced his candidature for Convenor of the Scottish Socialist Party after the resignation of Tommy Sheridan
Tommy Sheridan
Tommy Sheridan is a Scottish socialist politician. He has had various prominent roles within the socialist movement in Scotland and is currently one of two co-convenors of the left-wing Scottish political party Solidarity....
. At the SSP conference on 13 February 2005 Fox was elected with 252 votes against 154 for Alan McCombes
Alan McCombes
Alan William McCombes has been a leading member of the Scottish Socialist Party for several years, and was the editor of the Scottish Socialist Voice.-Background:...
. He was re-elected unopposed at the February 2006, October 2006 and October 2007 conferences. In the March 2008 conference the position of convenor was abolished and replaced by two national spokespersons, a man and a woman. Fox is currently the sole spokesperson after Frances Curran stood down at the April 2011 conference.
He was the SSP's no. 1 candidate at the European Parliament election, 2009
European Parliament election, 2009
Elections to the European Parliament were held in the 27 member states of the European Union between 4 and 7 June 2009. A total of 736 Members of the European Parliament were elected to represent some 500 million Europeans, making these the biggest trans-national elections in history...
and against Alastair Darling in Edinburgh South West
Edinburgh South West (UK Parliament constituency)
Edinburgh South West is a Scottish constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom , first used in the 2005 general election. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election....
at the United Kingdom general election, 2010.
The SSP selected him as the no. 1 candidate in Lothian region in the Scottish Parliament election, 2011
Scottish Parliament election, 2011
The 2011 Scottish Parliament general election was held on Thursday, 5 May 2011 to elect 129 members to the Scottish Parliament.The election delivered the first majority government since the opening of Holyrood, a remarkable feat as the mixed member proportional representation system is used to...
.
Campaigning
He is the justice spokesman for the SSP, and has campaigned for the abolition of prescription charges, including putting a Bill to that effect before parliament.In June 2005 he took part in a peaceful protest, interrupting Question Time
Question Time
Question time in a parliament occurs when members of the parliament ask questions of government ministers , which they are obliged to answer. It usually occurs daily while parliament is sitting, though it can be cancelled in exceptional circumstances...
in the Scottish Parliament
Scottish Parliament
The Scottish Parliament is the devolved national, unicameral legislature of Scotland, located in the Holyrood area of the capital, Edinburgh. The Parliament, informally referred to as "Holyrood", is a democratically elected body comprising 129 members known as Members of the Scottish Parliament...
, along with three other SSP MSPs, to highlight their claim that parliament had failed to secure the right to demonstrate outside the Gleneagles Hotel
Gleneagles Hotel
The Gleneagles Hotel is a luxury hotel near Auchterarder, Perth and Kinross, Scotland.- History :The hotel was built by the former Caledonian Railway Company and opened in 1924, originally with its own railway station...
where the G8
G8
The Group of Eight is a forum, created by France in 1975, for the governments of seven major economies: Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States. In 1997, the group added Russia, thus becoming the G8...
were meeting. As a consequence, he was suspended from the Scottish Parliament for the whole of September and the salaries of the four MSPs and their staff were stopped.
In 2007 he supported Greenpeace
Greenpeace
Greenpeace is a non-governmental environmental organization with offices in over forty countries and with an international coordinating body in Amsterdam, The Netherlands...
on board their ship Arctic Sunrise in their campaign against the replacement of the UK's nuclear weapons. He had previously visited a nuclear power station on the grounds that ""I am a convinced opponent of nuclear power but an opponent who wants to conduct the debate about new nuclear capacity and our energy needs on the basis of facts. My visit to Torness is at my own request." In the same year he championed the cause of affordable access to housing with his support of Midlothian Council's investment in providing housing.
In 2008 he wrote to the First Minister Alex Salmond
Alex Salmond
Alexander Elliot Anderson "Alex" Salmond MSP is a Scottish politician and current First Minister of Scotland. He became Scotland's fourth First Minister in May 2007. He is the Leader of the Scottish National Party , having served as Member of the Scottish Parliament for Gordon...
seeking an assurance that any future meetings with members of the Northern Ireland Assembly would raise the issue of attitudes towards Lesbian and Gay rights by its ministers. This after 'Ian Paisely Jnr, then the Minister for Equality, had said “lesbians and gay men harm society” and that he is “repulsed” by them.'
