Trish Godman

Patricia Godman (née Leonard; 31 October 1939 – 21 July 2019) was a Scottish Labour Party politician. She was Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for West Renfrewshire constituency from the 1999 Scottish Parliament election until her retirement in 2011.

Trish Godman
Deputy Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament
In office
7 May 2003 – 22 March 2011
Serving with Murray Tosh (2003–2007) and Alasdair Morgan (2007–2011)
Presiding OfficerGeorge Reid
Alex Fergusson
Preceded byGeorge Reid
Succeeded byElaine Smith
Member of the Scottish Parliament
for West Renfrewshire
In office
6 May 1999 – 22 March 2011
Preceded byConstituency established
Succeeded byConstituency abolished
Personal details
Born
Patricia Leonard

(1939-10-31)31 October 1939
Glasgow, Scotland
Died21 July 2019(2019-07-21) (aged 79)
Clydebank, West Dunbartonshire, Scotland
Political partyScottish Labour Party
Spouse(s)Norman Godman
Children3

Background

The daughter of Martin Leonard and Cathie Craig, Godman was a Glasgow City councillor before entering the Scottish Parliament. She originally worked as a social worker working in the East End of Glasgow from 1979–89.

After leaving St Gerard's Senior Secondary School, Glasgow aged 15, Godman worked with a charity for some time, as a waitress, in a bar, insurance collector and a house mother in a list 'D' school. She later attended Jordanhill College where she trained as a social worker.

From 2003 until 2011, Godman was a Deputy Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament.[1] In 2008, it was revealed she charged the taxpayer around £30,000 for hotel bills although she was renting a flat from her son Gary Mulgrew.[2] She did not qualify for the rental expenses allowance as her main residence in Glasgow was too close to Holyrood to qualify, but claimed rent rather than hotel expenses. She was entitled to an overnight expenses allowance that permitted MSPs to recoup expenses for each night, which she had paid for the rent of the apartment. It was confirmed that she had neither broken the Parliamentary rules, nor benefited in any way.[3]

Personal life

Godman's husband was Norman Godman, who was a Member of Parliament for Greenock and Inverclyde and its predecessor seat from 1983 to 2001. She had three sons. One, Gary Mulgrew, was one of the NatWest Three.[4] Her experience with his extradition inspired her to take an active role in opposing Gary McKinnon's extradition to the United States in a similar case.[5]

Godman died on 21 July 2019 in Clydebank, after a long illness.[6]

References
  1. "Obituary: Trish Godman, former Deputy Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament". www.scotsman.com. Retrieved 30 January 2020.
  2. Dailyrecord.co.uk (17 March 2008). "MSP Trish Godman Claimed £30,000 To Rent Son's Flat". dailyrecord. Retrieved 9 November 2019.
  3. "The deputy presiding officer who charged the taxpayer £30,000 for hotel bills". heraldscotland. Retrieved 15 March 2008.
  4. "Profile: The 'NatWest Three'". BBC News. BBC. 13 July 2006. Retrieved 14 May 2016.
  5. "MSP Trish Godman: Computer hacker Gary McKinnon 'will not survive extradition'". Daily Star. 2 December 2009. Retrieved 9 November 2019.
  6. Ponsonby, Bernard (24 July 2019). "Obituary: Trish Godman, former Deputy Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament". The Scotsman. Retrieved 28 July 2019.
Scottish Parliament
New constituency Member of the Scottish Parliament for West Renfrewshire
1999–2011		 Constituency abolished

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.