Pete Wishart | |
|---|---|
 Official portrait, 2017 | |
| Deputy Leader of theScottish National Party in theHouse of Commons | |
| Assumed office 10 July 2024 | |
| Leader | Stephen Flynn |
| Preceded by | Mhairi Black |
| Chair of theScottish Affairs Select Committee | |
| In office 19 June 2015 – 30 May 2024 | |
| Preceded by | Ian Davidson |
| Succeeded by | Patricia Ferguson |
| Member of Parliament forPerth and Kinross-shire Perth and North Perthshire (2005–2024) North Tayside (2001–2005) | |
| Assumed office 7 June 2001 | |
| Preceded by | John Swinney |
| Majority | 4,127 (8.2%) |
| Scottish National Party portfolios | |
| 2015–2020 | Commons Business |
| 2020–2021 | |
| 2021–2022 | Commons Business |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1962-03-09)9 March 1962 (age 63) Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland |
| Political party | Scottish National Party |
| Children | 1 |
| Alma mater | Moray House College of Education |
| Profession | Musician; community worker |
| Website | www.petewishartmp.com |
| Musical career | |
| Origin | Scotland |
| Instrument | Keyboards |
| Years active | 1981–present |
Musical artist | |
Peter Wishart (born 9 March 1962) is aScottish National Party (SNP) politician and musician who has served as theMember of Parliament (MP) forPerth and Kinross-shire since 2024. He previously served as the MP forPerth and North Perthshire from 2005 to 2024 andNorth Tayside from 2001 to 2005.
Wishart is currently the SNP Shadow Leader of the House in theHouse of Commons and the chair of theScottish Affairs Select Committee. He has previously served as the SNP's Westminster Spokesperson for the Constitution and for Culture and Sport andChief Whip. He is also a former keyboard player of the ScottishCeltic rock bandsRunrig andBig Country.
He is the longest currently-serving Scottish National Party MP, and the second longest–serving of all time afterAlex Salmond.[1]
Born inDunfermline in 1962, Wishart was educated atQueen Anne High School Dunfermline andMoray House College, Edinburgh.[2] Wishart lives inPerth and has one son and enjoys walking in thePerthshire hills. Wishart is a trainedcommunity worker and has been a director of theFast 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 groupRunrig.
Wishart appeared on Kingfishers Catch FireRadio Kampala withClive Parker on the songsBella andBattle Scars.[3]
Pete Wishart's first major band wasBig Country which he joined in the early 1980s, along with his brother Alan.[4] He initially joined during a period when Big Country were a support act forAlice Cooper's tour.[4][5] The main force behind Big Country wasStuart Adamson, himself from near Dunfermline. Adamson claimed that the early Big Country were thrown off the Alice Cooper tour for "being too weird".[6]
After the departure of Richard Cherns in February 1986, Wishart joinedRunrig. Wishart was a performer on seven of Runrig's studio albums, fromThe Cutter and the Clan (1987), to his lastThe Stamping Ground (2001). He also appears on several of Runrig's live albums. Wishart's tenure in the band coincided with their sign-up to theChrysalis Records label, and their most successfully commercial period in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Wishart was not the only politically minded member of the band – former lead singerDonnie Munro became aLabour Party candidate.
Wishart is a founder member of the parliamentary rock groupMP4. The other members areIan Cawsey (bass guitar and vocals),Greg Knight (drums) andKevin Brennan (lead guitar and vocals).
He was first elected to theHouse of Commons at the2001 general election, takingJohn Swinney's old seat ofNorth Tayside. Since arriving at Westminster, he has served as the SNP'sChief 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 minor political parties. He has also campaigned forcopyright term extension and is a vice-chair of theAll Party Parliamentary Intellectual Property Group.
In 2003, he voted againstparliamentary approval for the invasion of Iraq.[7]
In the light of the reduction in the number ofScottish MPs at Westminster, Wishart's former constituency was abolished in a radical boundary revision, and at the2005 general election; he won the new constituency ofPerth and North Perthshire for the SNP with a majority of 1,521 over Douglas Taylor of the Conservatives. The Perth and North Perthshire constituency was created after boundary changes in Scotland and takes in East and Highland Perthshire, theCity of Perth and theCarse of Gowrie. Wishart sat on theScottish Affairs Select Committee.
