Ron Brown (Scottish politician)

Ronald Duncan McLaren Brown (29 June 1938 – 3 August 2007) was a Scottish Labour Party Member of Parliament (MP) in the United Kingdom for the Edinburgh Leith constituency, from the 1979 general election to the 1992 general election. Brown was suspended from the House of Commons on several occasions. In a 1988 incident he damaged the Mace.

Brown was born into a working-class family at West Pilton in Edinburgh. His father worked in engineering. He was educated at Pennywell Primary School, Ainslie Park High School and the Bristo Technical Institute. He undertook National Service in the Royal Signals, and then served five years as an apprentice fitter. He worked as an electrician with Bruce Peebles & Co. Ltd. Prior to that, possibly when he was working for the electricity company The South of Scotland Electricity Board, he had had an accident which left him with partial facial paralysis and facial scarring despite plastic surgery. He became an active member wof the Amalgamated Union of Engineering Workers (AUEW). In 1963 he married May Smart; the couple had two sons.