Jack McConnell

The Right Honourable  Jack McConnell MSP
3rd First Minister of Scotland
In office 22 November 2001 – 16 May 2007
Monarch	Elizabeth II
Deputy	Jim Wallace (1999-2005) Nicol Stephen (2005-2007)
Preceded by	Henry McLeish
Succeeded by	Alex Salmond
Labour leader in the Scottish Parliament
In office 22 November 2001 – 15 August 2007
Preceded by	Henry McLeish
Succeeded by	Wendy Alexander
Member of the Scottish Parliament for Motherwell and Wishaw
Incumbent
Assumed office  6 May 1999
Preceded by	new constituency
Majority	5,928 (22.7%)
Born	30 June 1960 (1960-06-30) (age 49) Irvine, North Ayrshire, Scotland
Political party	Scottish Labour Party
Spouse	Bridget McConnell
Alma mater	University of Stirling
Profession	Teacher

Jack Wilson McConnell (born 30 June 1960 in Irvine, North Ayrshire) is a former First Minister of Scotland, leader of the Scottish Labour Party and current Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the Motherwell and Wishaw constituency. To date he is the longest serving First Minister in the history of the Scottish Parliament.

McConnell became an MSP in the first elections to the Scottish Parliament in 1999, later holding the positions of Finance Minister, and Education Minister. He became First Minister upon the resignation of his predecessor Henry McLeish, and led the Scottish Labour Party to its second election victory in the 2003 election.

Education and career

McConnell was born in Irvine and raised on a sheep farm near Lamlash on the Isle of Arran. He attended Arran High School and later went on to study at the University of Stirling, graduating with a BSc Dip Ed. He was also President of the Students' Association^[1].

After graduating in 1983 he began work as a mathematics teacher at Lornshill Academy in Alloa, Clackmannanshire (a position he retained throughout his subsequent council service).

Aged sixteen, he joined the Scottish National Party ^[2], but later resigned his membership, becoming a vocal opponent of Scottish independence in later life. He is a member of the GMB Union and Amnesty International.

Early political career

McConnell's political career began with his election to Stirling District Council. McConnell served on the council for eight years, while retaining his job at Lornshill. He served as Treasurer from 1988 until 1992, and was the Leader of the council from 1990 to 1992.

McConnell became the General Secretary of the Scottish Labour Party in 1992. His major breakthrough was in his handling of the 1997 General Election success, where Labour attained a large overall majority victory over the Conservatives. Together the Scottish Labour Party, the Scottish Liberal Democrats, and the Scottish National Party eliminated every seat the Conservatives held in Scotland. In 1998, he served as a member of the Scottish Constitutional Convention where he pioneered the Scottish devolution referendum success, establishing the Scottish Parliament.

Member of the Scottish Parliament

Finance Minister

McConnell was elected an MSP in the first Scottish Parliament elections in 1999. He was appointed Minister for Finance in the new Scottish Executive by then-First Minister Donald Dewar.

One of his first moves as Finance Minister was to establish the budgeting procedures for the new Scottish Executive, including publishing a consultation document asking the public and MSPs how the budget should be spent. His department also passed the Public Finance and Accountability (Scotland) Act 2000 through Parliament which set out the finance and auditing procedures of the Executive.^[3]

He was involved in one of the first scandals to hit the new Parliament when he was called to appear before the standards committee during an investigation into newspaper allegations that the lobbying arm of public relations company Beattie Media had privileged access to ministers.^[4] The committee later cleared McConnell of any wrongdoing and declared there was no evidence he had been influenced from lobbying by Beattie Media.^[5]

During his time as Finance Minister, McConnell clashed with the Minister of Health and Community Care, Susan Deacon over the budget allocated to health, and the rows soon became public knowledge. Supporters of both camps would conduct secret media briefings against the other, prompting Donald Dewar to threaten to sack any Minister or aide who briefs the media against another member of the Executive.^[6]

Education, Europe and External Affairs

Upon Dewar’s death in 2000, he contested Henry McLeish for the position of First Minister, but lost out in the ballot. McLeish later appointed him Minister for Education, Europe and External Affairs.^[7] Some analysts considered this post to be a "poisoned chalice", as he would be required to resolve both a crisis in the Scottish Qualifications Authority over exam marking, and pay disputes with the teaching unions.^[8]

Election for First Minister

McLeish was forced to resign over the Officegate Scandal, regarding the sub-let of his constituency office. In the resulting search for a leader, McConnell was seen by many political analysts as the likely successor.^[9]. McConnell quickly emerged as the only candidate, but made a surprising admission that he had cheated on his wife Bridget by having an affair with a party worker in 1994, stating he wished to "clear the air" and avoid any innuendo during his time in office. He announced the affair with his wife by his side at a press conference. ^[10]

He was elected First Minister by the Parliament on 22 November 2001, and was formally appointed into office by Queen Elizabeth II on 26 November 2001. ^[11]

First Minister

First Term

A few days after his appointment, on 27 November 2001, McConnell carried out a controversial reshuffle of the Cabinet, axing four Ministers: Angus MacKay, Sarah Boyack, Tom McCabe and Jackie Baillie, and demoting Susan Deacon (she later resigned rather than accept the new post offered to her).^[12]. The move was considered controversial as the axed ministers were judged to be loyal to McLeish and other figures in the party leading The Sun to dub him “Jack The Ripper”.

