Editing Margo MacDonald (section)

==Parliamentary career==
A committed and vocal supporter of [[Scottish independence]], MacDonald entered parliamentary politics by winning the [[1973 Glasgow Govan by-election]] as an SNP candidate at 30 years old. There were "scenes of near-hysteria by supporters" as she was declared the winner in what had, until then, been a [[Scottish Labour Party|Labour]] stronghold. Her election, during the last months of the [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative]] [[Heath ministry|Heath government]], "overturned the theory that the SNP can thrive only [...] when a Labour Government is in office".<ref>{{cite news|title=SNP shock for Labour in Govan|date=9 November 1973|newspaper=The Glasgow Herald}}</ref>

She has alleged that her election to the [[House of Commons of the United Kingdom|House of Commons]] was followed by [[KGB]] and [[CIA]] agents taking her for lunch while [[undercover operation|posing]] as journalists,<ref name="scotsman" /> and believed the SNP was infiltrated during the 1970s by MI5 agents worried booming [[North Sea oil]] revenues could lead to independence.<ref name="mi5">{{cite news|url=http://www.heraldscotland.com/politics/referendum-news/mi5-spies-told-stay-out-of-referendum.21143916|title=MI5 spies told: stay out of referendum |work=Herald (Glasgow) |date=9 June 2013|access-date=5 April 2014}}</ref>

She failed to retain her seat in the following general election of [[February 1974 United Kingdom general election|February 1974]], but became Deputy Leader of the SNP that year. At a December 1974 National Council meeting, MacDonald criticised the SNP for failing to win seats from Labour in industrial Scotland and urged the party to move to the left to compete.<ref name="heraldobit"/> She had already been selected as the SNP candidate in [[Hamilton (UK Parliament constituency)|Hamilton]] when the death of the MP led to the [[1978 Hamilton by-election]], which she lost.<ref>{{cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogrGQBPPcRI  |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211212/ogrGQBPPcRI| archive-date=2021-12-12 |url-status=live|title=report on Hamilton 1978 by election |publisher=Thames TV |date=1 June 1978 |access-date=23 March 2017}}{{cbignore}}</ref> At the 1979 general election she was an unsuccessful candidate in [[Glasgow Shettleston (UK Parliament constituency)|Glasgow Shettleston]].

A staunch left-winger, she was one of three prominent spokespersons for the socialist [[79 Group]], which ultimately resulted in her failure to be re-elected as Deputy Leader at the party's 1979 conference.<ref name="heraldobit"/> In 1982, Margo resigned from the SNP in protest of the 79 Group's proscription. She began to establish herself as a forceful and respected presenter of various radio and television programmes,<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-26854930|title=Margo MacDonald: The life and times of a political 'blonde bombshell'| work=BBC News |date=4 April 2014|access-date=4 April 2014}}</ref> including the short-lived ''Colour Supplement'' for [[BBC Radio 4|Radio 4]] in the mid-1980s. She contributed {{Clarify|date=April 2014}} regularly to Scottish newspapers including the ''[[Edinburgh Evening News]]'' near the end of her life.

By the mid-1990s, she had returned to the SNP and in [[1999 Scottish Parliament election|1999]] she was elected to the [[Scottish Parliament]], representing the Lothians. She earned a high media profile by her outspoken views on a number of issues, including [[sex workers' rights]] and [[MSPs' salaries, expenses and allowances|MSPs' salaries]].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/2280235.stm|title=What future for rebel Margo? |work=BBC News|date=25 September 2002|access-date=4 April 2014}}</ref> She quickly established herself as a rebel within the party, and was disciplined in 2000 for missing a parliamentary vote without permission and briefing a Sunday newspaper against party policy.<ref>{{cite news|website=BBC News|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/792584.stm|title=Warning for MSP Margo|date=15 June 2000|access-date=4 April 2014}}</ref> Meanwhile, she lost influence with the party leadership, firstly under [[Alex Salmond]] and then [[John Swinney]], for being in the [[SNP Fundamentalist]] mould<ref>{{cite news|website=BBC News|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/454758.stm|title=Maverick Margo pulls no punches|date=22 September 1999|access-date=4 April 2014}}</ref> and having supported [[Alex Neil (politician)|Alex Neil]] in the party leadership election in 2000.<ref name="heraldobit"/>

In 2002, MacDonald was ranked fifth on the SNP list for Lothians for the [[2003 Scottish Parliament election|2003 Parliament election]], effectively ending her chances of being re-elected as an SNP MSP.<ref>{{cite news|website=BBC News|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/2050537.stm|title=SNP row over election plans|date=18 June 2002|access-date=4 April 2014}}</ref> In response, there were a spate of resignations from the party,<ref>{{cite news|website=BBC News|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/2134279.stm|title=Nationalists quit in Margo protest|date=17 July 2002|access-date=4 April 2014}}</ref> and MacDonald decided to instead stand as an independent. For this, she was officially expelled from the SNP on 28 January 2003.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/2701077.stm |title=Margo expelled from SNP|work=BBC News|date=28 January 2003|access-date=6 May 2011}}</ref> Her diagnosis with [[Parkinson's disease]] became public knowledge at this time, ostensibly in an effort to diminish her electoral prospects.<ref name="heraldobit" /> MacDonald, who had known about the diagnosis for six years,<ref>{{cite news |title=Margo has Parkinson's |newspaper=The Scotsman|date=11 July 2002|url=http://news.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=296&id=748782002|access-date=23 October 2011}}</ref> said it had been leaked to the press by "forces of darkness" in the SNP, but a spokesperson insisted that the leak did not come from within the party.<ref>{{cite news|website=BBC News|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/2121813.stm|title=Margo attacks 'forces of darkness'|date=11 July 2002|access-date=4 April 2014}}</ref>

She was re-elected as an independent MSP at the [[2003 Scottish Parliament election]], and again in [[2007 Scottish Parliament election|2007]] and [[2011 Scottish Parliament election|2011]]. After her 2007 re-election MacDonald stood to become [[Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament|Presiding Officer]], but lost the ballot to [[Alex Fergusson (Scottish politician)|Alex Fergusson]]. During her time in parliament as an independent politician, she championed controversial causes, including the legalisation of [[euthanasia|assisted suicide]].<ref>{{cite news|website=BBC News|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/8471553.stm|title=Assisted suicide bill published by MSP Margo MacDonald|date=21 January 2010|access-date=4 April 2014}}</ref>

In the run-up to the [[2014 Scottish independence referendum]], MacDonald asked [[MI5|the UK's Security Service]] for assurances they would not interfere in the referendum process, suggesting that the security services "have people in the SNP".<ref name="mi5"/>