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Torcuil Crichton

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Torcuil Crichton
MP
BERJAYA
Official portrait, 2024
Member of Parliament
for Na h-Eileanan an Iar
Incumbent
Assumed office
4 July 2024
Preceded byAngus MacNeil
Majority3,836 (28.4%)
Personal details
BornDecember 1964 (age 61)
Isle of Lewis, Scotland
PartyLabour
Websitewww.torcuilmp.com Edit this at Wikidata

Torcuil Crichton (born December 1964) is a Scottish Labour Party politician who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Na h-Eileanan an Iar since 2024.[1] He previously worked as a journalist and Gaelic broadcaster.[2]

Journalism career

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Crichton was born in December 1964.[3] He is from Swordale in Point, Isle of Lewis, where he grew up.[2][4] He attended Knock primary school.[5]

He worked as a journalist with the West Highland Free Press, and subsequently for the Daily Record for 12 years, leaving his role as Westminster editor in 2022.[6] He has also worked for the Herald and Sunday Herald, as well as the BBC,[7] for whom he made a Gaelic TV documentary, broadcast on BBC Alba, on Donald Trump's mother Mary Anne MacLeod's journey from the Isle of Lewis to America, Mathair a' Chinn-Suidhe – Trump's Mother.[8][9]

He co-wrote the Gaelic TV drama Eilbheas which first aired on BBC Alba in 2008 and received a Bafta Scotland nomination.[10][11] He has also written a teenage novel,[12] Fo Bhruid, a modern Gaelic retelling of Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson.[13][14]

Along with Malcolm Maclean he devised a temporary art installation, Sheòl an Iolaire, as a memorial marking the 100th anniversary of the sinking of HMY Iolaire, with the loss of 201 men, on 1 January 1919.[15][16] As of 2024 the memorial remains in place in Stornoway harbour.[17]

Political career

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He was selected as a Labour parliamentary candidate in January 2023,[6] and elected in the 2024 general election.

On entering parliament, he took the Oath of Allegiance in Gaelic using a Gaelic Bible.[18][19]

At the 2026 State Opening of Parliament by King Charles III, Crichton resumed former MP for Bolsover Dennis Skinner's tradition of a topical comment during the entrance of Black Rod into the House of Commons. Crichton remarked "Not now Andy." when Gentleman Usher of the Black Rod Lieutenant General Ed Davis struck the door, in reference to then-speculation of Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham re-running for Parliament and challenging Prime Minister Keir Starmer in a leadership contest.[20][21]

Family

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He has a brother, Donald, who stood as the Labour candidate for Na h-Eileanan an Iar in the 2011 Scottish Parliament election, coming second to Alasdair Allan.[22]

Bibliography

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  • Fo Bhruid (Stòrlann, 2010) ISBN 9781907054396 [23][24]

References

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  1. ↑ "Election 2024 > Na h-Eileanan an Iar results". BBC News. Retrieved 5 July 2024.
  2. 1 2 "ISLES CANDIDATE: Journalist Torcuil Crichton set to stand at next general election". West Highland Free Press. 2 February 2023. Retrieved 5 July 2024.
  3. ↑ "Torcuil CRICHTON". Companies House. Retrieved 11 July 2024.
  4. ↑ "Labour Na h-Eileanan an Iar".
  5. ↑ "Whitehall 1212: Landscape and memory - for Donald Murdo MacDonald". 24 January 2013.
  6. 1 2 Hutcheon, Paul (30 January 2023). "Former Record reporter Torcuil Crichton set to become Labour candidate in Na h-Eileanan an Iar". Daily Record. Retrieved 5 July 2024.
  7. ↑ Sharman, David (1 February 2023). "Former regional journalist bids to become MP for UK's smallest constituency". Hold the front page. Retrieved 5 July 2024.
  8. ↑ "Scotland and the first-generation Scottish-American president have always been an uncomfortable fit". 13 November 2020.
  9. ↑ "Mathair a' Chinn Suidhe – Trump's Mother". BBC Alba.
  10. ↑ "BBC ALBA Gets BAFTA Scotland Nods". 26 October 2009.
  11. ↑ "Eilbheas". BBC Alba. Retrieved 7 July 2024.
  12. ↑ https://committees.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/119167/pdf/
  13. ↑ "Stòrlann Nàiseanta na Gàidhlig - Barrington Stoke".
  14. ↑ "Fo bhruid : sgeulachd ainmeil Robert Louis Stevenson 'Kidnapped' air a h-ath innse san latha an diugh". Western Isles Libraries. Retrieved 30 May 2026.
  15. ↑ "Lights on for the Iolaire art installation in Stornoway Harbour". Stornoway Gazette. 13 December 2018. Retrieved 7 July 2024.
  16. ↑ "War memorials register > HMY Iolaire-Centenary Art Installation (Sheòl nan Iolaire)". Imperial War Museum. Retrieved 5 July 2024.
  17. ↑ "Sheòl an Iolaire - Isle of Lewis". www.visitouterhebrides.co.uk. Retrieved 7 July 2024.
  18. ↑ Crifhton, Torcuil [@Torcuil] (11 July 2024). "'S e urram a th' ann mo bhòidean a ghabhail agus Na h-Eileanan an Iar a riochdachadh sa phàrlamaid. An obair a-nis air tòiseachadh" (Tweet) – via X (formerly Twitter).
  19. ↑ Kirkup, James (12 July 2024). "Is this Westminster's coolest MP?". The Spectator.
  20. ↑ Scheerhout, John (13 May 2026). "Chuckles in Commons as MP jokes Andy Burnham is storming back into Westminster". Manchester Evening News. Retrieved 17 May 2026.
  21. ↑ MP shouts 'not now Andy' as Black Rod knocks Commons door. 14 May 2026. Retrieved 17 May 2026 – via The Independent.
  22. ↑ Thomas, Ellen (4 February 2023). "Unspun: the Herald political diary". The Herald. Retrieved 5 July 2024.
  23. ↑ "Stòrlann Nàiseanta na Gàidhlig - Barrington Stoke".
  24. ↑ "Fo bhruid : sgeulachd ainmeil Robert Louis Stevenson 'Kidnapped' air a h-ath innse san latha an diugh". Western Isles Libraries. Retrieved 30 May 2026.
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