David Cairns

Labour MP Greenock and Inverclyde

Date of birth

Political profile

David Cairns arrived in the Commons, representing the safe seat of Greenock and Inverclyde, via a fairly conventional route for a modern Labour MP.

He had worked as a researcher for a sitting MP (in this case, Siobhain McDonagh) and had served as a councillor on Merton Council.

He has strong links with the constituency - he was born there and a large extended family still remains.

Mr Cairns has the unusual distinction of being the only sitting MP on whose behalf the law has been changed.

Prior to his election, he had been, for three years in the early 1990s, a Catholic priest.

During his ministry in Clapham, he became increasingly politicised, describing it as "the kind of place where the very rich and very poor live next to each other. It became clear that political action was going to be part of the solution."

He left the priesthood to become a director of the Christian Socialist Movement.

However, having once been ordained as a Catholic priest, he was barred from ever taking up a seat in the Commons.

The Government accordingly passed the House of Commons (Removal of Clergy Disqualification) Act 2001, just in time to allow Mr Cairns to take up his seat.

Contact

020 7219 8242