Jimmy Dunnachie

James Francis Dunnachie JP (17 November 1930 – 7 September 1997), known as Jimmy Dunnachie, was a British politician from Scotland. He served as a Labour Party Member of Parliament from 1987 until 1997. He briefly served on the front bench as a Whip but was not a prominent figure in politics.

Dunnachie was born in Glasgow and educated at St Margaret's School in Kinning Park. His father was a ship's rigger and upon leaving school, he was apprenticed to Fairfield's yard on the River Clyde before becoming a fitter at the Rolls Royce plant at Hillington in 1953. He was already active in the Amalgamated Engineering Union as a shop steward, and joined the Labour Party in 1967.

Dunnachie began his political career on Glasgow Corporation in 1972 in Pollokshaws ward. He worked on slum clearance as Chairman of the Clearance and Rehabilitation Committee; he lost his seat in 1977 when the Labour vote in Glasgow slumped. From 1978 he transferred to Strathclyde Regional Council and became Chair of the Social Work committee.

Running up to the 1987 general election, Dunnachie was selected to follow James White as Labour candidate for Glasgow Pollok by 50 votes to 41 for Dave Churchley. Churchley was a member of the Militant tendency and there was some surprise at his failure to win the selection owing to the extent to which the local party was dominated by Militant supporters. An earlier round of voting had seen the Militant delegates vote for Dunnachie over Bob Gillespie, a non-Militant left-winger, which was speculated as deriving from their belief that Dunnachie would be easier for Churchley to beat; however it caused resentment among Gillespie's supporters.

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