Robert Hardie Bruce Crawford (born 16 February 1955) is a

Scottish National Party The Scottish National Party (SNP; ) is a Scottish nationalist and social democratic party. The party holds 61 of the 129 seats in the Scottish Parliament, and holds 9 out of the 57 Scottish seats in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, ...

(SNP) politician who served as Cabinet Secretary for Parliamentary Business and Government Strategy from 2011 to 2012, having held the junior ministerial position of

Minister for Parliamentary Business The Minister for Parliamentary Business () is a junior ministerial post in the Scottish Government. The minister supports the First Minister and attends cabinet. The minister has the job of steering government business through the Scottish P ...

from 2007 to 2011. Crawford served as the

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

Stirling Stirling (; ; ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in Central Belt, central Scotland, northeast of Glasgow and north-west of Edinburgh. The market town#Scotland, market town, surrounded by rich farmland, grew up connecting the roya ...

from 2007 to 2021, having previously represented the Mid Scotland and Fife region 1999–2007.

Background

Crawford was born in

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

. Prior to entering politics, he was a human resource manager with the

Scottish Office The Scottish Office was a department of the Government of the United Kingdom from 1885 until 1999, exercising a wide range of government functions in relation to Scotland under the control of the Secretary of State for Scotland. Following the es ...

Political career

Perth Council

Crawford served as

councillor A councillor, alternatively councilman, councilwoman, councilperson, or council member, is someone who sits on, votes in, or is a member of, a council. This is typically an elected representative of an electoral district in a municipal or re ...

for

Kinross Kinross (, ) is a burgh in Perth and Kinross, Scotland, around south of Perth, Scotland, Perth and around northwest of Edinburgh. It is the traditional county town of the Counties of Scotland, historic county of Kinross-shire. History Kinro ...

Perth and Kinross Perth and Kinross (; ) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland, and a Lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area. It is bordered by Highland (council area), Highland and Aberdeenshire to the north, Angus, Scotland, Angus, Dundee, and F ...

District Council from 1988 to 1996 and on Perth and Kinross Council from 1995 to 2001. Crawford was also Leader of Perth and Kinross Council from 1995 to 1999.

In opposition in Scottish Parliament

He was elected 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'. ...

to represent Mid Scotland and Fife at the 1999 election. He was re-elected in

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

. He was appointed Chief Whip by

John Swinney John Ramsay Swinney (born 13 April 1964) is a Scottish politician who has served as First Minister of Scotland, first minister of Scotland since 2024. Swinney has served as Leader of the Scottish National Party, leader of the Scottish National ...

. He ran Swinney's campaign to be re-elected as SNP National Convenor when he was challenged by Dr. Bill Wilson in late 2003. Following the adoption of a new

constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organization or other type of entity, and commonly determines how that entity is to be governed. When these pri ...

by the SNP in 2004, Crawford was appointed as the SNP's Business Convener.

Government Minister

At the

2007 Scottish Parliament election The 2007 Scottish Parliament election was held on Thursday 3 May 2007 to elect members to the Scottish Parliament. It was the third general election to the devolved Scottish Parliament since it was created in 1999. 2007 Scottish local elections, ...

, Crawford gained the

seat from the Labour Party. The SNP's combined electoral success put them in minority government, and Crawford was appointed to the junior ministerial position of

, a position that he held until the end of the parliamentary session. Crawford was returned to the Stirling constituency in the 2011 election. On 19 May 2011, Crawford became the Cabinet Secretary for Parliamentary Business and Government Strategy, departing from this role on 5 September 2012. Crawford was Convener of the Referendum (Scotland) Bill Committee 25 October 2012 – 29 October 2014 and then Convener of the Devolution (Further Powers) Committee 29 October 2014 – 23 March 2016.

Return to backbenches

Crawford was re-elected in the 2016 election. On 18 February 2020, he announced that he would stand down as an MSP at the 2021 election.

Personal life

Crawford and his wife, Jacqueline, have three sons.

References

External links

*
Bruce Crawford MSP
personal web site

Bannockburn SNP website details on Bruce Crawford {{DEFAULTSORT:Crawford, Bruce 1955 births Living people People from Perth, Scotland Scottish National Party councillors Ministers of the Scottish Government Scottish National Party MSPs Members of the Scottish Parliament 1999–2003 Members of the Scottish Parliament 2003–2007 Members of the Scottish Parliament 2007–2011 Members of the Scottish Parliament 2011–2016 Members of the Scottish Parliament 2016–2021