What do we know about the candidates in the forthcoming General Election? Not much, so here's what we could find out at short notice.
First up, the leading candidate in this constituency, according to polls, is SNP incumbent Patricia Gibson:
Gibson is the only SNP candidate who is making progress in Ayrshire, as elsewhere in the county SNP candidates are losing ground to Labour with the Tories a distant third.
She is very much a typical SNP politician in the sense that she likes to "keep it in the family" being married to Kenneth Gibson, a long-time SNP insider, who represents exactly the same constituency, but in the Scottish Parliament (where it is called Cunningham North).
Patricia was born in Glasgow in 1968 and got a BA (Hons) in English and Politics from the University of Glasgow. She then worked as an English teacher in Glasgow, Lanarkshire, and East Renfrewshire.
She began her steady rise in the SNP after meeting future husband Kenneth Gibson in 2003, when she was already 35 and he was 42 and already an SNP MSP. However, he was voted out the same year. In 2007 the Gibsons married and got back on the SNP gravy train, with Kenneth getting back into the Scottish Parliament and Patricia getting onto Glasgow City Council. BTW, Ken's mother Iris also enjoyed a stint on Glasgow council, replacing her son in 1999!
With her husband's backing, Patricia next unsuccessfully contested the North Ayrshire & Arran seat in 2010. However, she had better luck in 2015, when the undemocratic Westminster electoral system gave the SNP an undeserved landslide in Scotland. All this political activity was not without its costs, as the Gibsons had trouble starting a family, leading to a tragic stillborn pregnancy in 2009 (when Patricia was aged 41) that almost killed her.
In Parliament Gibson has played an undistinguished role, mainly being mentioned in stories about falling asleep on the back benches or suffering from another member's farting. In 2017, it was revealed that husband Kenneth 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. I guess politics must be a welcome distraction from these domestic woes.
Gibson is the only SNP candidate who is making progress in Ayrshire, as elsewhere in the county SNP candidates are losing ground to Labour with the Tories a distant third.
She is very much a typical SNP politician in the sense that she likes to "keep it in the family" being married to Kenneth Gibson, a long-time SNP insider, who represents exactly the same constituency, but in the Scottish Parliament (where it is called Cunningham North).
Patricia was born in Glasgow in 1968 and got a BA (Hons) in English and Politics from the University of Glasgow. She then worked as an English teacher in Glasgow, Lanarkshire, and East Renfrewshire.
She began her steady rise in the SNP after meeting future husband Kenneth Gibson in 2003, when she was already 35 and he was 42 and already an SNP MSP. However, he was voted out the same year. In 2007 the Gibsons married and got back on the SNP gravy train, with Kenneth getting back into the Scottish Parliament and Patricia getting onto Glasgow City Council. BTW, Ken's mother Iris also enjoyed a stint on Glasgow council, replacing her son in 1999!
With her husband's backing, Patricia next unsuccessfully contested the North Ayrshire & Arran seat in 2010. However, she had better luck in 2015, when the undemocratic Westminster electoral system gave the SNP an undeserved landslide in Scotland. All this political activity was not without its costs, as the Gibsons had trouble starting a family, leading to a tragic stillborn pregnancy in 2009 (when Patricia was aged 41) that almost killed her.
In Parliament Gibson has played an undistinguished role, mainly being mentioned in stories about falling asleep on the back benches or suffering from another member's farting. In 2017, it was revealed that husband Kenneth 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. I guess politics must be a welcome distraction from these domestic woes.
Gibson's main opponent is Labour hopeful Irene Campbell, a local Saltcoats woman apparently in her 40s, who you wouldn't notice walking down the street.
She was educated at Auchenharvie Academy in Saltcoats, and now works as a "programme manager" in "Britain's failing NHS."
She is also chairperson of the campaign group "Splash," which is seeking to recreate the outdoor swimming pool that once existed in Saltcoats. Don't know much more about her. Possibly the least charismatic candidate running in Ayrshire.
She is also chairperson of the campaign group "Splash," which is seeking to recreate the outdoor swimming pool that once existed in Saltcoats. Don't know much more about her. Possibly the least charismatic candidate running in Ayrshire.
The Tory offering in this constituency is Todd Ferguson, a councillor on North Ayrshire Council representing Dalry & West Kilbride ward, now called North Coast ward, since 2017.
Born in West Kilbride around 40 years ago, he is an apparently extrovert resident of the Island of Cumbrae and is a "business development manager," which could mean any number of things.
Ferguson has had quite an active or even "bumpy" career as a councillor, and seems to get under the skin of his opponents. Back in 2018 he was ungenerously accused of "xenophobia" merely for pointing out that Joy Brahim, an SNP councillor, was carpetbagging by having "two tax payer funded jobs" while being a foreign citizen with no deep connection to the area. This was worthy of comment as the whole basis for the SNP is supposedly "Scottish identity and interests."
Ms. Brahim is apparently a Lebanese Dutchwoman, who later resigned from the council in 2021 for no apparent reason, presumably to return to her country of citizenship, if not blood, proving Ferguson's criticisms to be legitimate, or even brave in today's hysterically "politically correct" climate.
His main campaign message is to vote Tory to "keep the SNP out," but recent poll data suggests that his efforts are actually helping the SNP to get re-elected. Ironic!
Predictions based on latest polls:
Ferguson has had quite an active or even "bumpy" career as a councillor, and seems to get under the skin of his opponents. Back in 2018 he was ungenerously accused of "xenophobia" merely for pointing out that Joy Brahim, an SNP councillor, was carpetbagging by having "two tax payer funded jobs" while being a foreign citizen with no deep connection to the area. This was worthy of comment as the whole basis for the SNP is supposedly "Scottish identity and interests."
Ms. Brahim is apparently a Lebanese Dutchwoman, who later resigned from the council in 2021 for no apparent reason, presumably to return to her country of citizenship, if not blood, proving Ferguson's criticisms to be legitimate, or even brave in today's hysterically "politically correct" climate.
His main campaign message is to vote Tory to "keep the SNP out," but recent poll data suggests that his efforts are actually helping the SNP to get re-elected. Ironic!
Predictions based on latest polls:
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