Richard Gordon Thomson (born 16 June 1976) is a Scottish politician. He is a member of the Scottish National Party (SNP) He has been the

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

(MP) for

Gordon Gordon may refer to: People * Gordon (given name), a masculine given name, including list of persons and fictional characters * Gordon (surname), the surname * Gordon (slave), escaped to a Union Army camp during the U.S. Civil War * Clan Gordon, ...

since the 2019 general election, having previously the leader of the SNP group on

Aberdeenshire Council Aberdeenshire ( sco, Aiberdeenshire; gd, Siorrachd Obar Dheathain) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland. It takes its name from the County of Aberdeen which has substantially different boundaries. The Aberdeenshire Council area inclu ...

. He has been serving as SNP Spokesperson for International Trade since 2022, and SNP Spokesperson for Wales and Northern Ireland since 2021.

Early life and education

Thomson was born in

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian on the southern shore of t ...

in 1976, the son of Alexander and Ethel Thomson. He was educated at

Tynecastle High School Tynecastle High School is a secondary school in the Gorgie area of south west Edinburgh, Scotland. History Tynecastle High School was opened in 1912 and was for its first 98 years located at 15 McLeod Street, a B listed building. Move to ne ...

, Edinburgh, before going to the

University of Stirling The University of Stirling (, gd, Oilthigh Shruighlea (abbreviated as Stir or Shruiglea, in post-nominals) is a public university in Stirling, Scotland, founded by royal charter in 1967. It is located in the Central Belt of Scotland, built ...

to study History and Politics. He gained a BA (Hons) in 1998. He is presently studying part-time for an

MBA A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accounti ...

from the Edinburgh Business School at Heriot-Watt University.

Career

He worked for Scottish Widows in

from 1999 to 2004, firstly as an Assistant Manager in their Customer Relations Department, and latterly as an Account Manager in Corporate Pensions. He contributed a chapter exploring the ' social democratisation of the SNP' to a book on post- devolution politics called ''Breaking Up Britain – Four Nations After a Union,'' published in 2009 by

Lawrence & Wishart Lawrence & Wishart is a British publishing company formerly associated with the Communist Party of Great Britain. It was formed in 1936, through the merger of Martin Lawrence, the Communist Party's press, and Wishart Ltd, a family-owned Left-wing ...

. In August 2009, he was one of the three speakers in London at the ''What are the implications of Scottish Independence – for England?'' event hosted by the SNP, that discussed implications for England in areas such as defence, taxation, the role of the Monarchy, and possible political re-alignments. He formerly wrote for the ''

Ellon Times The ''Ellon Times'' is a local, weekly newspaper based in Ellon, Aberdeenshire. It is a sister paper of the '' Buchan Observer'', '' Fraserburgh Herald'' and '' Inverurie Herald''. The ''Times'' covers a range of local news and sport, with a ...

'' and the ''Inverurie Herald''. Thomson was a reporter and columnist for Angus Company Press from 2011 to 2012. Since 2017, he has been Deputy Editor of The Scottish Independent newspaper.

Political career

In 2001, he unsuccessfully contested the Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale constituency, a safe seat for the Liberal Democrats in which Thomson came fourth with 4,108 votes (12.4%). Thomson was former Head of Campaigns for the Scottish National Party from 2004 to 2005, and the party's Westminster Head of Research, before returning to Aberdeenshire in the summer of 2008 to work for

First Minister A first minister is any of a variety of leaders of government cabinets. The term literally has the same meaning as "prime minister" but is typically chosen to distinguish the office-holder from a superior prime minister. Currently the title of ' ...

Alex Salmond Alexander Elliot Anderson Salmond (; born 31 December 1954) is a Scottish politician and economist who served as First Minister of Scotland from 2007 to 2014. A prominent figure on the Scottish nationalist movement, he has served as leader ...

. Thomson was Parliamentary Assistant to Salmond from 2008 to 2011. He worked as a senior researcher to MSP

Shona Robison Shona McRory Robison (born 26 May 1966) is a Scottish politician serving as the Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Housing and Local Government since 2021. A member of the Scottish National Party (SNP), she has been the Member of the Scottish ...

and MP Stewart Hosie from 2000 to 2007. In 2010, he stood in

: the Liberal Democrat

Malcolm Bruce Malcolm Gray Bruce, Baron Bruce of Bennachie, (born 17 November 1944) is a British Liberal Democrat politician. He was the Member of Parliament for Gordon from 1983 to 2015 and was the chairman of the International Development Select Commit ...

retained his seat, but Thomson took the SNP into second place. Thomson was on

from 2012 to 2020. He was leader of

from June 2015 until May 2017, and Opposition Leader from 2017 to 2020. He represented the council on the

North Sea Commission The North Sea Commission (NSC) is an international organization founded in 1989. It facilitates partnerships between regions connected with the North Sea and promotes the North Sea Region as an economic entity within Europe. It is part of the Co ...

, where he was vice-chair of the Marine Resources Group. He was selected to contest the Gordon constituency for the second time at the 2019 general election. During the campaign he claimed, "A vote for me.. is not a vote for Scottish independence and I will never, ever, try and claim it as such." He narrowly won the seat from the Conservative incumbent Colin Clark, with a slim majority of 819 votes (1.4%). In March 2020, Thomson resigned from Aberdeenshire Council to "concentrate 100% on being the MP for the Gordon Constituency".

Personal life

Thomson lives in

Ellon, Aberdeenshire Ellon ( gd, Eilean) is a town in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, approximately north of Aberdeen, lying on the River Ythan, which has one of the few undeveloped river estuaries on the eastern coast of Scotland. It is in the ancient region of Formart ...

. His partner is Eilidh Mackechnie; the couple have two daughters.

References

External links

*
An ever closer sovereignty?
- The SNP referendum strategy allows Scottish Labour supporters to vote for independence, taking the idea out of the abstract {{DEFAULTSORT:Thomson, Richard 1976 births Living people Scottish National Party councillors UK MPs 2019–present Scottish National Party MPs Alumni of the University of Stirling Alumni of Heriot-Watt University Councillors in Aberdeenshire Leaders of local authorities of Scotland Scottish journalists People educated at Tynecastle High School