More recently he has also been involved in opposing community education cuts, and has marched against cuts to public services.
Other issues he has campaigned around are Climate Change
Climate change
Climate change is a significant and lasting change in the statistical distribution of weather patterns over periods ranging from decades to millions of years. It may be a change in average weather conditions or the distribution of events around that average...
, AIDs
AIDS
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...
, Peace
Peace
Peace is a state of harmony characterized by the lack of violent conflict. Commonly understood as the absence of hostility, peace also suggests the existence of healthy or newly healed interpersonal or international relationships, prosperity in matters of social or economic welfare, the...
, Education
Education
Education in its broadest, general sense is the means through which the aims and habits of a group of people lives on from one generation to the next. Generally, it occurs through any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts...
and animal welfare
Animal welfare
Animal welfare is the physical and psychological well-being of animals.The term animal welfare can also mean human concern for animal welfare or a position in a debate on animal ethics and animal rights...
.
In response to proposed tuition fee increases, Fox commented that previous student politicians, such as Jack Straw
Jack Straw
Jack Straw , British politician.Jack Straw may also refer to:* Jack Straw , English* "Jack Straw" , 1971 song by the Grateful Dead* Jack Straw by W...
and Charles Clarke
Charles Clarke
Charles Rodway Clarke is a British Labour Party politician, who was the Member of Parliament for Norwich South from 1997 until 2010, and served as Home Secretary from December 2004 until May 2006.-Early life:...
, "were only able to be active in student politics because they didn’t have 10,000 of debt hanging round their neck and they didn’t have to rush off to work in McDonald’s".
Other activities
He co-organises the Edinburgh MaydayMay Day
May Day on May 1 is an ancient northern hemisphere spring festival and usually a public holiday; it is also a traditional spring holiday in many cultures....
Festival and re-founded the Edinburgh People's Festival
Edinburgh People's Festival
The Edinburgh People's Festival is inspired by the 1945 Labour Government which established the Edinburgh Festival to be a celebration of the arts 'for the people, by the people'...
, which aims to "advance education in the arts in Edinburgh and the Lothians" in 2002. He is also on the editorial board of the Scottish Left Review
Scottish Left Review
The Scottish Left Review is a bi-monthly publication of the political-left in Scotland. Established in 2000 by several figures of the Scottish left including Henry McCubbin, Jimmy Reid, Roseanna Cunningham and John McAllion it collects articles on a number of issues written by various individuals...
.
He was one of several SSP members who gave evidence in both the Sheridan defamation case
Sheridan v News International
Sheridan v News Group Newspapers is a civil court case brought by Tommy Sheridan against the publishers of the News of the World, which began in the Court of Session in Edinburgh, Scotland, on 4 July 2006...
and the subsequent trial for perjury.
In October 2008 Fox stood for Rector at St Andrews University. He came second, losing to Kevin Dunion
Kevin Dunion
Kevin Dunion OBE is the first and current Scottish Information Commissioner, as well as the current Lord Rector of the University of St Andrews.-Early life:...
. He was asked to run for the position by members of St Andrews based student run groups such as Stop The War
Stop the War Coalition
The Stop the War Coalition is a United Kingdom group set up on 21 September 2001 that campaigns against what it believes are unjust wars....
, Lower Rents Now among others, this due to his previous experience with the pro-peace and social justice movements as well as attending debates at the university. Despite losing in 2008, he has remained active and keenly maintains his links with the university. He stood again in the 2011 election, this time finishing third behind Lord Michael Forsyth and successful candidate Alistair Moffat
Alistair Moffat
Alistair Moffat is an award winning writer and journalist, former director of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, and Rector of the University of St Andrews.-Education:...
.
His involvement in the St Andrews University Debating Society in 2005 was commented on in Holyrood. Named in the program as "the Rt Hon Sir Colin Fox MSP", it was remarked the event had impacted on his approach to his parliamentary work, attending in more formal attire. He is quoted as having said of the event "Once a lord, always a lord. But for me, once a knight is quite enough."