"Scottish Parliament election, and the second by Wendy Alexander's resignation. Running concurrently was a deputy leadership election, triggered by Johann Lamont's decision to run in the leadership election. The leader of the Keep Scotland in Britain campaign was to be decided once the outcome of the Scottish Labour leadership election was known. Johann Lamont was elected as leader, and Anas Sarwar as deputy leader. Any Scottish Labour MP (Member of Parliament), MSP (Member of the Scottish Parliament) or MEP (Member of the European Parliament) may stand for election as either leader or deputy leader. Successful nomination requires the support of"
"her party – Ms Alexander announced her resignation as leader on 28 June 2008. She subsequently stated it had been a mistake for her to take on the leadership of Scottish Labour while her children were so young. From 2008–2011 Alexander served as a member of the Scottish Parliament's Economy, Energy and Tourism Committee. She was also convenor of the Scotland Bill Committee, which produced the report for the Scottish Parliament and UK Government in March 2011 proposing new powers for the Scottish Parliament. Many of these proposals recommend greater fiscal autonomy for Scotland, including improved borrowing powers, the ability"
"2008 Scottish Labour Party deputy leadership election The 2008 Scottish Labour Party deputy leadership election was an internal party election to choose a new deputy leader of the Labour Party in the Scottish Parliament, and was triggered following the resignation of Cathy Jamieson, who stood down in order to campaign in the leadership election which is being held alongside the deputy leadership election. Johann Lamont won the election and was elected deputy leader on Saturday 13 September. The timetable for the election was finalised on Monday 28 July, and is identical to that of the leadership election. Nominations closed on"
"Johann Lamont Johann MacDougall Lamont (; born 11 July 1957) is a Scottish politician, who was the Leader of the Scottish Labour Party from 2011-2014. She served as a junior minister in the Labour-Liberal Democrat coalition Scottish Executive from 2004 until the coalition's defeat by the Scottish National Party (SNP) in 2007. She was subsequently elected deputy leader of the opposition Labour group of MSPs in 2008, and was elected to the leadership of the Scottish Labour Party in December 2011. She announced her resignation in October 2014, and following a leadership election to replace her, was succeeded by former"
"proven"" verdict. In a separate development, a few days earlier in February 2008, the Scottish Parliament standards watchdog reported Alexander to the procurator fiscal for failing to declare as gifts the donations that were made to the fund for her campaign for the Scottish Labour Party leadership. Alexander had been told by the parliamentary authorities that there was no need to declare these donations as gifts. In previous leadership campaigns, campaign donations were not treated as gifts. Again the subsequent investigation led to a decision by the Crown Office to take no further action. Despite this ruling, on 26 June"
"Labour party proxy and undeclared donations (2007) The Labour party proxy and undeclared donations was a political scandal involving the British Labour Party in November and December 2007, when it was discovered that, contrary to legislation passed during the Blair Government, the Party had been receiving significant financial donations made anonymously via third parties. The careers of Labour Party treasurer Peter Watt and the leader of the Scottish Labour Party, Wendy Alexander, were curtailed as a consequence. In May 2009 the Crown Prosecution Service decided there was insufficient evidence for any prosecution relating to these events. On 25 November 2007,"
"2017 Scottish Labour Party leadership election The 2017 Scottish Labour Party leadership election was triggered on 29 August 2017 by the resignation of Kezia Dugdale as leader of the Scottish Labour Party, having led the party for two years. MSP Jackie Baillie was acting interim leader for the last week of the election after Alex Rowley, the original interim leader, was suspended from the party over allegations of a criminal nature. Richard Leonard was elected as leader on 18 November 2017. Kezia Dugdale announced her resignation from the Scottish Labour Party leadership on 29 August 2017, saying that she was"
"did not overtly back her. On 7 May, at Prime Minister's Questions, Prime Minister Gordon Brown stated that she was not, in fact, offering Labour's support for an immediate referendum. During First Minister's Questions in the Scottish Parliament, on 8 May, Alexander asked Alex Salmond to bring forward a referendum bill at the first opportunity. Alex Salmond declined the offer of Labour support for a referendum, preferring to delay by at least a further year, saying ""We will stick to what was laid out in pages 8 and 15 of the SNP manifesto"". In 2007, a controversy developed after it"
