Henry McLeish

Henry Baird McLeish (born 15 June 1948) is a Scottish Labour Party politician, author and academic who briefly served as First Minister of Scotland from 2000 until 2001, when he had to resign following a financial scandal, the first major scandal to face the Scottish Parliament since its reincarnation.[1]

The Right Honourable Henry McLeish
McLeish as First Minister of Scotland
First Minister of Scotland
In office 26 October 2000 – 8 November 2001
Monarch	Elizabeth II
Deputy	Jim Wallace
Preceded by	Donald Dewar Jim Wallace (acting)
Succeeded by	Jim Wallace (acting) Jack McConnell
Leader of the Scottish Labour Party
In office 27 October 2000 – 8 November 2001
Deputy	Cathy Jamieson
Leader	Tony Blair
Preceded by	Donald Dewar
Succeeded by	Jack McConnell
Minister for Enterprise and Lifelong Learning
In office 17 May 1999 – 26 October 2000
First Minister	Donald Dewar Jim Wallace (acting)
Preceded by	Position established
Succeeded by	Wendy Alexander
Minister of State for Scotland
In office 6 May 1997 – 29 June 1999
Prime Minister	Tony Blair
Preceded by	James Douglas-Hamilton
Succeeded by	Brian Wilson
Member of the Scottish Parliament for Central Fife
In office 6 May 1999 – 31 March 2003
Preceded by	Constituency established
Succeeded by	Christine May
Member of Parliament for Central Fife
In office 11 June 1987 – 14 May 2001
Preceded by	Willie Hamilton
Succeeded by	John MacDougall
Personal details
Born	Henry Baird McLeish (1948-06-15) 15 June 1948 Methil, Fife, Scotland
Political party	Scottish Labour
Spouse(s)	Margaret Drysdale ( m. 1968⁠–⁠1995) Julie Fulton ( m. 1998⁠–⁠2011) Caryn Nicolson ( m. 2012)
Education	Heriot-Watt University
Association football career Playing position(s) Wing half

Formerly a professional football player and urban planner, McLeish was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Central Fife from 1987 to 2001 and the Member of the Scottish Parliament for Central Fife from 1999 to 2003.

Early life

McLeish was born in Methil, Fife into a coal mining family. Educated at Buckhaven High School, he left school in 1963 at the age of 15 to become a schoolboy professional football player at Leeds United[2] and represented Scotland as a youth international.

After six weeks, he was suffering from homesickness and moved back to Scotland, where he joined Scottish Football League club East Fife.[3] His footballing career was cut short by injury, and he returned to education, studying at Heriot-Watt University 1968–1973, where he graduated with a BSc (Hons) in Town Planning.

After graduating, McLeish worked as a research officer at Edinburgh Corporation's department of social work from 1973 to 1974, then as a planning officer for Fife County Council from 1974 to 1975 and Dunfermline District Council from 1975 to 1987. He also worked as a part-time lecturer and tutor at Heriot-Watt University from 1973 to 1986.[4]

Political career

Fife local government

McLeish joined the Scottish Labour Party in 1970. He was a local councillor on Kirkcaldy District Council from 1974 to 1977, and then on Fife Regional Council 1978 to 1987, fighting East Fife unsuccessfully in 1979. He served as leader of Fife Regional Council from 1982 until his election as Labour MP for Central Fife at the 1987 General Election.

Westminster and Holyrood

McLeish as a Holyrood government minister

In the end of the 1980s and into the 1990s, McLeish was a Labour shadow spokesman for several portfolios, including education and employment 1988 to 1989, employment and training 1989 to 1992, shadow Scottish Office Minister of State 1992 to 1994, shadow Minister of Transport 1994 to 1995, shadow Minister of Health 1995 to 1996, and shadow Minister of Social Security 1996 to 1997.

When Labour came to power in May 1997, McLeish was appointed as a Minister of State for Scotland, with responsibility for home affairs and devolution.

As Donald Dewar's right-hand man in Westminster, McLeish helped secure devolution for Scotland and manoeuvre the Scotland Act through the Westminster Parliament. After the creation of the Scottish Parliament in May 1999, McLeish was elected as MSP for Fife Central and became Minister for Enterprise and Lifelong Learning.

First Minister of Scotland

After Dewar's death in October 2000, McLeish defeated his rival Jack McConnell by 44 votes to 36 in the race to become the second First Minister.[5] The ballot was held amongst a restricted electorate of Labour MSPs and members of Scottish Labour's national executive, because there was insufficient time for a full election to be held.[5]

Professor John Curtice, a prominent political analyst, commented that McLeish would not have the "kind of authority" that Donald Dewar enjoyed.[5] He travelled widely, particularly in the United States. He managed several task forces designed to improve the competitiveness of Scottish industry, especially the PILOT project for Scottish oil and gas supply chains.

He was embarrassed when an open microphone recorded him with Helen Liddell in a television studio, describing Scottish Secretary John Reid as "a patronising bastard" and said of his colleague, Brian Wilson, "Brian is supposed to be in charge of Africa but he spends most of his time in bloody Dublin. He is a liability".[6]

Whilst in government serving as First Minister, McLeish oversaw and implemented the free personal care for the elderly scheme[7] as well as the implementation of the McCrone Agreement for education teachers in Scotland.[8]

Resignation as First Minister

He resigned as First Minister in November 2001, amid a scandal involving allegations he sub let part of his tax subsidised Westminster constituency office without it having been registered in the register of interests kept in the Parliamentary office. The press called the affair Officegate. Though McLeish could not have personally benefited financially from the oversight, he undertook to repay the £36,000 rental income, and resigned to allow the Scottish Labour Party a clean break to prepare for the 2003 Parliamentary Elections. McLeish did not seek re election.

