Alex Rowley
Alex Rowley
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Alex Rowley MSP | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Leader of the Scottish Labour Party Acting | |
In office 29 August 2017 – 15 November 2017 | |
| Preceded by | Kezia Dugdale |
| Succeeded by | Jackie Baillie (Acting) |
| Deputy Leader of the Scottish Labour Party | |
In office 15 August 2015 – 16 December 2017 | |
| Leader | Kezia Dugdale |
| Preceded by | Kezia Dugdale |
| Succeeded by | Lesley Laird |
Member of the Scottish Parliament for Mid Scotland and Fife | |
Incumbent | |
Assumed office 6 May 2016 | |
Member of the Scottish Parliament for Cowdenbeath | |
In office 23 January 2014 – 23 March 2016 | |
| Preceded by | Helen Eadie |
| Succeeded by | Annabelle Ewing |
| General Secretary of the Scottish Labour Party | |
In office 1 May 1998 – 31 May 1999 | |
| Preceded by | Jack McConnell |
| Succeeded by | Lesley Quinn |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1963-11-30) 30 November 1963 Dunfermline, Scotland, UK |
| Political party | Scottish Labour Party |
| Alma mater | University of Edinburgh |
| Website | Official website |
Alexander Andrew Penman Rowley (born 30 November 1963) is a Scottish Labour politician and current Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Communities and Local Government.[1] He served as the Deputy Leader of the Scottish Labour Party from 2015 to 2017. He also briefly served as interim leader of the party in 2017 following the resignation of Kezia Dugdale. He is currently an additional member of the Scottish Parliament for Mid Scotland and Fife. First elected at the Cowdenbeath by-election in January 2014 for the Cowdenbeath constituency, he lost the seat to Annabelle Ewing of the SNP in the Scottish Parliament election, 2016 but was re-elected to the Scottish Parliament as an additional member for Mid Scotland and Fife. He is described as representing the left-wing of the Labour party.[2]
Contents
1 Early life
2 Political career
2.1 Deputy Leader of the Scottish Labour Party
2.2 Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Communities and Local Government
3 Personal life
4 References
5 External links
Early life[edit]
Born in Dunfermline and raised in Kelty, he was educated at St Columba's High School (Dunfermline), Newbattle Abbey College (Dalkeith), and Edinburgh University, graduating with an MA Honours in Sociology and Politics, and an MSc in community education.[3]
Political career[edit]
Rowley was General Secretary of the Scottish Labour Party for one year; from May 1998 to May 1999. He was first elected to Fife Regional Council in 1990 when he was Chairman of Finance, and he later became the first leader of the new Fife Council, a position he returned to in 2012 until his election to the Scottish Parliament in 2014.[citation needed]
Prior to his election as an MSP he was a Fife councillor (re-elected in 2007) and Labour Council Group Leader.[4] He has three grown-up children, one of whom is Danielle Rowley; who was elected as MP for Midlothian (UK Parliament constituency) at the 2017 snap election and also has a granddaughter. He worked as an education official with the TUC and worked for five years as an assistant, election agent and constituency manager to former Prime Minister Gordon Brown. He was considered Gordon Brown's right-hand man and protégé.[5][6] He stood in the 2011 Scottish election as a Labour candidate for Dunfermline.
Deputy Leader of the Scottish Labour Party[edit]
He declared his candidacy for the Scottish Labour Party's 2015 deputy leadership election, and was supported in his candidacy by trade unions ASLEF, CWU, NUM, Scottish Co-Operative Party, Socialist Health Association, TSSA, UCATT, and UNISON.[7] He comfortably won the first round preferences of votes from the labour party membership and secured victory with over half the votes in the second round of voting. He was elected on 15 August 2015.[8] Following Kezia Dugdale's resignation, he took over as acting leader of the Scottish Labour Party, until the new leader was elected.[9]
In September 2017, a leaked recording that was taken without permission and sold to the Scottish Sun newspaper of Alex Rowley at the Brighton Labour Party Conference led to accusations of a plot to oust Kezia Dugdale and replace her with Richard Leonard. Rowley said he backed Leonard to become leader to a member of the public, as well as party member, in a conversation that turned out to be a freelance journalist secretly recording the conversation undercover. Rowley had stated he would remain neutral, however was unaware of being recorded by what turned out to be a journalist trying to sell a story. Rowley apologised for the leaked recording, but strenuously denied being involved in or even aware of any plots within the labour party to remove Kezia Dugdale.[10]
Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Communities and Local Government[edit]
Rowley is the current Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Communities and Local Government within the Scottish Labour frontbench team. He was appointed following the election of Richard Leonard as leader, and has held the position since October 2018.[11] During the 2019 Scottish budget process, Rowley was reprimanded by the Scottish Labour leader due to Rowley's personal discussions with the SNP Finance Secretary about supporting the budget in exchange for cuts to local government being substituted for Higher Education cuts in breach of Scottish Labour Party policy and undermining the budget spokesperson James Kelly MSP.[citation needed]
