- Lloyd Quinan
Lloyd Quinan is a former member of the
Scottish Parliament . Born and brought up inEdinburgh he joined theScottish National Party (SNP) in1974 . A trained actor, he was a member of the Equity Union, before pursuing a media career as a weatherman and freelance broadcaster. He was involved in theNational Union of Journalists during this period. [http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/business/officialReports/meetingsParliament/or-99/or031602.htm]In the early 90's, Quinan worked as a weatherman for
Scottish Television . Lloyd quit the station over a pay row in 1997.In
1999 he was elected to represent the West of Scotland as an SNP candidate at the first Scottish Parliament election. During his time as an MSP he became known as a critic of the SNP leadership, first underAlex Salmond and thenJohn Swinney .A naturally inclined left-winger, he supported
Alex Neil 's bid for leadership in2000 , acting as a campaign manager for Neil. At the 2003 Parliament election he decided to stand down from being a candidate in the West of Scotland, and sought nomination in his home city of Edinburgh. Failure to do so meant that he unsuccessfully contested the election as SNP candidate for Motherwell andWishaw against the Labour candidate, First MinisterJack McConnell .In the aftermath of the SNP's election defeat in
2003 the SNP became embroiled in an internal struggle, culminating in the challenge to Swinney's leadership by grassroots SNP activist Dr. Bill Wilson. The media connected Quinan to Wilson's campaign, but this was something he denied.Lloyd is a political ally of
Jim Sillars andMargo MacDonald and he shares Sillars current antipathy towards theEU .Quinan eventually announced his decision to resign from the SNP and join the
Scottish Socialist Party (SSP) instead. He attempted to be placed on the SSP list of nominated candidates for the 2004 European Parliament election but he did not manage this.Lloyd is a strong supporter of the Basque and
Palestine independence movements. Since joining the SSP he has strengthened links between the party and socialist independence supporters in the Basque country. Quinan believes that the Basques are a strong organisational mode to follow for the independence movement in Scotland.He is also a supporter of
Independence First , the campaign for a referendum on independence for Scotland.A life-long
Hibernian F.C. supporter, he was a leading organiser in the 'Hands off Hibs' campaign.
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