Iain Gray | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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.jpg) Gray in 2008 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Leader of the Scottish Labour Party | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Acting 13 June 2015 – 15 August 2015 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UK party leader | Harriet Harman (acting) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Jim Murphy | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Kezia Dugdale | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 13 September 2008 – 17 December 2011 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Deputy | Johann Lamont | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UK party leader |
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| Preceded by | Wendy Alexander | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Johann Lamont | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Personal details | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | (1957-06-07)7 June 1957 (age 68) Edinburgh, Scotland | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Party | Scottish Labour | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Spouse | Gillianne McCormack[1] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Alma mater | University of Edinburgh | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Iain Cumming Gray (born 7 June 1957) is a Scottish politician who served asLeader of the Scottish Labour Party from 2008 to 2011. He was theMember of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for theEast Lothian constituency from2007 to2021, having previously representedEdinburgh Pentlands from1999 to2003. A former aid worker and teacher of mathematics and physics, Gray was first elected to theScottish Parliament in1999 as MSP for theEdinburgh Pentlands constituency, which he lost toLeader of the Scottish Conservative PartyDavid McLetchie in2003. Gray was returned to Holyrood in2007 as MSP forEast Lothian. FollowingWendy Alexander's resignation as Leader of the Scottish Labour Party in 2008, Gray stood at thesubsequent leadership election, and was elected with a 57.8% share of the vote in the second round.
Initially, Gray oversaw some electoral successes for Scottish Labour, such as repellingSNP challenges at theGlenrothes (2008) andGlasgow North East (2009) by-elections, as well as seeing Scottish Labour retain all their 41 seats in theHouse of Commons at the2010 general election; despite the election overall resulting in the first UK hung parliament in 36 years, and the Labour Party being defeated after thirteen years in government. The2011 Scottish Parliament election proved disastrous for the party, which lost 20 constituencies (7 seats overall) as theSNP won an outright majority of seats. Gray himself was only re-elected as MSP for East Lothian with a narrow majority of 151 votes. Gray announced his resignation the day after the result, but remained in post as leader until his successor,Johann Lamont, took over on 17 December 2011.
Due to his experience, Gray was appointed as Acting Leader of the Scottish Labour Party while a leadership and a deputy leadership election were being simultaneously held, on account of deputy leaderKezia Dugdale resigning to run for the leadership and the resignation of previous leaderJim Murphy following Scottish Labour's landslide defeat at the2015 general election.
Gray was educated at the state comprehensiveInverness Royal Academy and briefly privately atGeorge Watson's College,Edinburgh.[2] He studied physics at theUniversity of Edinburgh before training as a teacher atMoray House College of Education.[2][3] After graduation, he worked as a mathematics and physics teacher atGracemount High School in Edinburgh before a teaching stint inMozambique.[4] He then spent twelve years as the campaigns director for the Scottish arm of the aid charityOxfam.
Having previously stood as a candidate inLothian Regional Council elections, Gray was first elected to the devolvedScottish Parliament at the1999 Scottish Parliament election.[5] Immediately after his election to Holyrood, he was made a deputy minister in the firstScottish Executive underDonald Dewar.
FollowingJack McConnell becomingFirst Minister in 2001, Gray was promoted toMinister for Social Justice. Following the sudden resignation ofWendy Alexander (following disagreements with McConnell) in 2002,[6] Gray took over her role asMinister for Enterprise, Transport and Lifelong Learning, where he was responsible for overseeing changes toScottish higher education.
At the2003 Scottish Parliament election, Gray was defeated byScottish Conservative leaderDavid McLetchie, who he had stood against in 1999. Leaving Holyrood, he went to work in London as aspecial adviser toAlistair Darling, who wasSecretary of State for Scotland, and initially announced that he would not be seeking re-election.[7]
Having subsequently a change of mind, he was selected as the official Labour candidate forEast Lothian for the2007 election and subsequently won. Gray was appointed as Scottish Labour's Shadow spokesman for enterprise, energy and tourism upon his return to Holyrood.
Following the resignation ofWendy Alexander overa foreign donation scandal,[8] Gray announced in July 2008 that he would stand in thecontest to find the next Leader of theLabour group in the Scottish Parliament, and was elected to this post in September 2008.[9]
In December 2010, Iain Gray sparked a diplomatic row when he appeared to claim in parliament thatMontenegro had been involved in ethnic cleansing and war crimes during the1990s Balkans Conflict.[10]
On 7 April 2011, whilst campaigning atGlasgow Central station for theScottish Parliament election, Gray was forced to cancel an event due to disruption by a group protesting against public spending cuts lead bySean Clerkin.[11] He quickly left the station and ran into a nearbySubway outlet to escape the protesters, who followed him into the shop and continued to heckle him.[11] Gray later stated that he had not been unsettled by the incident as "I spent two years working in the civil war inMozambique, I've been toRwanda two months after the genocide, I walked the killing fields inCambodia and I was inChile three days afterPinochet was demitted from office".[12]
At the 2011 election, Labour suffered a net loss of seven seats, with many of their leading figures being defeated. Labour took a particularly severe beating in its Central Belt heartland, having to rely on regional lists in many cases. It was Labour's worst electoral performance in Scotland in eighty years. Gray himself was re-elected as MSP for East Lothian by the narrowest margin of his political career; with just 151 votes over the SNP candidate, making the Holyrood seat for the first time ever a Labour–SNP marginal. He announced on 6 May that he would stand down as party leader in the autumn.
Gray was reappointed to the post ofShadow Cabinet Secretary for Finance in the Scottish Labour Shadow Cabinet on 29 June 2013. Following the2014 leadership election, he was madeShadow Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning.
On 13 June 2015, Gray was appointed Acting Leader of the Scottish Labour Party whilst a leadership and a deputy leadership election were simultaneously held, on account of deputy leaderKezia Dugdale resigning to run for the leadership.[13] At the2016 Scottish Parliament election, while several Labour MSPs lost their seats, Gray retained his seat with an increased majority compared to 2011.
Gray announced that he would be standing down at the2021 Scottish Parliament election in June 2020, in order to spend more time with his family.[14]
Gray nominatedAnas Sarwar in the2021 Scottish Labour leadership election.[15]
Gray has been married twice.[16] He is a lifelong fan of Edinburghfootball clubHibernian,[17] and enjoys reading, music and hill walking. He is a member of theChurch of Scotland.[18]
| Scottish Parliament | ||
|---|---|---|
| New parliament | Member of the Scottish Parliament forEdinburgh Pentlands 1999–2003 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Member of the Scottish Parliament forEast Lothian 2007–present | Incumbent |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Minister for Enterprise, Transport and Lifelong Learning 2002–2003 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Minister for Social Justice 2001–2002 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Deputy Minister for Justice 2000–2001 | Succeeded by |
| New office | Deputy Minister for Health and Community Care 1999–2000 | Succeeded by |
| Party political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Leader of the Scottish Labour Party 2008–2011 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Leader of the Scottish Labour Party Acting 2015 | Succeeded by |