Iain Gray (born June 7, 1957, Edinburgh) is the member of the Scottish Parliament for East Lothian and the leader of the Labour parliamentary group in the Scottish Parliament. He was elected to the parliament in the 2007 Scottish election and elected by his party as leader of the Labour group on 13th September 2008 following the resignation of Wendy Alexander. Previously he was MSP for Edinburgh Pentlands constituency from 1999 to 2003.
Early life
Gray was educated at Inverness Royal Academy and the exclusive, and at the time boys only, independent fee paying George Watson's College before studying physics at the University of Edinburgh. After graduation he worked as a teacher including a stint in Mozambique during that country's Marxist era, before joining the charity Oxfam.
Political career
Immediately after his election to Holyrood he was made a deputy minister in the first Scottish Executive in 1999 and following Jack McConnell's becoming First Minister he was promoted to Minister for Social Justice. After the surprise resignation of Wendy Alexander in 2002, Gray took over her role as Minister for Enterprise, Transport and Lifelong Learning, where he was responsible for overseeing significant changes to Scottish higher education and was widely-regarded for his handing of economic activity issues.
In the 2003 election he was defeated by the then Scottish Conservative leader David McLetchie, whom he had beaten in 1999. After leaving Holyrood, he worked as a special advisor to the Scottish Office under Alistair Darling and initially announced he would not be seeking re-election. However he was selected as the Labour candidate for East Lothian for the 2007 elections and subsequently won re-election.
In early 2005 he was diagnosed with an extreme viral infection of the parotid salivary glands. This inhibited his political career for the remainder of the year and despite making a full recovery, the physical affects of the infection remain present.
Gray was appointed Labour's shadow spokesman for enterprise, energy and tourism upon his return to Parliament.
In July 2008, Gray announced he would stand in the contest to find the next leader of the Labour group in the Scottish Parliament, and was elected to this post in September 2008.
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Iain Gray |
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 Members of the Scottish Parliament in the South of Scotland region |
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Elected in the 2007 election
Labour (5 seats), SNP (5 seats), Conservative (4 seats), Lib Dems (2 seats)
Constituency MSPs
John Scott (Con, Ayr) • Cathy Jamieson (Lab, Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley) • Karen Gillon (Lab, Clydesdale) • Irene Oldfather (Lab, Cunninghame South) • Elaine Murray (Lab, Dumfries) • Iain Gray (Lab, East Lothian) • Alex Fergusson (Presiding Officer, Galloway and Upper Nithsdale) • John Lamont (Con, Roxburgh and Berwickshire) • Jeremy Purvis (Lib Dem, Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale)
Additional Members
Derek Brownlee (Con) • Aileen Campbell (SNP) • Christine Grahame (SNP) • Jim Hume (Lib Dem) • Adam Ingram (SNP) • Alasdair Morgan (SNP) • Mike Russell (SNP)
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