Dick Douglas was elected for Dunfermline in 1979 having lost his previous seat of East Stirling & Clackmannan. This seat had been regarded as one of Labour’s safest seats and many of his critics felt he was fortunate to have a second chance in Parliament.
In his time in Dunfermline he was considered to be a very attentive local constituency member and in terms of his CV he should have been a classic son of the Labour Movement. Dick Douglas had an industrial background in engineering and shipbuilding as well as being active in the Co-op. The Co-op helped to get many people from a manual working background into further education through the Co-operative College in Loughborough. In the case of Dick Douglas he went on from Loughborough to take a degree at the University of Strathclyde.
Although Dick was widely regarded as able and hard working he made very few personal friendships within the Constituency Labour Party and nor was he popular with his MP colleagues . Dick Douglas believed that other Labour MP’s with less ability had been preferred to him for front bench responsibility. This frustration coupled with a disagreement over the partie’s handling of the anti-poll tax campaign led to him leaving the Labour Party, sitting first as an independent and then joining the SNP.
The SNP were always ready to welcome a defection but it is not unfair to say that Dick Douglas failed to set the heather on fire in the SNP. Dick’s contribution to politics since leaving the Labour Party can only be described as minor.