Hugh Gaffney

In July 2019 Gaffney resigned as a councillor in North Lanarkshire Council, triggering a council by-election. In his resignation letter to the council's chief executive, Gaffney said he had been privileged to serve the community into which he had been born and bred.

In February 2018 Gaffney apologized, and was required by his party to attend equality and diversity training, following a media exposé of racist and homophobic remarks he made at a Burns supper.

Gaffney was elected to the North Lanarkshire Council in 2017, representing the Thorniewood ward. In the 2017 general election, he stood as the Labour candidate for Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill, defeating the incumbent Scottish National Party MP Phil Boswell.

In November 2017 Gaffney supported Richard Leonard to succeed Kezia Dugdale to be Scottish Labour leader over the alternative candidate Anas Sarwar; Gaffney's own Constituency Labour Party (CLP) took a firm stance on supporting Leonard's campaign.

In 2010 Gaffney was one of the founding members of the Keir Hardie Society, alongside Scottish author and longtime Labour member Bob Holman and Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard, with whom Gaffney has been friends since the 1990s. Gaffney supports Albion Rovers Football Club.

Hugh Lawrence Gaffney (born 10 August 1963) is a Scottish Labour Party politician. He served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill from 2017 until 2019. He was also a local government councillor on North Lanarkshire Council from 2017 until July 2019.