"him, and was installed as leader of the Labour group in the Scottish Parliament on 14 September 2007. During a TV interview on 4 May 2008, Wendy Alexander performed a major U-turn on previous Scottish Labour Party's policy by seeming to endorse a referendum on Scottish independence, despite previously refusing to support any referendum on the grounds that she did not support independence. During a further TV interview on 6 May 2008 she reiterated this commitment to a referendum and claimed that she had the full backing of current British Prime Minister Gordon Brown. The following day, Gordon Brown denied"
"party's parliamentary strength in Scotland was reduced. This experience led to some criticism of the party's election strategy and its leader. Although it was arithmetically possible to form a majority coalition with the Scottish National Party and the Scottish Green Party, the party refused to participate in coalition negotiations because of a disagreement over the SNP's policy of a referendum on Scottish independence, and sat as an opposition party in the Parliament. On 2 July 2008, Nicol Stephen resigned as the party leader. The former deputy leader Michael Moore MP served as acting leader of the party until Tavish Scott"
"May, Murphy announced his intention to relinquish the role, triggering a fresh leadership contest. Dugdale was elected to succeed Murphy on 15 August. Lamont was elected to lead the Scottish Labour Party in December 2011 following the resignation of Iain Gray, who stepped down in the wake of the party's second consecutive defeat by Alex Salmond's Scottish National Party in the 2011 Scottish Parliament general election. She was the first leader to take charge of the entire Scottish Labour Party, previous leaders having only had responsibility for Labour's MSPs at Holyrood, and she initiated a review of Labour policy on"
"""The Daily Record"". Following the Scottish Parliament elections in May 2007, Alexander became Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth. Following Jack McConnell's resignation in August 2007, she announced her candidacy for Leader of Labour in the Scottish Parliament. Alexander laid out her vision to ""Renew the party organisation, reform the policies, and reconnect Scottish Labour with its electorate"". Other contenders ruled themselves out and she was elected unopposed by Labour MSPs on 14 September 2007. As Scottish Labour leader Alexander believed that ""the people of Scotland told us loud and clear they wanted change. They didn't whisper –"
"Labour's 46 seats. Labour still won the most constituencies, but the SNP made inroads. Both parties were well short of a majority in the parliament. SNP leader Alex Salmond was elected first minister with support from the Scottish Greens, defeating McConnell 49-46 while the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats abstained. Labour did take the most votes in the local elections on the same day but lost seats due to the introduction of proportional representation for local council elections. On 15 August 2007, McConnell announced his intention to resign as Scottish Labour leader. Wendy Alexander emerged as the only candidate to succeed"
"Labour majority. The constituency was abolished for the 2011, with Goldie unsuccessfully contending the new Renfrewshire North and West constituency. On 31 October 2005, Goldie became acting leader after David McLetchie resigned as leader of the Scottish Conservatives following adverse publicity created by the publishing of details of expenses he claimed for taxi journeys. Goldie put herself forward as a leadership candidate on 2 November 2005—a joint nomination with Murdo Fraser as her proposed deputy. Their nomination was unopposed and Goldie was appointed leader on 8 November 2005, the first woman to lead the Scottish Conservative Party. In her maiden"
"2008, on the eve of the Parliamentary summer recess, the SNP-led Standards Committee of the Parliament voted 4 to 3 to propose a one-day ban from the Scottish Parliament as a sanction for not declaring leadership campaign donations as gifts on the Parliament's register of interests. The proposed ban was overwhelmingly rejected by the Parliament in a subsequent vote in September 2008. However, with Holyrood going into summer recess at the time, Ms Alexander would have had to wait until September for all MSPs to vote on the recommendation. So, rather than having the issue hanging over her – and"
"the Scottish Labour Party. Her deputy, Alex Rowley, took over as acting leader until 15 November, when he was suspended from Scottish Labour's parliamentary party while a probe into his conduct took place. Jackie Baillie took over as acting leader until the conclusion of the leadership election. The election for a new leader of the Scottish Labour party took place between 11 September 2017 (when nominations opened) and 18 November 2017, when the new leader was announced. Nominations for leadership candidates closed on 17 September. Anyone that wished to vote in the leadership election must have either been a member"
