Nicol Stephen, Baron Stephen

Nicol Stephen, Baron Stephen

Nicol Ross Stephen, Baron Stephen (born March 23, 1960 in Aberdeen ) is a Scottish politician and member of the Liberal Democrats .

Stephen attended Robert Gordon's College in Aberdeen and then studied law at the University of Aberdeen . He then graduated from the University of Edinburgh as a lawyer . Stephen worked as a solicitor until 1988 and then moved to a commercial enterprise.

British House of Commons

In 1982 Stephen was elected to the Grampian Regional Council and served until 1992. Stephen first appeared in the 1987 general election to national elections. He received in his constituency Kincardine and Deeside, however, only the second highest number of votes after the conservative Alick Buchanan-Smith . After the death of Buchanan-Smith in 1991, new elections were scheduled, in which Stephen won the direct mandate of the constituency and moved into the British House of Commons for the first time . In the following regular general election in 1992 he lost his mandate to the conservative George Kynoch . In the course of the 1997 constituency reform, the constituency of Kincardine and Deeside was dissolved and Stephen ran in the 1997 general election in the newly created constituency of Aberdeen South . But he could not prevail against the Labor candidate Anne Begg .

Scottish Parliament

In the first Scottish general election in 1999, Stephen ran in the constituency of Aberdeen South . He won the direct mandate before the Labor Party candidate and moved into the newly created Scottish Parliament . In the following years Stephen held various posts. In the first cabinet under First Minister Donald Dewar , he was appointed Deputy Secretary of State for Enterprise and Lifelong Learning, and when the cabinet was changed in October 2000, he was appointed Deputy Secretary of State for Education, Europe and Foreign Affairs. In November 2001 Stephen was named Assistant Secretary of State for Education and Youth. In the general election in May 2003 he defended his mandate for Aberdeen South and was appointed Secretary of State for Transport after the election. Stephen emerged from the cabinet reshuffle in June 2005 as Secretary of State for Business and Lifelong Learning. He was also elected party leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats and, as a result, Deputy First Minister of Scotland. Stephen was able to defend his parliamentary seat in the parliamentary elections in 2007 , but did not hold any higher parliamentary positions thereafter. As party leader, he was replaced by Tavish Scott in June 2008 . At the parliamentary elections in 2011 Stephen came not more.

House of Lords

On February 2, 2011, Stephen was raised to the nobility as Baron Stephen , of Lower Deeside in the City of Aberdeen, as a Life Peer , and on February 7, he was inducted into the House of Lords as a new member . He took a seat on the Liberal Democrats' bench. He announced that he wanted to participate in the reformation of the House of Lords.

Web links

• Information on the Scottish Parliament website
• Information from the House of Lords

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Nicol Stephen, Baron Stephen on thepeerage.com , accessed August 20, 2015.
2. ↑ ^{a b c d e} entry on alba.org.uk ( Memento from November 10, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
3. ↑ ^{a b} Information from the House of Lords
4. ^ Results of the general election in 1987
5. ↑ Results of the general election in 1992 ( Memento of the original from May 8, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
6. ^ Results of the 1997 general election
7. ↑ Results of the general election 1999 on the Scottish Parliament website
8. ^ Results of the general election 2003 on the Scottish Parliament website
9. ↑ Entry on alba.org.uk ( Memento from June 6, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
10. ^ Information from the Liberal Democrats
11. ↑ Entry on alba.org.uk ( Memento from December 1, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
12. ↑ Information from the British Parliament
13. ↑ Press and Journal: MSP takes seat in the House of Lords ( Memento of May 27, 2012 in the Internet Archive )