Lloyd Quinan

Lloyd Quinan
Member of the Scottish Parliament for West of Scotland
In office 6 May 1999 – 31 March 2003
Personal details
Born	Edinburgh
Political party	Scottish National Party (1974-2003, 2014-present)
Other political affiliations	Scottish Socialist Party (2004)
Residence	Willowbrae, Edinburgh
Alma mater	Holy Cross primary St Augustines High Leith Academy
Occupation	Television Producer Presenter Director
Profession	Independence Campaigner Politician

Lloyd Quinan is a broadcaster and politician, serving as a member of the Scottish Parliament for the West of Scotland from 1999 to 2003 for the SNP.

Born and raised in Edinburgh, Quinan is a longtime campaigner for Scottish Independence, initially joining the Scottish National Party in 1974, later leaving in 2003. In 2015 the SNP selected him as a list candidate for the Lothian region.

Career

Theatre and television

A trained actor, he appeared in theatres throughout Scotland, including the Royal Lyceum, The Traverse, Perth Theatre, The Tron, Eden Court, The Pavilion, and was Assistant Director of The Scottish Theatre Company, Founder of the independent company, United Artists (Scotland).

He directed new plays by Peter Arnott and George Gunn as well as the first Scottish production of Howard Barkers, Pity In History. Working as a freelance director he worked with many companies and theatres including The Citizens Theatre Glasgow, Unit One, The Traverse, Mayfest, The Borders Festival, Craigmillar Festival Society and directed plays, pantomimes and community pageants. He was an elected member of the Scottish Committee of the Equity Union for 12 years. Like so many theatre workers he had a parallel career in Television appearing in a number of dramas for BBC Scotland, Granada, STV and ITV. While working for STV in 1983 he became a presenter in the Education Department making over 200 programmes on Scottish History and Society (1983–89).

In 1994 he returned to STV as The Weather Presenter on the stations LunchTime show. In 1995 he succeeded Bernard Ponsonby as the presenter of Trial By Night, a late night debate show.

In 1996 he was Producer/Director on the Scottish Reporters series and co-produced The Professional Beggar for ITV First Tuesday. Quinan was an elected official of the NUJ and was involved in the work to rule dispute at the station. In 1998, he left STV after an acrimonious contract dispute. From 1998-99 Quinan worked as for Channel 4 News, UTV and RTE as a presenter/director.

Political Career

In 1999 he was elected to represent the West of Scotland as an SNP candidate at the first Scottish Parliament election.

During his time as an MSP, he served as the SNP's Deputy spokesperson for Social Inclusion 1999-2000, a member of the European Committee and the Audit Committee. He also served as Convener of the Cross Party Group on Autism in the Scottish Parliament, Vice-Convener of the Cross Party Group on Contemporary Music and was a member of the Cross Party Groups on Palestine and Cuba.

An active anti-nuclear campaigner, Quinan was twice arrested for Breach of the Peace during blockades of the Faslane Nuclear Submarine base during his time as an MSP and went on to challenge his conviction in the High Court of Justiciary introducing a point of law which resulted in one of his convictions being set aside, this was seen as a minor victory for the anti-nuclear movement in Scotland. In 2002 Quinan went to the West Bank in Palestine where he was attempted to gain entrance to Yasser Arafat's compound in Ramallah. The Israeli security forces fired stun grenades and shots in the air in order to force him away.

Quinan stood in the 25 May 2003 Navarrese parliamentary election as a stand-in for Batasuna politicians, with Batasuna having been banned earlier in 2003 due to alleged links with ETA. Quinan likened his involvement to the involvement of the International Brigades in the Spanish Civil War.

For the 2003 Parliament election Quinan stood down from being a candidate in the West of Scotland, and instead sought nomination in his home city of Edinburgh. Quinan was unsuccessful in his bid, and went on to unsuccessfully contest the seat of Motherwell and Wishaw at the 2003 election. The seat was held by the Labour candidate: First Minister Jack McConnell.

Following the election, in December 2003 Quinan left the SNP for the Scottish Socialist Party. Speaking at a press conference, Quinan criticized the SNP, claiming that the Alex Salmond led leadership had let the party down, particularly "over participation in the independence convention and over the crisis in the fishing industry." Quinan also claimed the SNP leadership completely failed to paint a vision of the kind of Scotland he wished to see. Quinan subsequently unsuccessfully attempted to become one of the SSP's candidates for the 2004 European Parliament election. Quinan left the SSP later in 2004.

Quinan sought the SNP nomination for the seat of Edinburgh East for the 2015 general election, but ultimately lost out to Tommy Sheppard.

Quinan is standing in the 2016 Scottish parliamentary election as an SNP candidate for the Lothian region.

Controversy

Quinan attracted controversy during the 2014 Scottish independence referendum campaign when video footage emerged of him telling a meeting in North Berwick that "No" voters were bad parents. First Minister Alex Salmond sought to distance the wider Yes campaign from the comments, claiming that abuse had no place in the campaign, and that Quinan hadn't been an SNP members for over a decade.

Personal Life

A lifelong Hibernian F.C. supporter, he was a leading organiser in the 'Hands off Hibs' campaign.