"the first Solidarity conference on the political orientation of the party. After a close vote the interim title of ""Solidarity - Scotland's Socialist Movement"" was adopted as the name of the party, and Rosemary Byrne and Tommy Sheridan were unanimously endorsed as co-convenors. The party failed to win any seats in the 2007 Scottish Parliament election. The party won one council seat in Glasgow in local elections, with Ruth Black taking the Craigton seat, then subsequently defected to Labour in December 2007 after Sheridan was charged with perjury. They fielded a candidate in the Glasgow East by-election, 2008 who came"
"Scotland, in which he criticised Goldie's leadership. She has won praise for her leadership of the party into the 2007 Scottish Parliament election and personally as a skilled debater and been labelled a ""much-liked public figure"". From February 2009 onwards, Goldie was given monthly attendance rights to participate in the Official Opposition Shadow Cabinet in Westminster. On 9 May 2011, Goldie stated her intention to resign as leader of the Scottish Conservatives, citing her party's disappointing election result, and she stood down on 4 November following the election of Ruth Davidson as her successor. On 3 October 2013, Goldie was"
"number of seats in the Scottish Parliament in the 2007 election and Salmond was subsequently appointed First Minister. He appointed Sturgeon as Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing. She was appointed as Cabinet Secretary for Infrastructure, Investment and Cities in 2012. Following the defeat of the ""Yes"" campaign in the 2014 Scottish independence referendum, Salmond announced that he would be resigning as party leader at the SNP party conference that November, and would resign as First Minister after a new leader was chosen. No one else was nominated for the post by the time nominations closed,"
"2008 Scottish Liberal Democrats leadership election The 2008 Scottish Liberal Democrats leadership election was an election to choose a new leader of the Liberal Democrats in Scotland, triggered following the resignation of Nicol Stephen for personal reasons. Deputy leader Michael Moore (MP for Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk) took over as interim party leader, and the timetable for the election was agreed on 5 July 2008: Nominations closed on 24 July 2008, the return of the ballot papers was set for 26 August 2008 and the declaration of results occurred on the same date. The last leadership election was held in"
"Labour from its establishment until 2007. The Liberal Democrat leader Jim Wallace became Deputy First Minister, a role he continued until his retirement as party leader in 2005. The new leader of the party, Nicol Stephen, then took on the role of Deputy First Minister until the election of 2007. For the first three Scottish Parliament elections, the Lib Dems maintained a consistent number of MSPs. From the 17 elected in 1999, they retained this number in 2003 and went down one to 16 in 2007. However, this fell to only five seats after the 2011 election as a result"
"Labour Party. She withdrew in early November after failing to gain enough nominations. She claimed she could have got the sufficient number of nominations but said it was clear the Deputy Leadership role would go to a Westminster MP. Elaine Murray Elaine Kildare Murray (born 22 December 1954, Hitchin, Hertfordshire) is a Scottish Labour politician, Leader of Dumfries & Galloway Council and former Member of the Scottish Parliament for Dumfriesshire (previously Dumfries) since 1999. At the 1999, 2003 and 2007 elections, Murray increased her percentage share of the vote. She was Shadow Minister for the Environment in the Scottish Parliament."
"2001, she obtained her first ministerial role in October 2004. Her decision to stand for the Labour Party leadership followed the resignation of Iain Gray as leader in the wake of the party's defeat at the 2011 Scottish parliamentary election; its second consecutive defeat. Following a review of how the Labour Party in Scotland is structured, she became its first overall leader. Lamont has been a campaigner on equality issues and violence against women throughout her political career. Following the SNP Government's announcement of a referendum on Scottish independence she was a key figure in the Better Together campaign; a"
"of the Labour Party, but was ultimately approved by the Scottish Parliament on 5 October 2006. Beckett, along with Angiolini, was sworn in at the Court of Session in Edinburgh on 12 October 2006 and appointed by the Queen under the royal warrant. Beckett's appointment lasted only eight months however; the 2007 Scottish Parliament election resulted in the Scottish National Party forming a minority government, and new First Minister Alex Salmond replaced Beckett with politically neutral Frank Mulholland QC, whose appointment was approved by the Scottish Parliament without the need for a vote on 24 May 2007. In April 2008,"
"2011 Scottish Labour Party leadership election The 2011 Scottish Labour Party leadership election was an internal party election to choose a new leader of the Scottish Labour Party. The election followed the announcement by Iain Gray that he would stand down as leader in the autumn of 2011 following the party's heavy defeat to the Scottish National Party in May's Scottish Parliament general election. Gray won the previous contest in September 2008. It was the third Scottish Labour leadership election in four years, the first being caused by the resignation of Jack McConnell following the party's defeat in the 2007"
