Torcuil Crichton | |
|---|---|
 Official portrait, 2024 | |
| Member of Parliament for Na h-Eileanan an Iar | |
| Assumed office 4 July 2024 | |
| Preceded by | Angus MacNeil |
| Majority | 3,836 (28.4%) |
| Personal details | |
| Born | December 1964 (age 59) Isle of Lewis,Scotland |
| Political party | Labour |
| Website | www |
Torcuil Crichton (born December 1964) is a Scottish Labour Party politician who is the Member of Parliament (MP) for Na h-Eileanan an Iar since 2024. [1] He previously worked as a journalist and Gaelic broadcaster. [2]
Crichton was born in December 1964. [3] He is from Swordale in Point,Isle of Lewis,where he grew up. [2] [4] He attended Knock primary school. [5]
He worked as a journalist with the West Highland Free Press ,and subsequently for the Daily Record for 12 years,leaving his role as Westminster editor in 2022. [6] He has also worked for the Herald and Sunday Herald ,as well as the BBC, [7] for whom he made a Gaelic TV documentary,broadcast on BBC Alba,on Donald Trump's mother Mary Anne MacLeod's journey from the Isle of Lewis to America,Mathair a' Chinn-Suidhe –Trump's Mother. [8] [9]
He co-wrote the Gaelic TV drama Eilbheas which first aired on BBC Alba in 2008 and received a Bafta Scotland nomination. [10] [11] He has also written a teenage novel, [12] Fo Bhruid,a modern Gaelic retelling of Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson. [13]
Along with Malcolm Maclean he devised a temporary art installation,Sheòl nan Iolaire,as a memorial marking the 100th anniversary of the sinking of HMY Iolaire,with the loss of 201 men,on 1 January 1919. [14] [15] As of 2024 [update] the memorial remains in place in Stornoway harbour. [16]
He was selected as a Labour parliamentary candidate in January 2023, [6] and elected in the 2024 general election.
On entering parliament,he took the Oath of Allegiance in Gaelic using a Gaelic Bible. [17] [18]
He has a brother,Donald,who stood as the Labour candidate for Na h-Eileanan an Iar in the 2011 Scottish Parliament election,coming second to Alasdair Allan. [19]
The Outer Hebrides or Western Isles,sometimes known as the Long Isle or Long Island,is an island chain off the west coast of mainland Scotland. The islands are geographically coextensive with Comhairle nan Eilean Siar,one of the 32 unitary council areas of Scotland. They form part of the archipelago of the Hebrides,separated from the Scottish mainland and from the Inner Hebrides by the waters of the Minch,the Little Minch,and the Sea of the Hebrides.
The Isle of Lewis or simply Lewis is the northern part of Lewis and Harris,the largest island of the Western Isles or Outer Hebrides archipelago in Scotland. The two parts are frequently referred to as if they were separate islands. The total area of Lewis is 683 square miles (1,770 km2).
Stornoway is the main town,and by far the largest,of the Outer Hebrides,and the capital of Lewis and Harris in Scotland.
Alasdair Morrison is a Scottish Labour Party politician. He was the Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the Western Isles constituency from 1999 to 2007.
Point,also known as the Eye Peninsula,is a peninsula some 11 km long in the Outer Hebrides,Scotland. The majority of Point is connected to the rest of the Isle of Lewis by a narrow isthmus,one mile in length and at one point barely 100 metres wide. The peninsula is just 6 km east of the regional capital of Stornoway,however the district of Point actually starts at the Parkend estate on Stornoway's outskirts. Point is home to around 2,600 people and is one of the few districts of the Western Isles where the population is increasing. There are about 17 villages and hamlets in Point:Melbost (Mealabost),Branahuie,Aignish (Aiginis),Knock,Swordale (Suardail),Garrabost,Lower Bayble,Eagleton,Upper Bayble,Shulishader,Sheshader (Seisiader),Flesherin (Fleisirin),Cnoc Amhlaigh,Portnaguran,Aird,Broker (Brocair),and Portvoller.
HMY Iolaire was an Admiralty Yacht that sank at the entrance to Stornoway harbour on 1 January 1919,with the loss of at least 201 men out of the 283 on board. The overcrowded vessel was trying to negotiate a difficult route under exceptionally bad weather conditions. The disaster cost the Isle of Lewis almost the whole of its young male population.
Comhairle nan Eilean Siar is the local government council for Na h-Eileanan Siar council area of Scotland. It is based in Stornoway in the Isle of Lewis.
Na h-Eileanan an Iar,formerly Western Isles,is a constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom,created in 1918. It elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election.
Angus Brendan MacNeil is a Scottish politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Na h-Eileanan an Iar from 2005 to 2024.
Na h-Eileanan an Iar,formerly the Western Isles,is a constituency of the Scottish Parliament (Holyrood) covering the council area of Na h-Eileanan Siar. It elects one Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) by the first past the post method of election. It is also one of eight constituencies in the Highlands and Islands electoral region,which elects seven additional members,in addition to the eight constituency MSPs,to produce a form of proportional representation for the region as a whole.
The Christian Party is a minor Christian political party in Great Britain.
The Nicolson Institute in Stornoway,is the largest school in the Western Isles,Scotland.
Angus Peter Campbell is a Scottish award-winning poet,novelist,journalist,broadcaster and actor. Campbell's works,which are written mainly in Scottish Gaelic,draw heavily upon both Hebridean mythology and folklore and the magic realism of recent Latin American literature. In an interview prior to his death,Sorley MacLean,who is,alongside Alasdair Mac Mhaighstir Alasdair,considered to be among the two greatest writers in the history of Scottish Gaelic literature,called Campbell one of the best living Scottish poets in any language.
Alasdair James Allan is a Scottish politician serving as the Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the Na h-Eileanan an Iar constituency since 2007. A member of the Scottish National Party (SNP),he served in the Scottish Government from 2011 to 2018,first as Minister for Learning,Science and Scotland's Languages and then Minister for International Development and Europe.
The Lewis War Memorial is a war memorial dedicated to the men from the Lewis area who lost their lives in World War I and those who survived the war only to drown while returning home during the 1919 sinking of HMY Iolaire. Completed in 1924,the memorial is situated at the highest point of the town of Stornoway.
Anne Frater is a Scottish poet. She was born in Stornoway (Steòrnabhagh),in Lewis on the Western Isles. She was brought up in the village of Upper Bayble in the district of Point,a small community which has also been home to Derick Thomson and Iain Crichton Smith.
Steòrnabhagh a Deas is one of the nine wards used to elect members of the Comhairle nan Eilean Siar. It elects four Councillors.
Steòrnabhagh a Tuath is one of the nine wards used to elect members of the Comhairle nan Eilean Siar. It elects four Councillors.
Elections toComhairle nan Eilean Siar took place on 5 May 2022 on the same day as the 31 other Scottish local government elections. As with other Scottish council elections,it was held using the single transferable vote (STV) system –a form of proportional representation –in which multiple candidates are elected in each ward,and voters rank candidates in order of preference.
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