Graham Watson
Graham Watson in 2010
President of theAlliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party
In office 25 November 2011 – 21 November 2015
Preceded by	Annemie Neyts-Uyttebroeck
Succeeded by	Hans van Baalen
Leader of theAlliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Group
In office 25 May 2004 – 1 July 2009
Preceded by	Office established
Succeeded by	Guy Verhofstadt
Member of the European Parliament forSouth West England
In office 19 July 1994 – 30 June 2014
Preceded by	Constituency established
Personal details
Born	(1956-03-23)23 March 1956 (age 69) Rothesay,Scotland,UK
Citizenship	United Kingdom • Italy
Political party	Liberal Democrats (1988–present) LDE (2024–present)
Other political affiliations	Liberal (1972–1988) NLYL (1972–1988)
Spouse	Rita Giannini
Children	2
Alma mater	Heriot-Watt University

Sir Graham Robert Watson (born 23 March 1956) is a BritishLiberal Democrat politician who served as aMember of the European Parliament (MEP) forSouth West England from 1994 to 2014. Watson was the chairman of the Parliament's committee on citizens rights, justice and home affairs (1999–2002). He then served for seven and a half years as leader of the Liberal Group in the European Parliament, first as leader of theEuropean Liberal Democrat and Reform Party Group (2002–2004) and then as leader of the newAlliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Group (2004–2009).^[1] From 2011 until 2015, he was the president of theAlliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party. From 2015 to 2020, he was a UK member on theEuropean Economic and Social Committee. He is currently an adjunct Professor at the University of Toronto's Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy.

Sir Graham, who holds Italian citizenship through marriage, was chosen as head of list for the 2024 European Parliament election in North EastItaly by the centrist coalition 'United States of Europe' (electoral list). He was not elected since the coalition failed to reach the threshold of votes required nationwide to elect MEPs.^[2]

Graham Watson was born inRothesay on theIsle of Bute (Scotland,United Kingdom), the eldest of six children. His father was anofficer in theRoyal Navy and his mother ateacher. Watson was educated at theCity of Bath Boys' School following his father’s posting to the Admiralty inBath. He returned to Scotland to attendHeriot-Watt University inEdinburgh where hegraduated in 1979 with aBachelor of Arts inmodern languages.^[1] While at university he spent one semester studying at theUniversity of Geneva and one atKarl Marx University inLeipzig in theGerman Democratic Republic. At the latter he was spied on by a fellow British student working for theEast GermanStasi (State Security Police): the story of this is told in the bookThe Stasi Files by (Free Press, 2004) and has been the subject of documentary film productions by theBBC andChannel Four. On graduating from university in 1979, Watson worked first as a freelance interpreter and translator and then (1980–83) as an administrator atPaisley College of Technology. He now speaks four European languages.

Watson began his political activity in theScottish Young Liberals in 1976. As international officer of theScottish Young Liberals he became involved in theInternational Federation of Liberal Youth, becoming a vice-president (1977) then General Secretary (1979) of the organization.^[3] He was a founder of theEuropean Communities' Youth Forum.^[1] He served as a council member of theEuropean Liberal Democrat and Reform Party between 1983 and 1993.^[3] Between 1983 and 1987 he also served as head of the private office of then leader of theBritish Liberal Party, SirDavid Steel.^[1]

In 1988 he began work for the bankHSBC inLondon andHong Kong. His time there encompassed three months with theEuropean Bank for Reconstruction and Development and gave him an interest in theFar East. He has travelled widely in the region and speaks someMandarin Chinese.^[1]

In the1994 European Parliamentary election he was elected forSomerset and North Devon with a majority of over 22,500. Watson^[1] was the first Liberal Democrat returned from a British constituency to serve in theEuropean Parliament. Accompanied byRobin Teverson, elected later the same night, he sat with theGroup of the European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party (ELDR).^[1] During this term, Watson served on two committees; theCommittee on Economic and Monetary Affairsand Industrial Policy and theCommittee on Budgets,^[1] and acted aswhip for the ELDR group until 1996.^[3]

In 1999 the introduction of the list system (a form ofproportional representation) inGreat Britain for European elections meant Watson's constituency was abolished in favour of a larger multi-member constituency encompassingSouth West England. TheSouth West constituency would later also includeGibraltar, from 2004. Watson was re-elected in this constituency as the sole Liberal Democrat member at the1999 European Parliamentary election. His party had gained 171,398 votes, 15.7% of the total.^[4] During this term he led the ten British Liberal Democrats in the parliament^[3] and between 1999 and 2002 he held thechair of theCommittee on Citizens' Freedoms and Rights, Justice and Home Affairs.^[1] In that position he steered through Parliament freedom of information provisions and the legislation providing for a European Arrest Warrant. In 2002 he was elected to lead the EU-wide ELDR Group, succeeding Irishman Pat Cox MEP.