In February 2002, Scotland joined forces with the Republic of Ireland in a bid to host the 2008 European Football Championship.^[13] McConnell was initially unconvinced that it was worth spending around £100 million on the tournament, however he later put his support behind the joint bid with the Irish. Although the bid lost out to Switzerland, McConnell later supported other attempts to land major supporting events including London's successful bid for the 2012 Olympic Games ^[14] and Glasgow's bid for the 2014 Commonwealth Games^[15].

In May 2002, Wendy Alexander, the Minister for Enterprise, Transport and Lifelong Learning, and the only Minister not to have been sacked in the reshuffle, resigned. Many analysts speculated that Alexander, believed to be a close ally of Gordon Brown, had poor relations with McConnell.^[16]

The end of his first term as First Minister was rocked by a scandal known as "Wishawgate"- when auditors discovered accounting irregularities in the accounts of his Motherwell and Wishaw constituency.^[17] The Scottish Labour Party later admitted that union cash in excess of £1,000 had been donated to the constituency and not declared, a breach of the Electoral Commission's rules. McConnell and Frank Roy (the MP for the constituency in the House of Commons) were cleared of any wrongdoing after an internal investigation, however the constituency's treasurer admitted embezzling £11,000 from party funds.^[18]

Second Term

Jack McConnell welcomes President of the United States George W. Bush and Laura Bush to Scotland on 6 July 2005 at Glasgow Prestwick International Airport.

Much of the election campaign for the 2003 elections took place during the invasion of Iraq. At the launch of the election campaign, McConnell made a plea that the polls should not be turned into a referendum on the war in Iraq. Despite Labour losing six seats in the election, McConnell was re-elected as First Minister, with another term of coalition with the Scottish Liberal Democrats. In the reshuffle following the 2003 election, McConnell axed two Minister posts, although he increased the size of the Scottish cabinet from 10 to 11.^[19]

The 31st G8 summit was held at the Gleneagles Hotel in Auchterarder, Perth and Kinross during July 2005. McConnell formally welcomed all the G8 leaders (with the exception of the then Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Tony Blair) as they arrived in Scotland at Glasgow Prestwick International Airport. He also hosted a dinner for African leaders and International dignitaries including Secretary General of the United Nations, Kofi Annan.^[20]

During the 2006 FIFA World Cup, McConnell was criticised for not supporting the English football team.^[21] He defended his stance by stating that he represented Scotland and did not link politics with football.^[22]

In November 2006, he celebrated the 5th anniversary as First Minister. An internal document obtained by The Observer, revealed what McConnell believed to be his major achievements during his 5 years as: the Fresh Talent initiative and the reverse of Scotland's population decline; banning smoking in enclosed public spaces in Scotland; taking measures to reduce sectarianism; and continuing aid to Malawi.^[23]

McConnell was interviewed by the Metropolitan Police in December 2006 in connection with their 'cash for honours' investigation. Their questioning of McConnell related to his nomination of Colin Boyd for a peerage, although it was believed that McConnell was not personally implicated in the scandal.^[24]

2007 election

In the run-up to the 2007 Scottish Parliamentary Elections, McConnell was criticised by many inside and outside of the Labour party for his role in the party's poor start to the campaign,^[25] with Labour solidly behind the Scottish National Party in many opinion polls. He initially refused to debate with the SNP leader, Alex Salmond, and was the only leader of the major Scottish political parties not to appear on the 22 February edition of BBC's Question Time. He later appeared on a televised debate for STV and Sky News on 1 April, clashing with Salmond over issues including council tax and Trident nuclear missiles. McConnell also admitted that the Scottish Labour Party would seek to form a minority government if it emerged as the largest party following the elections.^[26]

On 10 April, McConnell unveiled Scottish Labour's election manifesto, which included plans to scrap water bills for pensioners and reform council tax bandings. The manifesto also proposed a large increase in education spending, which would allow the increasing of the school leaving age to 18 and a reduction in average class sizes to 19.^[27]

McConnell was re-elected to the Motherwell and Wishaw constituency on 4 May 2007. McConnell polled 12574 votes with a majority 5938 votes, representing 48% of the vote with a turnout of 50.3%. However, in the wider country, McConnell's ruling Labour Party was defeated by the SNP, both in terms of the popular vote and in numbers of seats. The SNP won 47 seats to Labour's 46, giving the SNP a one-seat majority over Labour, but well short of an overall majority in the Parliament.^[28]

Alex Salmond declared that his party had the right to form an executive due to their victory in the popular vote. Further, he claimed that Labour lacked the "moral authority" to form a government.^[29] McConnell strongly disagreed with this statement, arguing that "There is no moral authority to pursue separation and moral authority in the parliament will only come through parties working together in the majority."^[30]

