Paul Nicholas Johnston (born 5 January 1948) is a Scottish politician who was a Conservative

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 Mid Scotland and Fife region from May 1999, until August 2001.

Early life

Paul Nicholas Johnston was born in

Filey Filey () is a seaside town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in North Yorkshire, England. It is located between Scarborough, North Yorkshire, Scarborough and Bridlington on Filey Bay. Although it was a fishing village, it has a large ...

, England on 5 January, 1948. He attended North Kesteven Grammar School in

North Hykeham North Hykeham is an industrial town and civil parish in the North Kesteven, North Kesteven District of Lincolnshire, England. It is located directly south of the city of Lincoln, England, Lincoln, where it forms the southern part of the wider L ...

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (), abbreviated ''Lincs'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands and Yorkshire and the Humber regions of England. It is bordered by the East Riding of Yorkshire across the Humber estuary to th ...

. Johnston then joined the

Royal Engineers The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is the engineering arm of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces ...

and attended

Royal Military Academy Sandhurst The Royal Military Academy Sandhurst (RMAS or RMA Sandhurst), commonly known simply as Sandhurst, is one of several military academy, military academies of the United Kingdom and is the British Army's initial Commissioned officer, officer train ...

. From 1972, he worked in the car retail industry, becoming Group Operations Director of Eastern Western Motor Group.-->

Political career

Johnston stood as a Scottish Conservative and Unionist candidate for the Scottish Parliament in 1999, and was elected for the Mid Scotland and Fife region. At the beginning of Parliament, Johnston took the oath in Catalan. In January 2001, he wrote a letter to ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'', where he expressed disillusionment with the attitude of other politicians. An absence from Parliament began in February 2001, with an episode of

pneumonia Pneumonia is an Inflammation, inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as Pulmonary alveolus, alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of Cough#Classification, productive or dry cough, ches ...

. That same year in August, he resigned, citing disillusionment with politics, and his perception of a weak party leadership as reasons for doing so. His place 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'. ...

was taken by

Murdo Fraser Murdo MacKenzie Fraser (born 5 September 1965) is a Scottish politician who served as Deputy Leader of the Scottish Conservative Party from 2005 to 2011. He has been a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the Mid Scotland and Fife regi ...

. Johnston was among a group of former MSPs who supported

Scottish independence Scottish independence (; ) is the idea of Scotland regaining its independence and once again becoming a sovereign state, independent from the United Kingdom. The term Scottish independence refers to the political movement that is campaignin ...

, saying that it would give Scotland an opportunity to "create a fairer, more equal society."

Notes

References

External links

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- Daily Telegraph 1948 births Living people People from Filey Members of the Scottish Parliament 1999–2003 Conservative MSPs Graduates of the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst {{MSP-stub