Amy Callaghan

Amy Callaghan provided the ‘Portillo moment’ of the 2019 general election when she unexpectedly defeated the then Liberal Democrat leader Jo Swinson in her East Dunbartonshire. Callaghan grew up in Clydebank and has had a rocky road to Westminster. She has battled skin cancer since the age of 17 and has had to undergo extensive treatment to recover. In her maiden speech, Callaghan said, “to the surgeon, Mr John Scott, who saved my life not just once, but twice, I thank you from the bottom of my heart.” She told the Daily Record that her experience with cancer “ignited a fire in my belly and a strength in me that I will use to fight for our NHS”. When the result of Callaghan’s election was announced, Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon was caught on camera punching the air in delight. In June 2020, Callaghan’s office revealed she had undergone neurosurgery after suffering a brain haemorrhage. Callaghan is the shadow SNP spokesperson for pensions and inter-generational, upon being discharged from hospital in October 2020, Callaghan tweeted, “I was wheeled in here. Now I’m walking out. I’m just getting started too”.