Career
He stood for the NILP in Belfast Oldpark at the Northern Ireland general election, 1938, taking second place, with 40.8% of the vote. In 1945, he was appointed Irish Regional Organiser of the National Union of Tailors and Garment Workers (NUTGW). Macgougan was Chair of the NILP in 1945–1946, but became unhappy with its increasingly unionist stance.
He supported the establishment of the Irish Labour Party in Northern Ireland in 1949, and was elected to Belfast City Council.
He later stood unsuccessfully for the party in South Down at the 1950 United Kingdom general election, and Belfast Falls at the Northern Ireland general election, 1953. He lost his council seat in 1958.
That year, he served as President of the Irish Trades Union Congress while, in 1965, he was President of the Irish Congress of Trades Unions. In 1969, he became General Secretary of the United Kingdom-wide NUTGW, and also served on the General Council of the British Trades Union Congress.
