Jean Mann


Jean Mann JP was a Scottish Labour Party politician and a campaigner for better housing and planning. She was the third female Labour MP in Scotland.

Early life

In September 1941, the Scottish Branch of the Housing and Town Planning Association organised a conference in Largs to draw attention to the Scottish evidence to the Barlow Commission on the Distribution of the Industrial Population. The conference papers and proceedings were afterwards published in a book titled Replanning Scotland which was edited by Jean Mann.

Parliamentary career

In the Labour landslide at the 1945 general election, Mann was elected as Member of Parliament for Coatbridge. After she had taken the oath, it was realised that her position on the Rent Tribunals under the Rent of Furnished Houses Control Act 1943 was remunerated and that she therefore might hold an 'office of profit under the Crown' which would disqualify her from election. A Select Committee was established which reported that her election was invalid; a Bill was rushed through validating it and indemnifying her from the consequences of acting as an MP while disqualified.
On 19 February 1947, Mann introduced the epithet "twerp" to the House of Commons when referring to a character in the popular radio comedy programme ITMA, during a debate on supplementary estimates.