After politics

Since leaving mainstream politics, McLeish has lectured widely in the United States, particularly at the United States Air Force Academy and the University of Arkansas, where he holds a visiting professorship shared between the Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences and the University of Arkansas School of Law.

He is considered an expert on European-American relations and on the European Union.

He has written books including Scotland First: Truth and Consequences (2004), Global Scots: Voices from Afar (with Kenny MacAskill) (2006) (published in the United Kingdom as Global Scots: Making It in the Modern World), Wherever the Saltire Flies (with Kenny MacAskill) (2006) and Scotland: The Road Divides (with Tom Brown) (2007).

Scottish Broadcasting Commission

In August 2007, he was appointed to the Scottish Broadcasting Commission (established by the Scottish Government). He also chaired the Scottish Prisons Commission, which produced a report into sentencing and the criminal justice system in 2008 entitled "Scotland's Choice".[9] McLeish concluded a "major report" on the state of football in Scotland, which had been commissioned by the Scottish Football Association, in April 2010.[10]

McLeish claimed that Scottish football was "underachieving, under performing and under funded" at a press conference to unveil the report.[10]

Scottish independence referendum

In the run up to the referendum on Scottish independence on 18 September 2014, there was much media and public speculation towards whether McLeish backed a "No" vote to remain within the United Kingdom, or whether he supported a "Yes" vote in order to create an independent separate sovereign Scotland.

Speculation from the public came from media articles in which McLeish was reported to be talking negatively about the prospect of a "No" vote to remain within the union, but was later reported as stating it would be "near impossible" to vote Yes in the referendum.[11]

Following the 2016 UK referendum on EU membership, in which the majority of the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union, but the majority of the Scottish electorate voted to remain in the EU, McLeish has since claimed that he would support and campaign for an independent Scottish sovereign state and campaign for it to be a fully functioning member and participate fully within the European Union despite Brexit.[12]

Titles and achievements

McLeish also holds the following positions and titles:

• Privy Counsellor
• Hartman Hotz Visiting Professor in Law and the Liberal Arts, jointly in the Fulbright College and Law School, University of Arkansas
• Visiting Professor at the Graduate School of International Studies at the University of Denver
• Visiting lecturer at the United States Air Force Academy, Colorado Springs, Colorado
• Honorary Fellow at the College of Humanities and Social Science at Edinburgh University
• Honorary Fellow at the Cambridge Land Institute, Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge University
• Adviser, Consultant and Facilitator to the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions and the European Monitoring Centre for Change, Dublin, Republic of Ireland
• Adviser and Consultant to the LEED Programme of the OECD in Paris, France, including visits to Austria, Italy, and Mexico
• Consultant, in partnership with Jeremy Harrison, Cambridge (Public Value Partnership, working on new project development and evaluation of existing projects in the community and voluntary sector)

References

1. "First Minister McLeish resigns". Archived from the original on 18 September 2016.
2. Henry McLeish Archived 1 December 2016 at the Wayback Machine, The Guardian, 16 March 2001.
3. HENRY McLEISH Archived 3 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine, Newcastle Fans.
4. "Debrett's - The trusted source on British social skills, etiquette and style-Debrett's".
5. Dewar's successor to seek more power for parliament Archived 21 December 2016 at the Wayback Machine, The Guardian, 23 October 2000.
6. Labour's chiefs in 'comments row' Archived 4 January 2007 at the Wayback Machine BBC News. 8 June 2001
7. "Who have been Scotland's first ministers?". BBC News. Archived from the original on 20 May 2016.
8. "Henry McLeish's statement in full". 5 September 2002. Archived from the original on 14 September 2016 – via The Guardian.
9. Scotland's Choice: Report of the Scottish Prisons Commission. Edinburgh: Scottish Government. 1 July 2008. ISBN 978-0-7559-5772-9. Archived from the original on 23 January 2012. Retrieved 5 January 2011.
10. "Major report demands changes to Scottish football". BBC Sport. 23 April 2010. Retrieved 23 April 2010.
11. "Scottish independence: Henry McLeish says 'voting No has become difficult'". BBC News. Archived from the original on 25 August 2014.
12. "Henry McLeish: I will back Scottish independence if UK leave EU against Scotland's wishes". Archived from the original on 15 February 2016.

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Henry McLeish

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Willie Hamilton	Member of Parliament for Central Fife 1987–2001	Succeeded by John MacDougall
Scottish Parliament
New title	Member of the Scottish Parliament for Central Fife 1999–2003	Succeeded by Christine May
Political offices
New office	Minister for Enterprise and Lifelong Learning 1999–2000	Succeeded by Wendy Alexander
Preceded by Jim Wallace Acting	First Minister of Scotland 2000–2001	Succeeded by Jim Wallace Acting
Party political offices
Preceded by Donald Dewar	Leader of the Scottish Labour Party 2000–2001	Succeeded by Jack McConnell