Pete Wishart
 |
Pete Wishart | |
|---|---|
 Wishart in 2012 | |
| Member of Parliament for Perth and North Perthshire Tayside North (2001-2005) | |
| Assumed office 7 June 2001 | |
| Preceded by | John Swinney |
| Majority | 4,379 (9.1%) |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 9 March 1962 Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland |
| Nationality | British |
| Political party | Scottish National Party |
| Relations | Married |
| Children | One son |
| Profession | Musician, community worker |
| Website | www.petewishartmp.com |
Pete Wishart | |
|---|---|
| Born | 9 March 1962 |
| Origin | Scotland |
| Instrument | Keyboards |
| Years active | 1981–present |
Peter "Pete" Wishart (born 9 March 1962) is the Scottish National Party (SNP) Member of Parliament (MP) for Perth and North Perthshire. He was the SNP Chief Whip at Westminster from 2001–2007 and is currently the party's Westminster Spokesperson for the Constitution, Home Affairs, Culture, Media and Sport and International Development.
Wishart is also a former member of Celtic rock band Runrig.
Background
Born in Dunfermline in 1962, Wishart was educated at Queen Anne High School Dunfermline and Moray House College, Edinburgh. Wishart lives in Perth and has one son and enjoys walking in the Perthshire hills. Wishart is a trained Community Worker and has been a Director of the Fast Forward charity that promotes healthy lifestyles for young people. He was a member of the Scotland Against Drugs Campaign Committee and has contributed to many national forums looking at the problem of drugs within Scottish society.
Wishart was for 15 years a member of the Scottish group Runrig, and was the first MP to have appeared on the TV show Top of the Pops. Before Runrig, he had been in one of the lineups of Big Country. Donnie Munro, former lead singer of Runrig was to go on to an unsuccessful political career as a Labour party candidate. Wishart is a founder member of the parliamentary rock group MP4. The other members are Ian Cawsey (bass guitar and vocals), Greg Knight MP (drums) and Kevin Brennan MP (lead guitar and vocals).
House of Commons
He was first elected to the House of Commons at the 2001 general election, taking John Swinney's old seat of Tayside North. Since arriving at Westminster, he has served as the SNP's Chief Whip, in which role he has pressed the government for greater parliamentary rights, such as better representation on committees, for both the SNP and other minority parties. He has also campaigned for copyright term extension.
In the light of the reduction in the number of Scottish MPs at Westminster, Wishart's former constituency was abolished in a radical boundary revision, and at the 2005 election he won the new constituency of Perth and North Perthshire for the SNP with a majority of 1,521 over the Conservatives. The Perth and North Perthshire seat was created after boundary changes in Scotland and takes in East and Highland Perthshire, the City of Perth and the Carse of Gowrie. Wishart sat on the Scottish Affairs Select Committee. In November 2010, Wishart suggested that Scottish football referees should declare which club sides they support.[1]
References
- ^ "MP wants Scottish referees to declare club allegiance". BBC Sport. 16 November 2010. Retrieved 16 November 2010.
- Peter Wishart BBC Democracy Live
External links
- Profiles