James Alexander Lamond (29 November 1928 – 20 November 2007) was a BritishLabourMember of Parliament who representedOldham East from 1970 to 1983 and thenOldham Central and Royton from1983 until he retired at the1992 general election.
Lamond was born inBurrelton,Perthshire. His father worked for theLondon and North Eastern Railway. He was educated at schools in Burrelton andCoupar Angus, before becoming anapprenticedraughtsman at the Hall and Company shipyard in Aberdeen in 1942, aged 14. He could not afford the fees to studynaval architecture inNewcastle, and worked as a draughtsman for the North-east Scotland Regional Hospital Board.
He was an active member of the Draughtsmen's and Allied Technicians' Association (Data; later successively renamed asAUEW-Tass,MSF,Amicus andUnite). He joined the Labour party in 1950, and was elected to the council ofthe County of the City of Aberdeen in 1959, serving as a councillor until 1971. He became leader of the local Labour group in 1967, and served asLord Provost andLord Lieutenant of Aberdeen in 1970–71.[1][2] After he failed to be selected for the safe Labour seat ofAberdeen North, losing out toRobert Hughes, he found favour instead inOldham East, where he was elected in June 1970.[3][4][5][6]
He was on the left-wing of the Labour party, alongsideTony Benn andEric Heffer. He opposed the plans fordevolution inScotland, voting against the Scotland Bill in 1977. Also in 1977, he was upbraided by the Speaker after making some forthright remarks aboutPrince Philip. Lamond supported Tony Benn in his unsuccessful bid to become the Labour party's deputy leader in 1981.
He was a vice-president of theWorld Peace Council, president of the British Peace Assembly, founder chairman of the British-East German Society. In the 1980s, he was criticised as an apologist of the Communist regime in the Soviet Union, particularly after he provided justifications for the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979.[7] In a debate in the House of Commons in July 1980, the World Peace Council was criticised by Conservative Foreign Office ministerPeter Blaker as a "disguised instrument of Soviet policy", a charge that Lamond rejected (although he later accepted that much of its funding did indeed come from the Soviet Union).
After constituency boundaries were redrawn for the 1983 election, he moved to the new seat ofOldham Central and Royton, selected ahead ofJoel Barnett. He opposed the location of UScruise missiles andPershing missiles in the UK in December 1983.[8][9] He supported the declining textile industry in his constituency. He served on thePublic Accounts Committee from 1975 to 1983, and served on the Speaker's panel from 1979 until he retired at the 1992 general election.
Lamond returned to local politics after leaving Parliament, serving as a member ofGrampian Regional Council from 1994 to 1996. He became aDeputy Lieutenant of Aberdeen in 1995.[10] He was elected to the new unitary authorityAberdeen City Council in 1995, serving alongside his wife, before both retired in May 2007.[11] He was chairman of the Royal Aberdeen Workshops for the Blind and Disabled from 2002 to 2004.
With his wife June Wellburn in 1954, Lamond had three daughters, all of whom survived him. He suffered from pneumonia in later life.
an apologist for the USSR's failed attempt to take over Afghanistan in 1979.
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member of Parliament forOldham East 1970–1983 | Constituency abolished |
| New constituency | Member of Parliament forOldham Central and Royton 1983–1992 | Succeeded by |
| Civic offices | ||
| Preceded by Robert Lennox | Lord Provost of Aberdeen 1970–1971 | Succeeded by |