This was a Balmullo Newsletter Article in April, 2010

MPs of East Fife

Did you know  Herbert Asquith, who was Prime Minister from 1908 -1916, was Member of Parliament for East Fife?

From 1708 (following the 1707 Act of Union) to 1885 Leuchars Parish was part of the Fife County Constituency which covered all the rural parishes.

The constituency of East Fife was created in 1885 and was very similar to our current North East Fife with slightly larger boundaries. North East Fife was created in 1983.

Asquith became our MP in 1886 and held the posts of Home Secretary and Chancellor of the Exchequer before becoming Prime Minister in 1908. During this Parliament many social reforms took place including the introduction of old age pensions, national insurance and labour exchanges. His Government also made it illegal to ill-treat children, to sell alcohol or tobacco to them or to let them work in dangerous trades. 

Asquith, with 32 years, was our longest serving MP but was closely followed by James Henderson-Stewart. He won the seat in a by-election in 1933 and remained MP until his death in 1961. During this time he served as Under Secretary of State for Scotland for five years.

He was succeeded by Sir John Gilmour who served the constituency for 18 years. He joined the Fife and Forfar Yeomanry in 1939 and landed in Normandy shortly after D-Day. As a major he led a squadron of tanks through the intense fighting. Three tanks were destroyed under him and he ended up commanding his regiment from a bulldozer. He was awarded a DSO for his actions. He owned Montrave Estate near Leven, which is still owned by his family.

In the by-election in 1961 a 23-year-old Glasgow law student ran a very lively campaign for Labour and took 2^nd place. This was John Smith who went on to lead the Labour Party and if it hadn’t been for his untimely death, he may have been Prime Minister. He stood again in 1964. In 1970 he entered Parliament as MP for North Lanarkshire.

Other notable Labour politicians who have also cut their political teeth in this area are

• Joseph Westwood (1933) political organiser for Scottish Miners from 1918 to 1929 and secretary of State for Scotland for two years.
• Harry Ewing (1970), who went on to chair the Scottish Constitutional Convention,
• Helen Liddell (1974), who was also a Secretary of State for Scotland for two years 
• Henry McLeish(1979), who later became First Minister of Scotland.  

Just to get up to date; In 1979 John Gilmour stood down and the seat was taken by another Conservative, Barry Henderson.

In 1987  Menzies Campbell won the seat on a third attempt for the Liberals and held it until he stood down in 2015.

Stephen Gethins, for the SNP, took the seat in 2015. He held it in 2017 by two votes. This made North East Fife the most marginal seat in Britain.

In 2019 he was defeated by Liberal Democrat, Wendy Chamberlain.