WINNIE GETS HER EWINGS
Winnie Ewing’s victory for the SNP in the 1967 Hamilton by-election was one of the great upsets of UK political history. Though she wasn’t the first SNP MP, Robert McIntyre’s 1945 win at Motherwell only lasted three months and largely a fluke. Labour were the 10-1 favourites for Hamilton, and Ewing hoped a strong second would be enough to further the Scottish nationalist cause. Instead she prevailed, and trumpeted a “stop the world, Scotland wants to get on” message which would define her time as MP and usher a revival of fortunes for the SNP.
She lost Motherwell the next election, though came back to Parliament for another five years through Moray and Nairn. After losing that seat, she never returned to Westminster, but remained prominent in the European Parliament, where she was nicknamed “Madame Écosse” (“Mrs. Scotland”) for her advocacy. She spent decades as President of the SNP and was member of Scottish Parliament in her final few years of elected politics. You’d be tempted to say she died of embarrassment at the SNP’s recent shambles, only she had dementia for years so was blissfully unaware of the ongoings. She was 93 and picked by eight teams, including Corpsicles, Funeral Furore, and The Anfield Iron.
Winnie Ewing
10 July 1929 – 21 June 2023, aged 93
8 TEAMS (💀💀💀💀💀 5 POINTS)