Jim Wallace

Jim Wallace (2003)

James "Jim" Robert Wallace, Baron Wallace of Tankerness (born August 25, 1954 in Annan , Dumfries and Galloway , Scotland ) is a Scottish politician .

biography

After attending school, he studied law at the University of Edinburgh and practiced as a lawyer after his admission .

Wallace began his political career as a candidate for the Liberal Democrats in 1983 with the election to the British House of Commons , in which he represented the interests of the constituency of Orkney and Shetland until 2001 . Within the group of the Liberal Democrats he was from 1987 to 1992 Parliamentary Secretary (Liberal Chief Whip ).

He was then chairman of the Scottish Liberal Democrats from 1992 to 2005. In the elections on May 6, 1999 for the newly established Scottish Parliament (Pàrlamaid na h-Alba) , he was the top candidate of the Scottish Liberal Democrats and reached 17 of the 129 seats in parliament. He himself was elected as a member of the Orkney constituency.

After the election, the Liberal Democrats formed a coalition government with the Scottish Labor Party . In the governments led by the First Ministers (Prìomh Mhinistear na h-Alba) Donald Dewar , Henry McLeish and Jack McConnell , he was Deputy First Minister from 1999 to 2005. At the same time, he was Minister of Justice from 1999 to 2003 and then, after a cabinet reshuffle, until 2005 for Enterprise and Lifelong Learning (Minister for Enterprise and Lifelong Learning).

After Dewar's death, he was acting First Minister of Scotland from October 11 to 27, 2000. He took this office again from November 8 to 22, 2001 after McLeish resigned after the Officegate affair .

After leaving the House of Commons, he was made a Life Peer in 2007 with the title Baron Wallace of Tankerness , of Tankerness in Orkney , and has been a member of the House of Lords ever since .

Web links

• rulers.org