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David Mundell

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The Right Honourable
David Mundell
WS MP
Secretary of State for Scotland
Incumbent
Assumed office
11 May 2015
Prime MinisterDavid Cameron
Preceded byAlistair Carmichael
Under-Secretary of State for Scotland
In office
11 May 2010 – 11 May 2015
Prime MinisterDavid Cameron
Preceded byAnn McKechin
Succeeded byThe Lord Dunlop
Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland
In office
7 December 2005 – 11 May 2010
LeaderDavid Cameron
Preceded byEleanor Laing
Succeeded byJim Murphy
Member of Parliament
for Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale
Incumbent
Assumed office
5 May 2005
Preceded byConstituency established
Majority798 (1.5%)
Member of the Scottish Parliament
for South of Scotland
In office
6 May 1999 – 5 May 2005
Preceded byConstituency established
Succeeded byDerek Brownlee
Personal details
Born (1962-05-27) 27 May 1962 (age 62)
Dumfries, Scotland
Political partySocial Democratic Party (Before 1988)
Conservative (1988–present)
Children2 sons
1 daughter
Alma materUniversity of Edinburgh
University of Strathclyde
WebsiteOfficial website

David Gordon Mundell WS (born 27 May 1962) is a Scottish solicitor, Conservative politician and UK Government Minister, serving as Secretary of State for Scotland since 2015. Mundell is the first Conservative to hold the position since Michael Forsyth in 1997.

Mundell represents the Scottish constituency of Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale since 2005 and currently is the sole Scottish Conservative member of parliament in the House of Commons.

He was appointed Secretary of State for Scotland following the 2015 general election,[1] having previously served as Under-Secretary of State for Scotland from 2010 to 2015.[2]

Mundell is also the first openly gay cabinet minister from the Conservative Party.[3]

Background

Born in Dumfries, Mundell grew up in Newton Wamphray and Lockerbie. He attended Lockerbie Academy before reading Law at the University of Edinburgh (MA), also gaining a Diploma in Legal Practice (Dip LP).[4] After further studies, he graduated from Strathclyde Business School as MBA.

Having become a Young Conservative aged 14, he switched to the Social Democratic Party (SDP) while at university in 1981. In 2002, he stated: "the first Thatcher Government did get a bit bogged down and it wasn't really the radical government that subsequently emerged,... And the fact that you had a completely new opportunity to wipe the slate clean, with no baggage, was a very attractive thing".[5]

He practised as a solicitor before joining BT as Group Legal Advisor for Scotland in 1991. He became BT Scotland's Head of National Affairs, remaining with BT until being elected as an MSP. Mundell served as a Social Democratic Party (SDP) Councillor for Annandale and Eskdale from 1984–86 and then for Dumfries and Galloway until 1987, while a postgraduate student.

Mundell has been appointed a Writer to the Signet (WS) and is a member of the Law Society of Scotland.

Parliamentary career

Scottish Parliament

Mundell was elected to the Scottish Parliament in 1999 and 2003 as a "list" MSP for the South of Scotland.

House of Commons

In the 2005 general election, Mundell was elected as MP for the Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale constituency.[6] Following his election to Westminster, Mundell resigned from the Scottish Parliament in June 2005. His seat was taken by Derek Brownlee, who was next on the Conservative's South of Scotland candidate list.[7] As the sole Conservative Scottish parliamentary representative, David Cameron (as Leader of HM Opposition) appointed him Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland in December 2005.

Mundell was among the 18 MPs (either Scottish or representing Scottish constituencies) who supported the Commons Motion stating football "should not be any different from other competing sports and our young talent should be allowed to show their skills on the world stage", thereby endorsing the idea of Team GB entering a British football team in the London 2012 Olympics. Football's governing bodies in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland oppose a Great Britain team, fearing it would stop them competing as individual nations in future tournaments.[8]

Mundell represented the Scottish Conservative Party at the three Scottish Leaders' Debates broadcast on ITV1, Sky News and BBC1 during the 2010 general election campaign.

