- Michael Russell (politician)
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Michael William "Mike" Russell[1] MSP 
Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning Incumbent Assumed office
01 December 2009First Minister Alex Salmond Preceded by Fiona Hyslop Minister for Culture, External Affairs and the Constitution
and Minister for GaelicIn office
12 February 2009 – 01 December 2009First Minister Alex Salmond Preceded by Linda Fabiani Succeeded by Fiona Hyslop Minister for Environment In office
17 May 2007 – 12 February 2009First Minister Alex Salmond Preceded by Sarah Boyack Succeeded by Roseanna Cunningham Member of the Scottish Parliament
for Argyll and ButeIncumbent Assumed office
6 May 2011Preceded by Jim Mather Majority 8,543 (32.2%) Member of Parliament
for South of ScotlandIn office
1 May 1999 – 6 May 2003In office
4 May 2007 – 6 May 2011Personal details Born 9 August 1953
Bromley, KentPolitical party Scottish National Party Spouse(s) Cathleen Children One son, Caileen Residence Glendaruel Alma mater Edinburgh University Religion Episcopalian Website Official website Michael William Russell,[1][2] (born 9 August 1953 in Bromley, Kent) is a Scottish National Party (SNP) politician and Member of the Scottish Parliament for the Argyll and Bute constituency. He is also a television producer and director and the author of seven books.
He was Chief Executive of the SNP from 1994 to 1999 and was elected to the Scottish Parliament as a regional MSP for the South of Scotland at the first Scottish Parliament elections in 1999. However, he lost his seat in the 2003 Scottish Parliament Election. He was elected again in May 2007 and was appointed Minister for Environment in Scotland's first-ever SNP administration by First Minister Alex Salmond.[3] He was then reshuffled on 10 February 2009 to become Minister for Culture, External Affairs and the Constitution, and was later promoted on 1 December 2009 replacing Fiona Hyslop as Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning.
Contents
Background
Educated at the Marr College, Troon and Edinburgh University, there studying firstly Theology and then Scottish History and Literature. He worked in television and the media prior to establishing his own media company, Eala Bhan Ltd.
Russell married Cathleen MacAskill, a primary school head teacher,in March 1980 and they have one son Caileen.Since Augsust 1992 the family have lived in an 18th century single story farm dwelling in Glendaruel on the Cowal peninsula in Argyll and Bute.[4][5]
Political career
Russell was Chief Executive of the SNP in the period prior to the first Scottish election and has been an active member of the SNP for over three decades, often working closely with party leader, Alex Salmond.
Originally a member of the Labour club at Edinburgh University, Russell joined the SNP in 1974 during the February election of that year, was active in Edinburgh, in the Western Isles and in the Inverness constituency and stood for the first time for as an SNP candidate in 1984 in Clydesdale in a local government election. He was then the Clydesdale candidate for the Westminster Parliament in June 1987. Later that year he became the elected Vice Convenor of the SNP responsible for Publicity (succeeding Alex Salmond) and in 1990 was Salmond's campaign manager during the SNP leadership campaign.
During that time he worked as Executive Director of Network Scotland, a media and educational company, but he gave up his party posts in 1991 to concentrate on establishing his own TV production company, Eala Bhan Ltd. He returned to active politics in December 1994 when he became the SNP's first full time Chief Executive. In that role, he was the party's election director for the 1997 and 1999 campaigns as well as for the successful Perth and Kinross by-election in 1995 (having been deputy campaign director in the 1992 General Election and for the Govan and Glasgow Central by-elections of 1987 and 1988).
Scottish Parliament
He was placed second by the party on the South of Scotland list for the 1999 Scottish Parliament elections (as well as standing for the Cunninghame South Constituency which he also fought in 2003) and after his election was appointed SNP Business Manager in the new Parliament which resulted in him becoming a founding member of the Parliamentary Bureau. After John Swinney was elected leader of the SNP in 2000, Russell became Shadow Minister for Education and Culture, a post he held until 2003. He was named as "Debater of the Year" in the Herald Awards in 2000, and was nominated for "Scottish Politician of the Year" in the same awards in 2002 as well as for the Channel 4 "Scottish Politician of the Year" title.
When he lost his seat at the end of the first Scottish Parliament, Russell focused on his work as an author and newspaper columnist, commenting on various aspects of Scottish culture and Scottish politics. He did, however, stand for the leadership of the SNP in 2004, in the election prompted by John Swinney's resignation. He finished third behind Alex Salmond and Roseanna Cunningham. Russell continued as a political commentator generating some controversy with his strongly pro-modernisation views which were more fully expressed in a book co-written with entrepreneur Dennis MacLeod called Grasping The Thistle (2006).
Many SNP members saw Russell's absence from the Scottish Parliament as a great loss to the SNP's profile and performance there. In 2006 he was once again placed second on the SNP regional list in the South of Scotland though this time the list was chosen by a one member, one vote system for which Russell had argued over a long period and was re-elected to Parliament in 2007. He was also the party's candidate in the Dumfries constituency.
