Alex Wood (politician)

Alex Wood (born 1950, Dundee) is a former Labour leader of Edinburgh City Council in Scotland.

Biography

He was educated at Paisley Grammar School, the New University of Ulster, Moray House College of Education, the University of Edinburgh, the University of Stirling[1] and the University of Strathclyde.

He was a member of the Labour Party from 1969 until 1987. He was a member of the National Committee of the Labour Party Young Socialists from 1973 to 1975. In the early 1970s Wood was a leading figure in the entryist Militant tendency in Scotland who left that party after it decided to support the creation of a devolved Scottish Assembly.[2] Subsequently, he became a trenchant critic of Militant.[3][4]

He subsequently became a leading figure in the Labour Co-ordinating Committee in Scotland and wrote its pamphlet on Labour and Ireland.[5] He was Labour Parliamentary candidate for Dumfries in 1979,[6][7] and for West Edinburgh in 1983[8] (having been elected to Edinburgh District Council in 1980 and having become leader of the Edinburgh District Council Labour Group in 1982) and in May 1984 became leader of the first ever majority Labour administration in the city.[9][10]

Members of the Labour group of councillors felt however that his politics were further left than theirs and in May 1986 voted they had no confidence in his leadership. He was replaced as council leader with Mark Lazarowicz.[11][12]

Subsequently, Wood resigned his council seat,[13][14] left Labour and joined the 1988 version of the Scottish Socialist Party.[15][16]

Shortly after the demise of the SSP, Wood joined the Scottish National Party.[17][18]

A teacher by profession, he retired as headteacher of Wester Hailes Education Centre in Edinburgh in August 2011. He had also been seconded (2008–09) as Headteacher to Tynecastle High School. He writes on educational issues in The Herald,[19] and writes regular columns on educational matters in SecEd,[20] Holyrood Magazine,[21] the Times Educational Supplement Scotland[22] and contributes to the Scottish Review,[23] Lothian Life [24] and the Caledonian Mercury.[25]

Notes
  1. ROY, C (Ed), Who's Who in Scotland, Inglewood Books (2008)
  2. CRICK, Michael, The March of Militant, Faber & Faber, London (1986)
  3. WOOD, Alex, "Tilting at the Militant Windmill", Labour Weekly (9 July 1982)
  4. NAUGHTIE, James, "Edinburgh Labour Leader Highlights Militant Dilemma", The Scotsman (9 July 1982)
  5. WOOD, Alex, Ireland and the British Labour Movement, LCC (Scotland) (1982)
  6. Annandale Observer 30 March 1979 et seq
  7. Dumfries & Galloway Standard, 28 March 1979 et seq
  8. DOUGLAS HOME, Mark, "No-one is upset by boundary changes", Evening News, 25 May 1983, Edinburgh
  9. DINWOODIE, Robbie, "Alex Wood Plans a Radical Road for Edinburgh", The Scotsman (10 May 1984)
  10. HORSBURGH, Frances, & DOUGLAS, Derek, "A 'New Democracy' Dawns in Edinburgh", Glasgow Herald (11 May 1984)
  11. DINWOODIE, Robbie, "Labour at War Over the Wood 'Ambush'", The Scotsman (16 June 1986)
  12. MEEK, Brian, "Battling It Out In the Red Corner", Glasgow Herald (26 June 1986)
  13. SCOTT, David, "Labour facing life on a knife-edge", The Scotsman, 7 August 1987
  14. WOOD, Alex, "Why I Resigned", North Edinburgh News (September 1987)
  15. MACRAE, Callum, "Labour dissidents hint at SLP rebirth", The Observer, 20 November 1988
  16. HORSBURGH, Frances, "Why Alex Wood, class warrior, quit Labour", The Herald (12 January 1989)
  17. "Ex-Labour councillor defects", The Herald, 23 September 1994
  18. WOOD, Alex, "Why I Joined the SNP", Liberation, Issue 6, Edinburgh (November 1994)
  19. The Herald, Glasgow, 2 October 2007 et seq
  20. SecEd, 12 May 2005 et seq: http://www.sec-ed.co.uk/
  21. "Holyrood Magazine", 5 September 2011 et seq: http://www.holyrood.com/articles/2011/09/05/school%E2%80%99s-out-for-summer/%5B%5D
  22. Times Educational Supplement Scotland, 1 December 2006 et seq: http://www.tes.co.uk/scotland
  23. Scottish Review, 13 November 2008 et seq: http://www.scottishreview.net/
  24. Lothian Life,29 January 2010 et seq: http://www.lothianlife.co.uk
  25. "Caledonian Mercury", 9 August 2011 et seq: http://www.caledonianmercury.com/2011/08/09/ Archived 2 April 2012 at the Wayback Machine
Civic offices
Preceded by
?		 Leader of Edinburgh City Council
1984–1986		 Succeeded by
Mark Lazarowicz
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