Government minister

Prior to the 2010 general election, Mundell served as the Conservative Shadow Scottish Secretary. Following that election, the Conservative Party formed a coalition government with the Liberal Democrats. He held the non-cabinet role of Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Scotland, since the office of Secretary of State for Scotland was given to Liberal Democrat MP Danny Alexander (then Michael Moore), in view of the Liberal Democrats' greater representation of Scottish seats. On 9 June 2010 Mundell was appointed a Privy Counsellor.[9][10]

Mundell was returned to parliament at the 2015 general election with a much reduced majority of 798 (1.5%), although the Conservative Party's share of the vote increased by 1.8%.[11]

Following the Conservative Party's success at the 2015 general election, Mundell succeeded Alistair Carmichael as Secretary of State for Scotland in HM Government. He remains the only Conservative MP to represent a Scottish constituency in the parliament elected in 2015.

Constituency issues

Following his decision to open a food bank in the Dumfries and Galloway constituency, which adjoins his own and is held by the Scottish National Party's Richard Arkless,[12] Mundell was escorted from an angry anti-austerity demonstration by police.[13] Mundell, who had previously denied that welfare reform changes were behind the increased demand for food banks, was accused of hypocrisy by opponents who said the opening was "nothing to celebrate". Mundell said he was willing to work with all local organisations who wanted to eradicate poverty.[14]

Personal life

On 13 January 2016, Mundell publicly came out as gay on his personal website.[15][16]

He was previously married to Lynda Carmichael but the couple have divorced. He has three children, one of whom, Oliver Mundell, successfully stood as a Conservative candidate for the Scottish Parliament in May 2016.[17] He lives in Moffat, He is a member of the Law Society and Writers to the Signet.

See also

References

  1. ^ "Election 2015: David Mundell named new secretary of state for Scotland". BBC News. Archived from the original on 9 May 2015. {{cite news}}: |archive-date= / |archive-url= timestamp mismatch; 11 May 2015 suggested (help)
  2. ^ www.parliament.uk
  3. ^ "Scottish secretary David Mundell comes out as gay". BBC News. 13 January 2016. Retrieved 13 January 2016.
  4. ^ www.scottishlaw.org.uk
  5. ^ "David Torrance: Mutual respect is crucial as Tories bid to govern Scotland". scotsman.com.
  6. ^ "BBC NEWS – UK – UK Election 2005 – Scotland – Conservatives hail lone success". bbc.co.uk.
  7. ^ "BBC NEWS – UK – Scotland – Tory MSP takes place in chamber". bbc.co.uk.
  8. ^ "GB football tops Olympic agenda". BBC. 9 January 2009. Retrieved 16 May 2010.
  9. ^ "Privy Council appointments, 9 June 2010". Privy Council. Retrieved 26 July 2010.
  10. ^ "Privy Counsellors". Privy Council Office. Retrieved 20 June 2012.
  11. ^ Haswell, Alex (8 May 2015). "UK Parliamentary Elections Results 2015 for the Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and". dumgal.gov.uk. Archived from the original on 9 May 2015. Retrieved 9 May 2015.
  12. ^ "BBC report on complaint by Richard Arkless MP". 13 January 2016. Retrieved 13 January 2016.
  13. ^ "BBC report on demonstration". 13 January 2016. Retrieved 13 January 2016.
  14. ^ "New Year, New Start!". 13 January 2016. Retrieved 13 January 2016.
  15. ^ David Mundell (13 January 2016). "New Year, New Start". Davidmundell.com. Retrieved 13 January 2016.
  16. ^ "Scottish secretary David Mundell comes out as gay". BBC News. 13 January 2016. Retrieved 13 January 2016.
  17. ^ Johnson, Simon; Dominiczak, Peter; Wilkinson, Michael (13 January 2016). "Cabinet minister David Mundell comes out as gay". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 13 January 2016.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to David Mundell.
Scottish Parliament
New constituency Member of the Scottish Parliament
for South of Scotland
1999–2005 		Succeeded by
Parliament of the United Kingdom
New constituency Member of Parliament
for Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale
2005–present 		Incumbent
Political offices
Preceded by Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland
2005–2010 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Under-Secretary of State for Scotland
2010–2015 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Secretary of State for Scotland
2015–present 		Incumbent
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