Alan Thompson

Prof. Alan Eric Thompson (16 September 1924 – 18 February 2017) was a British Labour Party politician.

Early life Born in Kingston upon Hull, Thompson was educated at Hull Grammar School and – following wartime service in the Green Howards – the University of Edinburgh, where he received a first-class M.A. (Hons.) in Economic Science in 1951 and a Ph.D. in the same subject in 1953.

Career Thompson was active in politics from a young age, and was formerly president of the Edinburgh University Labour Club. Having contested Galloway unsuccessfully as a Labour candidate in the 1950 and 1951 general elections, he served as Member of Parliament for Dunfermline Burghs from 1959 to 1964. From 1976 to 1979 he also served as chairman of BBC Scotland, having been the parliamentary advisor to STV for most of the previous decade.

Thompson retired from academia in 1984 and died in 2017.