Were the SNP unable to form a coalition, or even to operate as a minority administration, then the Labour Party could have formed an executive. In the event, Alex Salmond defeated Jack McConnell by 49 votes to 46 on Wednesday 16 May 2007 in the vote for First Minister of Scotland. Salmond announced his list of Cabinet nominees to Parliament for approval on 17 May 2007. Parliament subsequently approved the nominees. After the election, there was speculation that due to the election loss, McConnell would not survive long as Scottish Labour Leader.^[31]

After First Minister

On 15 August 2007, McConnell announced his intention to resign as Scottish Labour leader.^[32] He will undertake voluntary work on behalf of the Clinton Hunter Development Initiative in Malawi and Rwanda. He was slated to take over as the UK's High Commissioner to Malawi in 2009, but he will now instead become a Special Envoy for Conflict Resolution, working with the United Nations.^[33] The Scotland on Sunday reported that Labour wished to avoid fighting a potentially difficult by-election in Motherwell and Wishaw, which would have been triggered if McConnell had moved to Malawi.^[33] It is now intended for McConnell to become High Commissioner to Malawi in 2011, after the next Scottish Parliament election.^[33]

Personal life

He is married to Bridget McConnell, and has two adopted children from that marriage, Hannah and Mark. Bridget is the Director of Cultural and Leisure Services at Glasgow City Council.^[34] She was married to a 1970s rock star, Richard Brown, before she met McConnell. She also revealed that the family celebrates an annual "Adoption Day" and that McConnell took the "difficult decision not to have children of his own".^[35]

Hannah lives in London working for Michael Connarty, MP for Linlithgow and Falkirk East, and has previously dated controversial TV presenter John Leslie.^[36] Mark is a graduate of the University of Dundee, and is currently working as a teacher. He was involved in a minor scandal when some of his friends posted a video on YouTube of themselves larking around inside Bute House, the official residence of the First Minister.^[37]

McConnell is a close friend of Scottish broadcaster and Newsnight presenter, Kirsty Wark, a good friendship that began before their respective careers began.^[38] In January 2005, it was revealed that McConnell had taken a holiday in Wark's villa in Majorca without declaring it in the Scottish Parliament's Register of Interests for MSPs. McConnell defended not declaring the holiday, stating it was acceptable not to declare the holiday as the value did not exceed £250.^[39] Wark herself suffered from the scandal, later dubbed Villagate by the media, and she was axed as the anchor of BBC Scotland's coverage of the 2005 United Kingdom general election.^[40] The Parliamentary Standards Commissioner later cleared McConnell of breaking any rules stating as the accommodation did not amount to a benefit in kind and need not be registered, "there was no gift of a benefit in kind to the member as there was no cost which the McConnells could reasonably have been expected to pay which was met".^[41]

References

See also

• Politics of Scotland
• List of Scottish Executive Ministerial Teams
• Bute House

External links

• Official website

Jack McConnell
First Ministers of Scotland Donald Dewar · Henry McLeish · Jack McConnell · Alex Salmond Members of the Scottish Parliament in the Central Scotland region Elected in the 2007 election Constituency MSPs Karen Whitefield (Lab, Airdrie and Shotts) · Elaine Smith (Lab, Coatbridge and Chryston) · Cathie Craigie (Lab, Cumbernauld and Kilsyth) · Andy Kerr (Lab, East Kilbride) · Cathy Peattie (Lab, Falkirk East) · Michael Matheson (SNP, Falkirk West) · Michael McMahon (Lab, Hamilton North and Bellshill) · Tom McCabe (Lab, Hamilton South)  · Willie Coffey (SNP, Kilmarnock and Loudoun) · Jack McConnell (Lab, Motherwell and Wishaw) Additional Members Linda Fabiani (SNP) · Jamie Hepburn (SNP) · Christina McKelvie (SNP) · Margaret Mitchell (Con) · Alex Neil (SNP) · Hugh O'Donnell (Lib Dem) · John Wilson (SNP) Labour (8 seats), SNP (7 seats), Conservative (1 seat), Lib Dems (1 seat) Scottish Labour MSPs Elected in the 2007 election Wendy Alexander · Jackie Baillie · Claire Baker · Richard Baker · Sarah Boyack · Rhona Brankin · Bill Butler · Malcolm Chisholm · Cathie Craigie · Margaret Curran · Helen Eadie · Patricia Ferguson · George Foulkes · Karen Gillon · Marlyn Glen · Trish Godman · Charlie Gordon · Rhoda Grant · Iain Gray · Hugh Henry · Cathy Jamieson · James Kelly · Andy Kerr · Johann Lamont · Marilyn Livingstone · Lewis Macdonald · Ken Macintosh · Paul Martin · Frank McAveety · Tom McCabe · Jack McConnell · Michael McMahon · Duncan McNeil · Pauline McNeill · Des McNulty · Mary Mulligan · Elaine Murray · Irene Oldfather · John Park · Peter Peacock · Cathy Peattie · Richard Simpson · Elaine Smith · David Stewart · Karen Whitefield · David Whitton