1. Alexander Andrew Penman Rowley was born on 30 November 1963 and is a Scottish politician who served as Deputy Leader of the Scottish Labour Party from 2015 to 2017 and acting leader of the party from August to November 2017.
23 Facts About Alex Rowley
1. 2.
Alex Rowley has been a Member of the Scottish Parliament since 2014, firstly for the Cowdenbeath constituency and the Mid Scotland and Fife region since 2016.
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Alex Rowley has been described as being on the political left of the party.
4.
Alex Rowley served as Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Communities and Local Government from 2018 to 2019 and Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Brexit and Constitutional Relations from 2019 to 2020.
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Alex Rowley is currently Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Transport, Infrastructure and Connectivity.
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Alex Rowley studied for an MA Honours in sociology and politics at Newbattle Abbey College in Dalkeith and the University of Edinburgh and later for an MSc in community education at Edinburgh.
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Alex Rowley was General Secretary of the Scottish Labour Party for one year, from May 1998 to May 1999.
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Alex Rowley 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.
9.
Alex Rowley worked as an education official with the TUC and worked for five years as an assistant, election agent and constituency manager to Gordon Brown, former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
10.
Alex Rowley stood in the 2011 Scottish Parliament election as a Labour candidate for Dunfermline.
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Alex Rowley 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.
12.
Alex Rowley 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.
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Alex 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.
14.
Alex Rowley had stated he would remain neutral, but was unaware of being recorded by what turned out to be a journalist trying to sell a story.
15.
Alex Rowley apologised for the leaked recording, but strenuously denied being involved in or even aware of any plots within the Labour Party to remove Dugdale.
16.
From October 2018 to September 2019, Alex Rowley served as Scottish Labour Spokesperson for Communities and Local Government.
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Alex Rowley became Scottish Labour Spokesperson for Brexit and Constitutional Relations in September 2019.
18.
Alex Rowley nominated Monica Lennon in the 2021 Scottish Labour leadership election.
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Alex Rowley has three adult children, a granddaughter, and a grandson.
20.
Alex Rowley is the father of Danielle Rowley, who served as MP for Midlothian from the 2017 general election until the 2019 general election.
21.
On 15 November 2017, Alex Rowley resigned as deputy leader and referred himself to an internal investigation after a former partner took to the Scottish Sun to accuse him of sending her disrespectful text messages four years previously.
22.
Former Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale and leadership candidate Anas Sarwar called for Alex Rowley to be suspended from the party while the investigation was carried out.
23.
Alex Rowley claimed there was a determined attempt to use the media to damage him and his family for political purposes.