Christine Grahame

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Christine Grahame (born September 9, 1944, Burton-on-Trent) is a Scottish politician. Born in England but brought up in Edinburgh, she joined the Scottish National Party (SNP) in 1970. She was elected to the Scottish Parliament to represent the South of Scotland region at the 1999 election and re-elected in 2003 and 2007.

[edit] Early life

Grahame attended Edinburgh University and after graduating she worked as a teacher. She later returned to Edinburgh University as a mature student where she earned a law degree, and afterwards she practiced as a solicitor.

[edit] Political career

Using her married name, Christine Creech, she was the SNP candidate at the 1992 General Election for Tweedale, Ettrick and Lauderdale. In 1994 she stood for the European Parliament.

At the 1999 Scottish Parliament election she fought Tweedale, Ettrick and Lauderdale again, and despite finishing second her position on the SNP regional list took her to Holyrood, after which she divorced and reverted to her maiden name. She contested Tweedale, Ettrick and Lauderdale at both the 2003 and 2007 elections, coming within 1,000 votes of victory on both occasions.

In 2004 she ran as a candidate for Deputy Leader of the SNP after the resignation of Leader John Swinney propelled Deputy Leader Roseanna Cunningham into the contest to replace him. Grahame came second, between Nicola Sturgeon, the winner, and Fergus Ewing.

After the election she was reshuffled from being chair of the Scottish Parliament's Health committee to being its Shadow Minister for Social Justice, generally seen by media commentators as an upwards shift. In June 2005 she was elected Honorary President of the Federation of Student Nationalists.

[edit] External links

• Christine Grahame MSP Scottish Parliament webpage
• Christine Grahame SNP biography
• What's Happening in the Scottish Parliament biography from first term of Scottish Parliament

v • d • e      Members of the Scottish Parliament in the South of Scotland region 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)

v • d • e Scottish National Party MSPs Elected in the 2007 election Brian Adam · Bashir Ahmad · Alasdair Allan · Keith Brown · Aileen Campbell · Willie Coffey · Angela Constance · Bruce Crawford · Roseanna Cunningham · Nigel Don · Bob Doris  · Fergus Ewing · Linda Fabiani · Joe Fitzpatrick · Kenneth Gibson · Rob Gibson · Christine Grahame · Chris Harvie · Jamie Hepburn · Fiona Hyslop · Adam Ingram · Bill Kidd · Richard Lochhead · Kenny MacAskill · Tricia Marwick · Jim Mather · Michael Matheson · Stewart Maxwell · Ian McKee · Christina McKelvie · Stuart McMillan · Alasdair Morgan · Alex Neil  · Gil Paterson · Shona Robison · Michael Russell · Alex Salmond · Shirley-Anne Somerville · Stewart Stevenson · Nicola Sturgeon · John Swinney · David Thompson · Maureen Watt · Andrew Welsh · Sandra White · Bill Wilson · John Wilson