Sir Michael William Hirst (born 2 January 1946) is a former

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 ...

Conservative and Unionist Party The Conservative and Unionist Party, commonly the Conservative Party and colloquially known as the Tories, is one of the two main political parties in the United Kingdom, along with the Labour Party (UK), Labour Party. The party sits on the Cent ...

politician, chartered accountant and

public relations Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing and disseminating information from an individual or an organization (such as a business, government agency, or a nonprofit organization) to the public in order to influence their perception. Pu ...

consultant, company director and past president of the

International Diabetes Federation The International Diabetes Federation (IDF) is an umbrella organisation of over 240 national diabetes associations in more than 161 countries and territories. It is headquartered in Brussels, Belgium. Organization IDF is divided into seven reg ...

Early life

Hirst studied at

Glasgow Academy The Glasgow Academy is a coeducational private day school for pupils aged 3–18 in Glasgow, Scotland. In 2016, it had the third-best Higher level exam results in Scotland. Founded in 1845, it is the oldest continuously fully private school in ...

and the

University of Glasgow The University of Glasgow (abbreviated as ''Glas.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals; ) is a Public university, public research university in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded by papal bull in , it is the List of oldest universities in continuous ...

. Before entering politics, Hirst had a career as a chartered accountant and partner in Peat Marwick, now

KPMG KPMG is a multinational professional services network, based in London, United Kingdom. As one of the Big Four accounting firms, along with Ernst & Young (EY), Deloitte, and PwC. KPMG is a network of firms in 145 countries with 275,288 emplo ...

Political career

Hirst fought several elections before being successful. In

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and

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1974 he stood at Central Dunbartonshire without success. At the 1979 general election he contested

East Dunbartonshire East Dunbartonshire (; , ) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland. It borders Glasgow City Council Area to the south, North Lanarkshire to the east, Stirling (council area), Stirling to the north, and West Dunbartonshire to the west. East ...

but was again defeated. He was elected Member of Parliament for Strathkelvin and Bearsden at the 1983 general election, but lost the seat to Labour's Sam Galbraith at the 1987 election. He was PPS at the Department of Energy from 1985 to 1987. He attempted to retake Strathkelvin and Bearsden in 1992 election but was beaten again by Galbraith, the same year he was knighted. In 1997 he was forced to resign his position as Scottish Conservative Chairman and Westminster candidate for the seat of Eastwood, in the wake of revelations about his private life, as he had had several previous

homosexual Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior between people of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" exc ...

affairs with other, younger Scottish Tories.

After Parliament

Hirst was subsequently the president of the Scottish Conservative and Unionist Association from 1989 to 1992 and chairman of the Scottish Conservative Party from 1993 to 1997, having been vice-chair 1987–1989. He was

knighted A knight is a person granted an honorary title of a knighthood by a head of state (including the pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church, or the country, especially in a military capacity. The concept of a knighthood ...

in 1992 for political and public service in 1992. He is chairman of the Scottish Division of ISKB, and a member of its council. Hirst joined Pagoda Public Relations in 1998 and was appointed chairman in 2000. He attained his MCIPR in 2003.http://www.pagodapr.com/webpages/biog_hirst.htm archived at
/ref> He is chairman of Millstream Associates Limited, Aberdeen. He was made a

Doctor of Letters Doctor of Letters (D.Litt., Litt.D., Latin: ' or '), also termed Doctor of Literature in some countries, is a terminal degree in the arts, humanities, and social sciences. In the United States, at universities such as Drew University, the degree ...

Glasgow Caledonian University Glasgow Caledonian University, informally GCU, Caledonian or Caley (), is a public university in Glasgow, Scotland. It was formed in 1993 by the merger of The Queen's College, Glasgow (founded in 1875) and Glasgow Polytechnic (originally Glasg ...

in 2004. He was the first non-medical chairman of the board of trustees of

Diabetes UK Diabetes UK is a British-based patient, healthcare professional and research charity that has been described as "one of the foremost diabetes charities in the UK". The charity campaigns for improvements in the care and treatment of people wit ...

from 2001–2006 and was elected vice president of the

in 2006, serving in that position until he was elected president-elect in 2009. He took up office as president at the end of 2012, serving until December 2015.

Personal life

He has two daughters and one son with his wife, Naomi Ferguson, whom he married in 1972. In his spare time he enjoys

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various Golf club, clubs to hit a Golf ball, ball into a series of holes on a golf course, course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standa ...

hill walking Walking is one of the most popular outdoor recreational activities in the United Kingdom, and within England and Wales there is a comprehensive network of rights of way that permits access to the countryside. Furthermore, access to much uncultiva ...

theatre Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors to present experiences of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a Stage (theatre), stage. The performe ...

and

skiing Skiing is the use of skis to glide on snow for basic transport, a recreational activity, or a competitive winter sport. Many types of competitive skiing events are recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), and the International S ...

. He is a member of the

Carlton Club The Carlton Club is a private members' club in the St James's area of London, England. It was the original home of the Conservative Party before the creation of Conservative Central Office. Membership of the club is by nomination and elect ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

and the Western Club in

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

References

* Times Guide to the House of Commons 1992 * Lexis Nexis * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hirst, Michael 1946 births Living people People educated at the Glasgow Academy Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Scottish constituencies Knights Bachelor Scottish accountants Scottish Conservative MPs Scottish public relations people UK MPs 1983–1987 Alumni of the University of Glasgow Place of birth missing (living people) Scottish Presbyterians LGBTQ members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom Scottish LGBTQ politicians