Watson was re-elected once more at the2004 European Parliamentary election with his party winning 265,619 votes (18.3%).^[5]

Following the election, Watson was re-elected to lead the ELDR Group and took it into an alliance with Romano Prodi’s newly-formedEuropean Democratic Party to form theAlliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe. The ALDE group replaced the ELDR group (though ELDR and EDP existed for a while as separate parties outside the Parliament). Watson was elected leader of the new ALDE group, which was the largest group ever established in the Parliament outside of theEuropean People's Party andParty of European Socialists.^[6]

Watson was elected to a fourth term as an MEP for the South West in the European Parliament elections of June 2009,^[7] with the Liberal Democrats winning 266,253 votes (17.07%).^[8] Following the election, Watson stood down from the leadership of the ALDE Group, having served in that role for longer than any of his predecessors. He sat on the European Parliament's foreign affairs committee and served as Chairman of Parliament's Delegation for relations with India. He also chaired a global network of legislators campaigning for a switch from fossil fuels to renewable energy known as The Climate Parliament, of which he had been a founder member in the late 1990s.

Watson lost his seat at the European Parliament in theelections of May 2014, despite his party having polled 10.7% of the vote, the largest vote share of the UK Liberal Democrat party in the 2014 EP election. He established a global advocacy practice, Bagehot Limited, which he ran until reaching retirement age in 2021.

In 2015 Watson was appointed by the UK Government to sit on the European Economic and Social Committee, an advisory body with a five-year mandate. He sat on the Transport and Energy section and on the Foreign Affairs section and from 2015 to 2017 was chairman of the EESC's China Contact Group.

Watson lived inLangport,Somerset, from 1994 to 2017. He now lives in Edinburgh and in Brussels.^[1] His wife is fromItaly^[9] and their children, one daughter and one son,^[10] were born in 1992 and 1995 respectively.^[1]

Watson wasknighted in the2011 Birthday Honours for political and public service. He is also the recipient of honours from the Republic of China (Taiwan), Georgia and Gibraltar.

From 2018 to 2023 Watson served as Chairman of the Advisory Board of the European Centre for Populism Studies. In 2021 he was elected to the Board of theEuropean Cyclists' Federation and in November 2022 was elected Chairman of theWorld Cycling Alliance.

Watson is a supporter of theCampaign for the Establishment of a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly, an organisation which advocates democratic reform of the United Nations.^[11]

• Watson, Graham, Andrew Burgess (2014).Continental Drift. Bagehot Publishing.ISBN 978-0-9931125-0-8
• Watson, Graham, Andrew Burgess (2012).Letters from Europe. Bagehot Publishing.|ISBN 978-0-9545745-8-1
• Watson, Graham (2010).Building a Liberal Europe: The ALDE Project. John Harper Publishing.ISBN 978-0-9564508-1-4.
• Watson, Graham; Christine Gilmore (2006).The Power of Speech. Bagehot Publishing.ISBN 978-0-9545745-4-3.
• Watson, Graham; Simon Titley (2006).Liberalism – Something to Shout About. Bagehot Publishing.ISBN 978-0-9545745-3-6.
• Watson, Graham; Katharine Durrant (2005).Liberal Democracy & Globalisation. Bagehot Publishing.ISBN 978-0-9545745-2-9.
• Watson, Graham; Sarah Kent (2004).EU've Got Mail!: Liberal Letters from the European Parliament. Bagehot Publishing.ISBN 978-0-9545745-1-2.
• Watson, Graham; Sarah Kent (1989–2003).Liberal Language: Speeches and Essays. Bagehot Publishing.ISBN 978-0-9545745-0-5.
• Watson, Graham; Howard Mollet (2001).2020 Vision.
• Watson, Graham; Joanna Hazelwood (2000).To the Power of Ten: UK Liberal Democrats in the European Parliament. Centre for Reform.ISBN 978-1-902622-17-0.
• Watson, Graham (1980).The Liberals in the North-South dialogue.

Wikimedia Commons has media related toGraham Watson.

• Theprivate papers of Graham Watson are deposited at theHistorical Archives of the European Union in Florence.

• Graham Watson MEP, official site
• MEP Profile of Graham Watson, European Parliament
• Biographical details: Graham Watson MEP, ALDE
• Graham Watson Profile, UK Liberal Democrats

• 1956 births
• Living people
• Alumni of Heriot-Watt University
• British republicans
• HSBC people
• Knights Bachelor
• Liberal Democrats (UK) MEPs
• MEPs for England 1994–1999
• MEPs for England 1999–2004
• MEPs for England 2004–2009
• MEPs for England 2009–2014
• People educated at City of Bath Boys' School
• People from Langport
• People from Rothesay, Bute

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