Personal life[edit]
On 15 November 2017 Alex Rowley resigned as deputy leader after his former partner took to a newspaper, again The Scottish Sun, to accuse him of sending her disrespectful text messages. The woman refused to reveal her identity, and the alleged incident had happened almost four years previously, before being sold to The Scottish Sun newspaper. Rowley denied the allegations, referred himself for investigation and said he would clear his name.[12]
The Scottish Labour Party issued a statement saying: "Alex Rowley has stood aside as Interim and Deputy Leader of Scottish Labour and referred himself to the Party's internal complaints procedure regarding allegations made against him."[13] A Scottish Labour spokesperson also said: “At no point did the Labour party receive a formal complaint regarding Alex Rowley. The party was approached by newspapers with unsubstantiated claims, with no evidence shared with the Labour party prior to publication in the Sun newspaper." [14]
The former Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale (MSP) issued a statement calling for Rowley to be immediately suspended from the party while the investigation was ongoing.[15] Leadership candidate Anas Sarwar MSP also joined calls for Rowley to be suspended while the investigation was carried out.[16]
Rowley claimed there was a determined attempt to use the media to damage him and his family for political purposes. The investigation concluded that there was no case to answer.[17]
References[edit]
^ "MSPs". Scottish Labour. Retrieved 2019-01-28..mw-parser-output cite.citationfont-style:inherit.mw-parser-output .citation qquotes:"""""""'""'".mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-free abackground:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/65/Lock-green.svg/9px-Lock-green.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-registration abackground:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d6/Lock-gray-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-gray-alt-2.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-subscription abackground:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/aa/Lock-red-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-red-alt-2.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registrationcolor:#555.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription span,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration spanborder-bottom:1px dotted;cursor:help.mw-parser-output .cs1-ws-icon abackground:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4c/Wikisource-logo.svg/12px-Wikisource-logo.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center.mw-parser-output code.cs1-codecolor:inherit;background:inherit;border:inherit;padding:inherit.mw-parser-output .cs1-hidden-errordisplay:none;font-size:100%.mw-parser-output .cs1-visible-errorfont-size:100%.mw-parser-output .cs1-maintdisplay:none;color:#33aa33;margin-left:0.3em.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration,.mw-parser-output .cs1-formatfont-size:95%.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-left,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-leftpadding-left:0.2em.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-right,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-rightpadding-right:0.2em
^ "Kezia Dugdale steps down as Scottish Labour's leader". The Economist. 2 Sep 2017.
^ "BMMS May 1999". Artsweb.bham.ac.uk. Retrieved 15 February 2012.
^ "Labour denies London control claim".
^ "Home of the Daily and Sunday Express". Express.co.uk. 1 May 2011. Retrieved 15 February 2012.
^ Jack O'Sullivan Scotland Correspondent (21 May 1999). "Parliament: Scotland: Labour sacks Scots party chief". London, UK: The Independent. Retrieved 15 February 2012.
^ "2015 Scottish Labour Party leadership election", Wikipedia, 2019-01-23, retrieved 2019-01-28
^ "Dugdale named Scottish Labour leader". 2015-08-15. Retrieved 2019-01-25.
^ "Kezia Dugdale quits as Scottish Labour leader". 29 August 2017 – via www.bbc.co.uk.
^ "Rowley 'gutted' over leadership row tape". 2017-09-28. Retrieved 2019-01-28.
^ "Scottish Labour's Shadow Cabinet". Scottish Labour. 2018-10-04. Retrieved 2019-01-28.
^ https://twitter.com/originalfm/status/930716131970691073
^ https://twitter.com/nickeardleybbc/status/930723887876362241
^ "Labour received ‘no formal complaint’ about Alex Rowley". Holyrood Magazine. 2017-11-16. Retrieved 2019-01-28.
^ https://twitter.com/nickeardleybbc/status/930750324943532032
^ https://twitter.com/kathsamsonitv/status/930818010054647809
^ "Labour received ‘no formal complaint’ about Alex Rowley". Holyrood Magazine. 2017-11-16. Retrieved 2019-01-28.
External links[edit]
- www.alexrowley.org
| Party political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Jack McConnell | General Secretary of the Scottish Labour Party 1998–1999 | Succeeded by Lesley Quinn |
| Preceded by Kezia Dugdale | Deputy Leader of the Scottish Labour Party 2015–2017 | Succeeded by Lesley Laird (interim) |
Leader of the Scottish Labour Party Acting 2017 | Succeeded by Richard Leonard | |
Categories:
- 1963 births
- Alumni of the University of Edinburgh
- Councillors in Fife
- Labour MSPs
- Leaders of the Scottish Labour Party
- Living people
- Members of the Scottish Parliament 2011–16
- Members of the Scottish Parliament 2016–
- Scottish Labour Party councillors
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