"the minority SNP Scottish Government for a number of concessions over the 2007-11 Scottish Parliament. This had resulted in commitments to 1,000 extra police officers, four-year council tax freeze and £60m town regeneration fund. With an SNP majority delivered, the Scottish Conservatives were reduced from 17 seats to 15, losing the Edinburgh Pentlands constituency to the SNP, seeing notional loses in Eastwood and Dumfriesshire to Labour. Following the election, Annabel Goldie resigned as leader and a leadership election was held in November 2011 - the first to appoint a Leader of the Scottish Conservatives, rather than the Scottish Parliament group,"
"Labour in the next election. Also on 30 October, Anas Sarwar announced his resignation as deputy leader at a Scottish Labour fundraising dinner in Glasgow, triggering a deputy leadership election. Sarwar said that he disagreed with Lamont's assessment of UK Labour, and that he was stepping down because he felt that it was ""right that we have a concurrent leadership and deputy leadership election. This will allow a Scottish Labour party, its members and affiliates the opportunity to not only elect a leader, but a new leadership team focused on winning in 2016."" Anas Sarwar announced details of the timetable"
"Business and was selected as Labour's appointment to the Parliamentary Bureau. After Jack McConnell's resignation as Scottish Labour Leader on 15 August, Jamieson was acting leader until 14 September 2007, when Wendy Alexander took over the leadership who appointed Jamieson as her deputy but without a portfolio spokesperson's role. On 29 July 2008 Jamieson announced her intention to stand for the Scottish Labour leadership. After the contest with candidates Iain Gray and Andy Kerr, Jamieson came second to Gray during the election night on 13 September 2008. On 16 September Gray announced the appointment of Jamieson as Shadow Cabinet Secretary"
"2007 in order to get a new leader in place before the May elections which were expected to be disastrous for Labour. In the event, the party did lose power in Scotland to a minority Scottish National Party government at the 2007 elections and, shortly after this, Blair resigned as Prime Minister and was replaced by his Chancellor, Gordon Brown. Although the party experienced a brief rise in the polls after this, its popularity soon slumped to its lowest level since the days of Michael Foot. During May 2008, Labour suffered heavy defeats in the London mayoral election, local elections"
"2006 that he would quit as leader within the year, though he had been under pressure to quit earlier than May 2007 in order to get a new leader in place before the May elections which were expected to be disastrous for Labour. In the event, the party did lose power in Scotland to a minority Scottish National Party government at the 2007 elections and, shortly after this, Tony Blair resigned as Prime Minister and was replaced by his Chancellor, Gordon Brown. Although the party experienced a brief rise in the polls after this, its popularity soon slumped to its"
"colleagues as ""dinosaurs"" unable to understand that ""Scotland has changed forever"" following the referendum. Lamont was also angry that she had not been consulted on some matters, such as a decision by the UK leadership to replace Ian Price as Scottish Labour's General Secretary. In her letter of resignation, submitted to Scottish Labour Party Chairman Jamie Glackin, Lamont accused ""senior members of the party"" of questioning her role and said that she was taking herself ""out of the equation"" to allow Scottish Labour to have a discussion about the best way forward. Anas Sarwar became Labour's acting leader. On 26"
"old, she announced that she would retire from Parliament at the end of the session. In January 2003, she lost her husband, Stewart Ewing, in a fire accident. He had been active with her in politics for many years, and had himself served as an SNP councillor for the Summerston area in Glasgow. The same year she lost her husband she stood down from being an MSP, although she continued to serve as the SNP's President, a position she held for many years. On 15 July 2005, she announced she would be stepping down as President of the Scottish National"
"2011 Scottish Liberal Democrats leadership election The 2011 Scottish Liberal Democrats leadership election was triggered by the resignation of party leader Tavish Scott on 7 May 2011, due to the very poor showing of the party at the 2011 Scottish parliament election, in which the Liberal Democrats only returned 5 MSPs and lost 12. Nominations for party leader closed on 17 May 2011, and with Willie Rennie the only declared candidate, he was elected to the position unnopposed. There are only four other Scottish Liberal Democrat MSPs currently sitting in the Scottish Parliament: Jim Hume, Liam McArthur and Alison McInnes"