Brian Ian Whittle (born 26 April 1964) is a Scottish politician and former athlete, who has been a

Member of the Scottish Parliament Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP; ; ) is the title given to any one of the 129 individuals elected to serve in the Scottish Parliament. Electoral system The additional member system produces a form of proportional representation, where ...

(MSP) for the South Scotland region since

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

. A member of the

Scottish Conservatives The Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party (), known as Scottish Tories, is part of the UK Conservative Party (UK), Conservative Party active in Scotland. It currently holds 5 of the 57 Scottish seats in the House of Commons of the United Ki ...

, he serves as Shadow Minister for Environment, Biodiversity and Land Reform. Whittle won the gold medal in the

4 × 400 metres relay The 4 × 400 metres relay or long relay is an athletics track and field, track event in which teams consist of four runners who each complete 400 metres or one lap, totaling 1600 meters. It is traditionally the final event of ...

at both the

1986 European Athletics Championships The 14th European Athletics Championships were held from 26 to 31 August 1986 at the Neckarstadion, now known as MHPArena, in Stuttgart, a city in West Germany. Contemporaneous reports were given in the Glasgow Herald. Me ...

and 1994 European Athletics Championships. He also competed at the

1988 Summer Olympics The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and officially branded as Seoul 1988 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 17 September to 2 October 1988 in Seoul, South Korea. 159 nations were represe ...

Seoul Seoul, officially Seoul Special Metropolitan City, is the capital city, capital and largest city of South Korea. The broader Seoul Metropolitan Area, encompassing Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, emerged as the world's List of cities b ...

Early life

Whittle was born in 1964 growing up in the Scottish town of Troon. His father was a sprinter until his late teens. Whilst at school, Brian tried a wide range of sports, enjoying many of them but it was apparent that he had a natural talent for running. He has maintained that his talent lay in his discipline and ability to train. Brian Whittle was educated at Marr College in Troon and went on to read Chemistry at The University of Glasgow and Kilmarnock College.

Athletic career

At club level, Whittle ran for both Ayr Seaforth and Enfield & Haringey. His best performance in the 400 m was 45.22 at the

. He finished 1st in his heat, 3rd in the quarter-final, but did not progress past the semi-final. He ran 45.5 on the first leg of the 4 × 400 m relay (team – Whittle, Kriss Akabusi, Todd Bennett, Phil Brown), but for once the GB team performed below par and finished fifth in the Olympic final. Perhaps his greatest achievement, and what he is best remembered for, is the manner in which he helped Great Britain win the gold medal in the

at the 1986 European Championships in Stuttgart. He ran the third leg of the race with one shoe, running a personal best leg time of 45.09. As he took the baton from Kriss Akabusi, Akabusi stood on his shoe and it ripped off, leaving him to run the race without it (thereafter the press nicknamed him 'One-shoe Whittle'). The other members of the team were Roger Black and Derek Redmond, all of whom ran Personal Best times on the day. Whittle also won a relay gold medal in the 1994 European Athletics Championships

team alongside David McKenzie, Roger Black, and Du'aine Ladejo. He also ran in the heats of the 4 × 400 m relay at the 1990 European Championships in Split. He moved to 800 m after the 1988 Olympic Games, and ran in the final of the 1990 Commonwealth Games 800 m in New Zealand, where he finished fourth ahead of

Sebastian Coe Sebastian Newbold Coe, Baron Coe, (born 29 September 1956), often referred to as Seb Coe, is a British sports administrator, former politician and retired track and field athlete. As a middle-distance runner, Coe won four Olympic medals, incl ...

and Tom McKean. Whittle ran the last leg of the Commonwealth Games 4 × 400 m in 1990, anchoring the Scottish Team to a silver medal. He ran 44.7 seconds for his leg. He also ran the 800 m in the 1991 World Championships in Tokyo. His personal best for 800 m was 1:45.47 in 1990. Other notable performances included running 45.98 at the 1988 European Indoor Championships in Budapest winning the silver medal – a feat he repeated in 1989. He ran the last leg of the winning 4 × 400 m relay in the Europa Cup in 1989 (Gateshead), helping Great Britain to win the team title for the first time. Whittle was an international schools' high jumper, and also competed in the 200 m at the 1986 Commonwealth Games, making the semi-final. His run of 45.98 seconds for the 400 metres indoors in Hungary in 1988 stood as the Scottish indoor record for 37 years until it was beaten by Brodie Young in February 2025.

Political career

Whittle contested the 2015 UK general election in the constituency of Kilmarnock and Loudoun for the

Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party The Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party (), known as Scottish Tories, is part of the UK Conservative Party (UK), Conservative Party active in Scotland. It currently holds 5 of the 57 Scottish seats in the House of Commons of the United Ki ...

, coming 3rd with 12.5% of the vote. At the

2016 elections Africa Benin Republic *2016 Beninese presidential election 6 March 2016 Cape Verde * 2016 Cape Verdean presidential election 2 October 2016 Chad * 2016 Chadian presidential election 10 April 2016 Djibouti * 2016 Djiboutian presidential ...

to the

Scottish Parliament The Scottish Parliament ( ; ) is the Devolution in the United Kingdom, devolved, unicameral legislature of Scotland. It is located in the Holyrood, Edinburgh, Holyrood area of Edinburgh, and is frequently referred to by the metonym 'Holyrood'. ...

, he was elected for the South Scotland region.

Controversy

Whittle sparked a row over the two-child cap on tax credits by claiming “there is no such thing as a rape clause”, claiming it was impossible to debate the controversial welfare reform as “the term rape clause is an invention to beat the Tories with”. The remarks were widely condemned and described as “skin-crawling” by other parties.

Personal life

Whittle has three daughters.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Whittle, Brian 1964 births Living people People from Troon Scottish male sprinters British male sprinters Athletes (track and field) at the 1988 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes for Great Britain European Athletics Championships medalists World Athletics Championships athletes for Great Britain Athletes (track and field) at the 1986 Commonwealth Games Athletes (track and field) at the 1990 Commonwealth Games Athletes (track and field) at the 1994 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games silver medallists for Scotland British sportsperson-politicians Conservative MSPs Members of the Scottish Parliament 2016–2021 Members of the Scottish Parliament 2021–2026 Scottish Conservative parliamentary candidates People educated at Marr College Alumni of the University of Glasgow Sportspeople from Troon Medallists at the 1990 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games silver medallists in athletics