Richard Thomson (politician)

Richard Gordon Thomson (born 16 June 1976) is a Scottish National Party (SNP) politician. He is the leader of the SNP group on Aberdeenshire Council and has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Gordon since the 2019 general election.[3][4]

Richard Thomson

MP
Thomson in 2019
Member of Parliament
for Gordon
Assumed office
12 December 2019
Preceded byColin Clark
Majority819 (1.4%)
Personal details
Born
Richard Gordon Thomson[1]

(1976-06-16) 16 June 1976[2]
Edinburgh, Scotland
NationalityScottish
Political partyScottish National Party
EducationUniversity of Stirling
Edinburgh Business School

Early life

He was educated at Tynecastle High School, Edinburgh, before going to University of Stirling to study History and Politics, and is presently studying part-time for an MBA from the Edinburgh Business School at Heriot-Watt University.[5]

He worked for Scottish Widows in Edinburgh for six years, firstly as an Assistant Manager in their Customer Relations Department, and latterly as an Account Manager in Corporate Pensions.[5]

He contributed a chapter exploring the 'social democratisation of the SNP' to a book on post-devolution politics called Breaking Up Britain – Four Nations After a Union published in 2009 by Lawrence & Wishart.[6]

In August 2009, he was one of the three speakers in London at the What are the implications of Scottish Independence - for England? event hosted by the SNP, that discussed implications for England in areas such as defence, taxation, the role of the Monarchy, and possible political re-alignments.

He formerly wrote for the Ellon Times and the Inverurie Herald.

Political career

He was former Head of Campaigns for the Scottish National Party and the party's Westminster Head of Research before returning to Aberdeenshire in the Summer of 2008 to work for First Minister Alex Salmond.[7]

In 2001, he unsuccessfully contested the Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale constituency, a Liberal Democrats safe seat where he came 4th with 4,108 votes (12.4%).[5][8] In 2010 he stood in the Gordon constituency where the Liberal Democrat Malcolm Bruce retained his seat but where Thomson took the SNP into second place.

Thomson was leader of Aberdeenshire Council from June 2015 until May 2017 and he currently represents the council on the North Sea Commission, where he is vice-chair of the Marine Resources Group.[9]

He was selected to contest the Gordon constituency for the second time in the 2019 general election. He won the seat from the Conservative incumbent Colin Clark, with a slim majority of 819 votes, a 1.4% majority.[10]

Personal life

Thomson is involved in the Rotary Club of Oldmeldrum and is a traditional musician. He lives in Ellon, Aberdeenshire.

See also

References
  1. "No. 28275". The Edinburgh Gazette. 20 December 2019. p. 2192.
  2. "Members' Names Data Platform query". UK Parliament. Retrieved 29 February 2020.
  3. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/politics/constituencies/S14000037
  4. Gossip, Alastair. "General Election 2019: Gordon elects fourth MP in as many elections". Press and Journal. Retrieved 13 December 2019.
  5. "Candidate Richard Thomson". news.bbc.co.uk. 2001.
  6. http://www.lwbooks.co.uk/books/archive/Breaking_up_Britain_Intro.pdf
  7. https://web.archive.org/web/20110111052003/http://waleshome.org/author/richard-thomson/
  8. http://www.scottishpolitics.org/nextwe/s09.html
  9. "Richard to contest Gordon seat". www.ellontimes.co.uk. 25 October 2019.
  10. "UK Parliamentary Election Results - Gordon" (PDF).
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Colin Clark		 Member of Parliament for Gordon
2019–present		 Incumbent
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