In November 2010, Wishart suggested thatScottish footballreferees should declare which club sides they support.[8]
In August 2014, Wishart confidently predicted thatAlex Salmond would beatAlistair Darling in a televised debate about Scottish independence, telling journalists that "the slaughter will be worse than the Bannockburn re-enactment".[9] Salmond quizzed Darling, among other things, about alien invasion, while Darling questioned him about what currency an independent Scotland would use.[10] An exit poll suggested most viewers thought Darling had won the debate[11] and journalists panned Salmond's performance.[12][13]
In January 2015, Wishart secured and started a debate on thereform of theHouse of Lords.[14]
Politically, he is well known for campaigning to demolish the historic and listedPerth City Hall, dating from 1911, and replace it with an open square. He has described the building as "unused, unloved and increasingly unwelcome", "a building whose time has passed", and said that, "A city square will allow us to attract visitors, grow our café quarter, put on outdoor events and properly organise civic and community events. Every city needs civic space and we must ensure that we will soon have ours."[15][16]
Following the2015 general election, it was announced in June 2015 that he would chair theScottish Affairs Select Committee,[17] with his appointment formally announced on 19 June 2015.[18]At the snap2017 general election, he retained his seat by a very marginal majority, beating ConservativeIan Duncan by just 21 votes.[19][20]The Daily Telegraph described Wishart's win as "a rare bright moment for the Nationalists" in an election that saw the SNP vote plummet and pro-Union parties gain 21 seats.[21]
In 2016, Wishart suggested to the House of Commons the possibility of thePalace of Westminster being turned into a tourist attraction and for Parliament to move to a more modern building.[22]
Wishart said publicly, in September 2017, that because voters were "weary of constitutional change" there should be nosecond referendum on Scottish independence for that parliament, but that the SNP should seek a mandate for a new one in the2021 Scottish parliament election.[23] In October 2017, Wishart told anInstitute of Economic Affairs conference thatfederalism for the UK should be welcomed "as part of that conversation" in Scotland, although he stressed federalism would not see Scotland "equal to some region of England".[24]
In January 2018, Wishart drew media attention for holding up a placard which read "nul points" in the House of Commons, after having askedPrime MinisterTheresa May how she would rate her government's handling ofBrexit from one to ten. After May had answered, Wishart received a warning by Speaker of the HouseJohn Bercow for the stunt.[25][26][27][28][29]
In February 2018, he warned that the SNP risked alienating Scottish voters who had voted "Leave" in the2016 referendum on European Union membership. In an article forThe National, he wrote that his party had to "face up" to the reality that Scotland would be leaving the European Union, and made the case for an alternative vision of Scottish independence which involved a "graduated" re-entry to the European Union from "EEA, thenEFTA then full EU membership", stressing that the final step of re-joining the EU should only be done with the "full consent of an independent Scottish Parliament".[30][31] Later in February, he ruled himself out of the 2018 Scottish Depute Leadership election following the resignation ofAngus Robertson. Wishart concluded that he did not have "sufficient support" to run for the Depute Leadership of the Scottish National Party.[32][33]
In March 2024, he criticisedHumza Yousaf's election strategy saying he won't use any "Tory-free rhetoric" in his campaign for the2024 general election.[34]
| Year | Album | Peak chart positions | Certification | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK [35] | DEN [36] | GER [37] | ||||
| 1987 | The Cutter and the Clan | 45 | — | — | Original 1987 release on Ridge Records; re-released on Chrysalis 1988 | |
| 1989 | Searchlight | 11 | — | — |
| |
| 1991 | The Big Wheel | 4 | — | — |
| |
| 1993 | Amazing Things | 2 | — | 47 |
| |
| 1995 | Mara | 24 | — | 81 |
| |
| 1999 | In Search of Angels | 29 | — | 26 | ||
| 2001 | The Stamping Ground | 64 | 33 | 20 | ||
| Year | Album | Peak positions | Certification | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK [35] | DEN [36] | GER [37] | ||||
| 1988 | Once in a Lifetime | 61 | — | — | ||
| 1994 | Transmitting Live | 41 | — | 67 | ||
| 2000 | Live at Celtic Connections 2000 | 168 | — | 48 | ||
Note: This table shows commercial live releases. Other live audio material has been released in the "Access All Areas" series for the official Runrig Fan Club.
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member of Parliament forNorth Tayside 2001–2005 | Constituency abolished |
| Constituency established | Member of Parliament forPerth and North Perthshire 2005–2024 | |
| Member of Parliament forPerth and Kinross-shire 2024–present | Incumbent | |
| Artists | |
|---|---|
| People | |