They Serve Us in Edinburgh: Ayrshire's MSPs (1) Patricia Gibson

It's funny how much SNP politicians like to "keep it in the family." The former SNP leader Nicola "Wee Nippy" Sturgeon was married to the party's CEO and probably turned a blind eye to his shameless graft. Another example of this kind of nepotism is MSP for North Ayrshire and Arran, Patricia Gibson. Formerly, Gibson was the Westminster MP for North Ayrshire and Arran, while her husband Kenneth Gibson, a long-time SNP insider, represented part of her constituency (Cunninghame North) in the Scottish parliament. 

After Patricia got booted out of Westminster in the 2024 Labour landslide, the hunt was on to find her another gig. Very conveniently, Ruth Bernadette Maguire, the MSP for South Cunningham announced that she would be stepping down in 2026, allowing the Gibsons and their pals in the corrupt SNP hierarchy to pull the requisite strings to have her selected for the constituency, which, on the back of a poor showing by Keir Starmer and Anas Sarwar, the SNP promptly won, ensuring that Pat would not be left out in the cold. Hubby Ken, meanwhile pulled in another pay-check by getting himself appointed Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament. 

Patricia was born in Glasgow on May 12th 1968 (at time of writing she is 58) and had a pretty unremarkable background as far as my researches reveal. Her maiden name remains a well-guarded secret. There is a reasonably high possibility that she is yet another "crypto-Hibernian," as the SNP seem to have so many, but there is no obvious evidence that points in that direction, although "Patricia" itself is a name that has a certain appeal to people with an Emerald Isle origin. 

The young Patricia gained a BA (Hons) in English and Politics from the University of Glasgow, and then, predictably worked in the public sector as an English teacher in Glasgow, Lanarkshire and East Renfrewshire.

She began her rise in the SNP after meeting future husband Ken in 2003, when she was already 35 and he was 42 and already an SNP member of the new Scottish Parliament. However, he was voted out the same year.

In 2007 the Gibsons married and got their arses firmly grafted onto the SNP gravy train, with Kenneth getting back into the Scottish Parliament and Patricia getting onto Glasgow City Council, where she represented Glasgow Pollok Ward. BTW, Ken's mother Iris(h) also enjoyed a stint on Glasgow council, replacing her son in 1999!

With her husband's backing, Patricia next contested the North Ayrshire & Arran seat in 2010, failing to beat the sitting Labour MP, Katy Clark. However, she had much better luck in 2015, when the undemocratic Westminster electoral system gave the SNP a landslide in Scotland -- they won 56 out of 59 Scottish seats with just 50% of the vote!

All this political activity was not without its costs, as the Gibsons had trouble starting a family. As we see with the likes of Theresa May and Nicola Sturgeon, this is often the cost female politicians pay. In the case of the Gibsons they resorted to IVF, leading to a tragic stillborn pregnancy in 2009 (aged 41) that almost killed Patricia, when her liver ruptured after suffering serious complications on the day her child was due to be born.

Since then Patricia has campaigned to get an apology from the health board, which she claims let her down after doctors failed to spot she had a high blood pressure condition, something which could have saved her baby. Possibly having her first baby a lot earlier than the age of 41 would have helped too. 

Also, tragic as this case is, the NHS in the UK is a heavily overburdened and underfunded organisation, where inefficiency and slipshod methods are tolerated. By this time the Gibsons could easily have afforded private care, which would have been the smart thing to do.  

Perhaps they thought that would be used against them politically. No doubt it would, but also their own political stances are part of the reason why the NHS is not the Blue Ribbon service that was once envisaged. Reforming it and funding it properly would involve several measures that the Gibsons would be sure to oppose for political reasons -- such as an end to health tourism, limiting free care for self-inflicted illnesses, ending wasteful sex-change surgery, and part privatisation to increase efficiency.

In her Westminster career Gibson played an undistinguished role, mainly being mentioned in stories about falling asleep on the back benches or suffering from another member's farting.

The next twist in the tale was provided by husband Kenneth, who, in 2017, it was revealed had enjoyed a £10,000 "holiday of a lifetime" in Costa Rica with 42-year-old Ellen Forson, an aide to SNP Economy Secretary Keith Brown. Despite this open philandering the couple remain married. Poor Patricia!