Miles Edward Frank Briggs (born 30 March 1983) is a British politician of the

Scottish Conservative Party The Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party (), known as Scottish Tories, is part of the UK Conservative Party active in Scotland. It currently holds 5 of the 57 Scottish seats in the House of Commons, 30 of the 129 seats in the Scottish Par ...

, who has served as a regional list

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

Lothian Lothian (; ; ) is a region of the Scottish Lowlands, lying between the southern shore of the Firth of Forth and the Lammermuir Hills and the Moorfoot Hills. The principal settlement is the Scottish capital, Edinburgh, while other signific ...

region since the

2016 Scottish Parliament election The 2016 Scottish parliament election was held on Thursday, 5 May 2016 to elect 129 members to the Scottish Parliament. It was the fifth Next Scottish Parliament election, election held since the devolved parliament was established in 1999. It ...

. He served as the Scottish Conservative Shadow Cabinet member for Health and Sport from 2017 to 2020 and as the Scottish Conservative

Chief Whip The Chief Whip is a political leader whose task is to enforce the whipping system, which aims to ensure that legislators who are members of a political party attend and vote on legislation as the party leadership prescribes. United Kingdom I ...

from 2020 to 2021.

Early life

Briggs was born in

Preston, Lancashire Preston () is a city on the north bank of the River Ribble in Lancashire, England. The city is the administrative centre of the county of Lancashire and the wider City of Preston, Lancashire, City of Preston local government district. Preston ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, before moving to Perthshire with his family when he was young. Briggs was educated at Auchtergaven Primary School,

Perth Grammar School Perth Grammar School is a secondary school in Perth, Scotland. It is located in the Muirton district of Perth at the junction of Bute Drive and Gowans Terrace. The catchment serves the area to the north of Perth between Murthly and Methven w ...

and

Robert Gordon University Robert Gordon University, commonly called RGU (), is a public university in the city of Aberdeen, Scotland. It became a university in 1992, and originated from an educational institution founded in the 18th century by Robert Gordon (philanthrop ...

Political career

Briggs was the official Conservative Party candidate at the 2010 general election for the North East Fife constituency, then in the

2011 Scottish Parliament election The 2011 Scottish Parliament election was held on Thursday, 5 May 2011 to elect 129 members to the Scottish Parliament. The election delivered the first majority government since the opening of Holyrood, a remarkable feat as the Additional M ...

for North East Fife. In 2016, he stood for the Edinburgh Southern constituency. In December 2015, Briggs was named second on 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 ...

regional list in the

, behind party leader

Ruth Davidson Ruth Elizabeth Davidson, Baroness Davidson of Lundin Links, (born 10 November 1978), is a Scottish politician. A member of the House of Lords since 2021, she was Leader of the Scottish Conservative Party from 2011 to 2019 and Leader of the S ...

. Briggs is the Scottish Conservative spokesman for Mental Health and Public Health in 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'. ...

In addition, he sits on the Health and Sport Committee of the Scottish Parliament. Briggs was announced as the official Conservative Party candidate for

Edinburgh South West Edinburgh South West is a Scottish constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, first used at the 2005 UK general election. It elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election. ...

at the 2017 general election. He finished in second place, and received 16,478 votes, behind the sitting SNP MP,

Joanna Cherry Joanna Catherine Cherry (born 18 March 1966) is a Scottish lawyer and former politician who was the Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for Edinburgh South West (UK Parliament constituency), Edinburgh South West fr ...

. Despite not being elected, Briggs was successful in significantly reducing Cherry's majority from 8,135 votes at the previous election, to just 1,097 votes. On 12 January 2022, Briggs called for

Boris Johnson Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (born 19 June 1964) is a British politician and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 2019 to 2022. He wa ...

to resign as Conservative party leader and Prime Minister over the

Westminster lockdown parties controversy Partygate was a political scandal in the United Kingdom about gatherings of government and Conservative Party staff during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021, when public health restrictions prohibited most gatherings. The scandal contr ...

along with a majority of Scottish Conservative MSPs.

Controversy

In 2018, Briggs was accused by a woman from another political party of sexual harassment at a parliamentary event. After an internal investigation, the Scottish Conservatives found Briggs not guilty of making "unwanted persistent advances" towards the woman. Women's rights charity Rape Crisis Scotland voiced "significant concerns" with how the investigation was conducted and called on the Scottish Conservatives to change the way they investigate claims of sexual harassment. The charity claimed that the party would not reveal whether the investigating committee had received training in how to investigate sexual harassment complaints.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Briggs, Miles 1983 births Living people Alumni of Robert Gordon University Conservative MSPs Members of the Scottish Parliament 2016–2021 Members of the Scottish Parliament 2021–2026 People from Perth and Kinross Place of birth missing (living people) Scottish Conservative parliamentary candidates