Following the SNP's narrow victory at the 2007 Scottish Parliament Election, Russell was appointed the Minister for Environment.
In the first reshuffle of the SNP Government in February 2009, Russell was moved to be Minister for Culture, External Affairs and the Constitution.[6]
In December 2009 Russell was promoted to the Scottish Cabinet as Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning following the demotion of Fiona Hyslop.[7]
Campaigner
For many years, Russell has campaigned for justice on behalf of former police detective, Shirley McKie, who was awarded £750,000 compensation by the Scottish Executive in a February 2006 out-of-court settlement. The Justice 1 committee of the Scottish parliament conducted a nine-month inquiry into the McKie case in 2006, and its report was published on 15 February 2007.[8] In April 2007, Michael Russell and Shirley's father, Iain McKie, published a book on what they described as the worst miscarriage of justice in a generation: Shirley McKie - The Price of Innocence (ISBN 9781841585758). Shirley McKie's case assumed an international significance with a possible linkage to the case of convicted Lockerbie bomber, Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, who was granted leave to appeal against his conviction for a second time by the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission on 28 June 2007.[9] Megrahi's appeal began in Edinburgh on 28 April 2009,[10] and a public inquiry into the McKie case started in Glasgow on 2 June 2009.[11]
Controversies
In November 2009, Russell was engaged in a controversy when his most senior aide was forced to resign after being exposed by the News of the World as the author of an online political blog with controversial content.[12][13][14] However, there was never any evidence that Russell had any direct connection with the political blog.[citation needed]
In 2011 Russell was referred to the parliamentary standards watchdog over allegations that he tried to influence school closures for his own electoral benefit. "The MSP was reported to Holyrood's standards watchdog after a leaked email revealed he quizzed SNP councillors about their support for the axing of local schools. The message, sent from Mr Russell's parliamentary account, concerned proposed closures in the area where he is due to seek election in May. He now represents the South of Scotland but will stand as a candidate in Argyll & Bute."[15] [16] Kilmodan Primary,the school nearest to Rusell's home was later amongst those saved from closure as well as Toward primary school where his wife Cathleen was head teacher(Cathleen had also been head techer at Kilmodan).[17][4][18]
Russell was also accused of interfering in school closure decisions taken by councils.[19] "The Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (Cosla), the body which represents council leaders, has now written to Mr Russell accusing him of failing to act in a “consistent, pragmatic and limited way”."[20] Russell was further accused of "bullying" in his dealings with Shetland Islands Council where the council was asked to postpone cost-cutting school closures."Mr Russell was last night accused of "bullying" councils into agreeing to his moratorium.A senior local government source said: "Russell is acting like a school bully on this and bullying councils into backing this delay."" [21]
See also
References
- ^ a b "BBC News - Election 2011 - Scotland - Argyll & Bute". bbc.co.uk. 2011-05-11. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/special/election2011/constituency/html/36074.stm. Retrieved 2011-11-17.
- ^ Quinn, Joe (2009-12-02). "Ups and downs of new man Mike Russell | The Sun |Home Scotland|Scottish News". The Sun. http://www.thesun.co.uk/scotsol/homepage/news/2754184/Ups-and-downs-of-new-man-Mike-Russell.html. Retrieved 2011-05-12.
- ^ "Salmond announces his new cabinet". BBC News. 2007-05-16. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/6663031.stm. Retrieved 2011-05-12.
- ^ a b "Me & LInks". Web.mac.com. http://web.mac.com/feorlean/MWR_/Me_%26_LInks.html. Retrieved 2011-11-19.
- ^ "About Mike | Mike Russell MSP for South of Scotland". Web.archive.org. 2010-03-13. Archived from the original on 2010-03-13. http://web.archive.org/web/20100313042305/http://www.mikerussellmsp.com/about-mike/. Retrieved 2011-11-17.
- ^ "Cabinet and ministers at-a-glance". BBC News. 2009-12-08. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/6665051.stm. Retrieved 2011-11-19.
- ^ "Demoted SNP education secretary endorses successor". BBC News. 2009-12-01. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/8388141.stm. Retrieved 2011-11-17.
- ^ Scottish Parliament's Justice 1 committee report (pages 189-190 deal with Ms McKie's out-of-court compensation award)
- ^ Severin Carrell, Scotland correspondent. "Libyan jailed over Lockerbie wins right to appeal". Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/Lockerbie/Story/0,,2114463,00.html. Retrieved 2011-05-12.
- ^ John Robertson (2009-05-20). "Lockerbie bomber's legal team puts forward appeal bid". Edinburgh: The Scotsman. http://news.scotsman.com/world/Lockerbie-bomber39s-legal-team-puts.5282729.jp. Retrieved 2009-05-24.
- ^ "McKie inquiry evidence to start". BBC News. 2009-06-01. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/glasgow_and_west/8077893.stm. Retrieved 2009-06-02.
