William John Graham Scott (born 7 June 1951) is a

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

farmer and former Scottish Conservative politician. He was the

Member of the Scottish Parliament Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP; gd, Ball Pàrlamaid na h-Alba, BPA; sco, Memmer o the Scots Pairliament, MSP) is the title given to any one of the 129 individuals elected to serve in the Scottish Parliament. Electoral system The add ...

(MSP) for Ayr from

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October 2021 coup in Sudan; Crowd shortly after t ...

Background

Born in

Girvan Girvan ( gd, Inbhir Gharbhain, "mouth of the River Girvan") is a burgh and harbour town in Carrick, South Ayrshire, Scotland. Girvan is situated on the east coast of the Firth of Clyde, with a population of about 6,450. It lies south of Ayr, ...

, Scott was educated at Barrhill Primary in

South Ayrshire South Ayrshire ( sco, Sooth Ayrshire; gd, Siorrachd Àir a Deas, ) is one of thirty-two council areas of Scotland, covering the southern part of Ayrshire. It borders onto Dumfries and Galloway, East Ayrshire and North Ayrshire. On 30 June ...

and George Watson's College in

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

. He has a Bachelor of Science degree for Civil Engineering from the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...

. Scott played for the Wigtownshire Rugby Club from 1969 to 1973, a hobby he enjoys to this day. Scott established the Ayrshire Farmers Market in 1999 and founded the Scottish Association for Farmers in 2001. He tends to his farm in Balkissock outside of

Ballantrae Ballantrae is a community in Carrick, South Ayrshire, Scotland. The name probably comes from the Scottish Gaelic ''Baile na Tràgha'', meaning the "town by the beach". Ballantrae has a primary school. The beach consists of shingle and sand and ...

in South Ayrshire, whilst also owning a flat in the town of Ayr.

Political career

Scott stood as the Conservative candidate for Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley at the

1999 Scottish Parliament election The first election to the devolved Scottish Parliament, to fill 129 seats, took place on 6 May 1999. Following the election, the Labour Party and the Liberal Democrats formed the Scottish Executive, with Labour Member of the Scottish Parliam ...

, finishing third behind Labour and the Scottish National Party with 8,123 votes (19.8%). He has served as constituency MSP for Ayr since winning the constituency in a by-election in 2000. He was returned to Parliament at the 2003 Scottish Parliamentary election and again, with an increased majority, at the 2007 Scottish Parliamentary election. At the 2011 and

2016 elections The following elections occurred in the year 2016. 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 A ...

he retained the constituency with a reduced majority, despite seeing his vote increase by 3,564 between 2007 and 2016. Scott declared his support for

Ruth Davidson Ruth Elizabeth Davidson, Baroness Davidson of Lundin Links (born 10 November 1978), is a Scottish politician who served as Leader of the Scottish Conservative Party from 2011 to 2019 and Leader of the Scottish Conservative Party in the Scottis ...

in the Scottish Conservative leader election. On 11 May 2011, he was elected by MSPs to serve as one of the two Deputy Presiding Officers of the Scottish Parliament. He served until 2016 when he was unsuccessful in his attempt to become Presiding Officer. Scott was the Scottish Conservative spokesperson for sustainable development between 2016 and 2021, having previously served as spokesperson for the environment from 2001 until 2003 and as spokesperson on rural affairs from 2007 until 2011. He was appointed as the convener of the Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committee of the Scottish Parliament in June 2016. In 2021, he lost his seat to the

Scottish National Party The Scottish National Party (SNP; sco, Scots National Pairty, gd, Pàrtaidh Nàiseanta na h-Alba ) is a Scottish nationalist and social democratic political party in Scotland. The SNP supports and campaigns for Scottish independence from ...

's Siobhian Brown. Scott was appointed

Officer of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(OBE) in the 2022 New Year Honours for political and public service.

Controversy

Scott came under fire after it emerged that he profited from wind energy investments – despite his party having previously opposed the development of such projects. The Register of Interests for Mr Scott states: "From 6 March 2009 part of the Farm’s income comes from a contract with CRE Energy Ltd to provide access over the farm for the purpose of building and maintaining a windfarm".

References

External links

*
Profile
at www.southayrshireconservatives.org.uk {{DEFAULTSORT:Scott, John 1951 births Living people People from Girvan Scottish farmers People educated at George Watson's College Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Conservative 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 Deputy Presiding Officers of the Scottish Parliament Officers of the Order of the British Empire