Alistair Carmichael

Alistair Carmichael

Alistair Carmichael (born July 15, 1965 on Islay , Scotland ) is a Scottish politician of the Liberal Democrats .

Life

Carmichael was born in 1965 on the Hebridean island of Islay into a family of farmers. He grew up on the island and attended Port Ellen Elementary School and Islay High School . He then took a job as a cook and later ran a hotel. Carmichael enrolled at Aberdeen University , where he graduated from law in 1992. Between 1993 and 1996 he served as Procurator Fiscal , a specialty prosecutor in Scotland, in Edinburgh and Aberdeen . Carmichael then worked as a solicitor in Aberdeenshire until 2001 . In 1987 Carmichael married and lives on the Orkney Islands with his wife and two children.

Political career

Carmichael first appeared at the political level in the 1987 general election when he ran for the predecessor organization of the Liberal Democrats in the constituency of Paisley South . Although he had the second largest share of the vote with 14.1%, Carmichael was clearly defeated by the Labor candidate Norman Buchan .

In the 2001 general election, Carmichael ran for the Liberal Democrats in the Orkney and Shetland constituency . He succeeded Jim Wallace , who won the Orkney constituency in the Scottish parliamentary elections in 1999 and moved into the newly created Scottish Parliament . Despite losing votes, Carmichael won the mandate with a 41.3% share of the vote and was given a seat in the British House of Commons . In the following elections in 2005 he held his mandate and was in the shadow cabinet of the Liberal Democrats between 2006 and 2007 as Minister of Transport, then until 2010 as Minister of Northern Ireland . In July 2007, Carmichael was also appointed party spokesman for the Liberal Democrats of Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Carmichael defended his mandate for Orkney and Shetland in the 2010 general election . In the ruling conservative-liberal-democratic coalition, he was installed as the parliamentary deputy whip . He also held the office of Comptrollers of the Household until 2013 . Carmichael gave up both positions when he was appointed Minister of Scotland in 2013 . Since 2012 he has also been deputy party leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats. Carmichael defended his mandate in the general election in 2015 and 2017 .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Alistair Carmichael in Hansard (English)
2. ^ Information from the Liberal Democrats
3. ↑ ^{a b c} Biographical information ( Memento from April 11, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
4. ^ ^{A b c} UK Government Information
5. ^ Results of the general election in 1987
6. ^ Results of the 2001 general election
7. ^ Results of the general election 2005
8. ^ Results of the 2010 general election
9. ↑ Results of the general election 2015

Web links

Commons : Alistair Carmichael  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Official website
• Liberal Democrats information
• Information on the UK Parliament website
• Alistair Carmichael at Hansard (English)