- ^ "Parties demand Salmond holds blog smear inquiry". BBC News. 2009-11-29. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/8385075.stm. Retrieved 2011-11-17.
- ^ "SNP aide Mark MacLachlan forced to quit over smears - News - Scotsman.com". Scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com. 2009-11-28. http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/latestnews/-SNP-aide-Mark-MacLachlan.5867364.jp. Retrieved 2011-11-17.
- ^ "SNP aide sacked over web hate campaign SALMOND FURY AS REFERENDUM LAUNCH IS DERAILED". News of the World. 2009-12-02. Archived from the original on 2009-12-02. http://web.archive.org/web/20091202234546/http://www.newsoftheworld.co.uk/scottish/scottish_news/622949/Alex-Salmond-is-fuming-over-party-worker-Mark-MacLachlan-scandal.html. Retrieved 2011-09-19.
- ^ Mclaughlin, Mark (2011-01-06). "Russell faces school axe ‘meddling’ probe | The Sun |Home Scotland|Scottish News". The Sun. http://www.thesun.co.uk/scotsol/homepage/news/3333509/Russell-faces-school-axe-meddling-probe.html. Retrieved 2011-11-17.
- ^ Campbell, Rita. "Article - Education secretary accused of meddling over schools plans". Press and Journal. http://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/Article.aspx/2158327?UserKey=. Retrieved 2011-11-17.
- ^ Published on Tue Oct 26 17:13:43 BST 2010. "1998: Mike Russell helps save school. 2010: Same primary faces axe again - News". Scotsman.com. http://www.scotsman.com/news/1998_mike_russell_helps_save_school_2010_same_primary_faces_axe_again_1_826286. Retrieved 2011-11-19.
- ^ "Bleak News For Cowal Schools". Dunoon-observer.com. 2010-10-26. http://www.dunoon-observer.com/index.php/news/1-news/1269-bleak-news-for-cowal-schools. Retrieved 2011-11-19.
- ^ Johnson, Simon (2011-06-15). "Mike Russell's 'intolerable pressure' on council over rural school closures". Telegraph. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/scotland/8577211/Mike-Russells-intolerable-pressure-on-council-over-rural-school-closures.html. Retrieved 2011-11-17.
- ^ Andrew Denholm Education Correspondent EXCLUSIVE (2011-04-19). "Don’t interfere in school closures, Russell is told - Herald Scotland | News | Education". Herald Scotland. http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/education/don-t-interfere-in-school-closures-russell-is-told-1.1096980?localLinksEnabled=false. Retrieved 2011-11-17.
- ^ "Minister accused of acting like school bully - Scotsman.com News". News.scotsman.com. 2011-6-15. http://news.scotsman.com/politics/Minister-accused-of-acting-like.6785766.jp. Retrieved 2011-11-17.
External links
- Michael Russell for Argyll and Bute website
- Michael Russell on Twitter
- Michael Russell on Facebook
- Michael Russell photo-stream at Flickr
- Michael Russell's channel on YouTube
- Scottish Parliament website
- Shirley McKie's website
Alex Salmond (First Minister) · Nicola Sturgeon (Deputy First Minister and Health, Wellbeing and Cities Strategy) · John Swinney (Finance, Employment and Sustainable Growth) ·
Michael Russell (Education and Lifelong Learning) · Bruce Crawford (Parliamentary Business and Government Strategy) · Kenny MacAskill (Justice) ·
Richard Lochhead (Rural Affairs and the Environment) · Fiona Hyslop (Culture and External Affairs) · Alex Neil (Infrastructure and Capital Investment)Elected in the 2011 election Constituency MSPs John Scott (Con, Ayr) · Adam Ingram (SNP, Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley) · Aileen Campbell (SNP, Clydesdale) · Elaine Murray (Lab, Dumfriesshire) · Iain Gray (Lab, East Lothian) · John Lamont (Con, Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire) · Alex Fergusson (Con, Galloway and West Dumfries) · Willie Coffey (SNP, Kilmarnock and Irvine Valley) · Christine Grahame (SNP, Midlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale)Additional Members Claudia Beamish (Lab} · Chic Brodie (SNP) · Jim Hume (Lib Dem) · Joan McAlpine (SNP) · Aileen McLeod (SNP) · Graeme Pearson (Lab) · Paul Wheelhouse (SNP)SNP (8 seats), Labour (4 seats), Conservative (3 seats), Lib Dems (1 seats) Categories:- Ministers of the Scottish Government
- Alumni of the University of Edinburgh
- Members of the Scottish Parliament 1999–2003
- Scottish National Party MSPs
- Scottish Episcopalians
- Scottish television directors
- Scottish television producers
- Scottish writers
- Scottish chief executives
- 1953 births
- Living people
- People from Bromley
- Members of the Scottish Parliament 2007–2011
- Members of the Scottish Parliament 2011–
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