Addison Milne

[Addie]

Name: Addison Milne

Avatar: Ben Whishaw

Age: 40 (DOB: 11/11/1968)

Sex: Male

Ethnicity: White British

Marital Status: Single

Sexual Orientation: Homosexual

Party: Labour

Political Outlook: Europhile, focus on the grassroots and on educating and building support for broadly socialist policies, somewhat more pragmatic than the SCG.

Constituency: Stirling

Year Elected: 2005

Education: Bannockburn Primary School, Bannockburn High School, Open University

Career: Retail assistant, local government civil servant, MP. 

Political Career: MP for Stirling, 2005 - Present

Bio: Addison was the eldest son of Alexander Milne, a miner who worked at the Polmaise Colliery outside Stirling, and his wife Jessica who stayed at home to mind the small council home where they lived. His father, Alexander, was a moderately religious man who worked at the Polmaise Colliery for most of his adult life, and it was expected that when Addison was old enough that he’d be able to get an apprenticeship there and work the mines himself. 

Just before Addison was to start, however, the national miners’ strike hit Polmaise (where the miners walked out in February 1984 as one of the first pits out on strike) and plans were put on hold. They were further dashed when Alexander Milne, like many miners throughout the UK, was slapped with and convicted of a breach of the peace charge, fined, and barred from going near the colliery; when it closed for good in 1987. 

Instead of finding work at the mine when the national strike ended, Addison instead turned to Open University courses, and while working at a local market (and living with his parents, by then retired and living off of Alexander’s pension), he completed a degree programme in 1991 with a BA (Hons) in Social Sciences. 

Though a bit of luck, Addison was able to get a job in the Finance and General Purposes department of the Stirling District Council; at this point most of his work helped with planning, housing, licensing… it was hardly a glamorous job. 

Thankfully for Addison, the position was not a politically restricted post, so he was more than welcome to have a political life outside the office. He had always been a strong supporter of Labour- as had his parents of course- and he voted with regularity, though did not start to get truly active prior to the 1997 devolution referendum, which Addison strongly supported the “Yes - Yes” vote. He signed up with his local Labour Party to help with the campaign there, and stuck around after making fast friends with other staff and volunteers, assisting in local elections and national elections as much as he could.

In 2005, the sitting MP for Stirling, Labour’s Anne McGuire, decided not to contest that year’s election following discomfort over her decision to vote for the Iraq War. Addison was chosen by the Stirling Labour Party to stand for the seat, which he won with a modest majority. In 2007, given the misfortunes that plagued Labour’s candidates throughout the country, he was returned with a razor-thin majority. 

Addison believes in the importance of grassroots organising and trying to sell policies and positions to normal people- rather than focusing on what might be orthodox, he also has room to be pretty pragmatic. His end goal though is to do what he can in his position to actually help people. 

And, as you might imagine, anything he can do to wreck the Thatcher legacy doesn’t hurt.