Annabel Goldie

Annabel Goldie (born 27 February 1950) is a Scottish politician, the leader of the Scottish Conservatives in the Scottish Parliament, and chairman of the party's Shadow Cabinet. She is a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the West of Scotland Region.

Education, life and early career

Annabel Goldie has resided in Renfrewshire for the course of her life. Previously living in the countryside between Kilmacolm and Lochwinnoch, Goldie has been a resident of the nearby village of Bishopton for the past forty years.^[1] First educated at Kilmacolm Primary School and Greenock Academy, she went on to study at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, graduating with an LL.B in 1971. She has been a solicitor with Glasgow law firm Donaldson, Alexander, Russell & Haddow since 1978.^[2] She is also an Elder in the Church of Scotland.

Goldie first stood for election to the House of Commons in the 1992 general election for the West Renfrewshire and Inverclyde constituency, coming second with 32.9% of the vote.^[3]

She is a Deputy Lieutenant of the County of Renfrewshire.^[4]

Member of the Scottish Parliament

Goldie was elected to the Scottish Parliament in the 1999 election as an additional member for the West of Scotland electoral region, and subsequently became deputy leader of the Scottish Conservatives. She retained this seat in the 2003 election and again in 2007.

In addition to her appearance on the regional list ballots, she has also stood as a candidate in the West Renfrewshire constituency for the Scottish Parliament in 1999, 2003 and 2007. While increasing the Conservative share of the vote each time, she has yet to be elected although raised her position from third to second place in 2007 with a reduced Labour majority.

Leader of the Scottish Conservatives

On 31 October 2005, Goldie became acting leader after David McLetchie resigned as leader of the Scottish Conservatives following adverse publicity created by the publishing of details of expenses he claimed for taxi journeys.^[5]

Goldie put herself forward as a leadership candidate on 2 November 2005 - a joint nomination with Murdo Fraser as her proposed deputy.^[6] Their nomination was unopposed and Goldie was appointed leader on 8 November 2005, the first woman to lead the Scottish Conservative Party. In her maiden speech as leader, she promised to act against "disloyalty and disobedience" in the party and in a reference to Margaret Thatcher she said "I think you may take it matron's handbag will be in hyper-action. There could be worse precedents to follow".^[7]

At her first party conference in March 2006, Goldie set out her plans to make the Scottish Conservatives the "principal party of opposition in Scotland". However her second conference as party leader was overshadowed by a leaked memo by David Mundell, the only Scottish Conservative MP in the British House of Commons, and Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland, in which he criticised Goldie's leadership.^[8]

She has won praise for her leadership of the party into the 2007 Scottish Parliament election and personally as a skilled debater and been labelled a "much-liked public figure".^[9] From February 2009 onwards, Goldie was given monthly attendance rights to participate in the Official Opposition Shadow Cabinet in Westminster.^[10]

References

External links

• Scottish Conservative biography
• Scottish Parliament biography
• Goldie 'ready to wield handbag', BBC News, 8 November 2005

v • d • e Members of the Scottish Parliament in the West of Scotland region Elected in the 2007 election Constituency MSPs Des McNulty (Lab, Clydebank and Milngavie) · Kenny Gibson (SNP, Cunninghame North) · Jackie Baillie (Lab, Dumbarton) · Kenneth Macintosh (Lab, Eastwood) · Duncan McNeil (Lab, Greenock and Inverclyde) · Wendy Alexander (Lab, Paisley North) · Hugh Henry (Lab, Paisley South) · David Whitton (Lab, Strathkelvin and Bearsden) · Trish Godman (Lab, West Renfrewshire) Additional Members Jackson Carlaw (Con) · Ross Finnie (Lib Dem) · Annabel Goldie (Con) · Stuart McMillan (SNP) · Stewart Maxwell (SNP) · Gil Paterson (SNP) · Bill Wilson (SNP) Labour (8 seats), SNP (5 seats), Conservative (2 seats), Lib Dems (1 seats)

v • d • e Leaders of the political parties in the Scottish Parliament Alex Salmond (Scottish National Party) · Iain Gray (Scottish Labour Party) Annabel Goldie (Scottish Conservative Party) · Tavish Scott (Scottish Liberal Democrats) Patrick Harvie (Scottish Green Party)