1. Alison Johnstone was born on 11 October 1965 and is a Scottish politician who has served as the Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament since 2021.
22 Facts About Alison Johnstone
1. 2.
Alison Johnstone has been a Member of the Scottish Parliament for the Lothian region since 2011.
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Alison Johnstone worked as an assistant to Robin Harper, the first ever elected Green Party politician in the UK.
4.
In 2007, Alison Johnstone was nominated unopposed as co-convenor of the Scottish Greens, serving alongside Harper.
5.
Alison Johnstone received 97 votes in-favour and was elected unopposed as Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament.
6.
Alison Johnstone is the second female and first Green Party member to hold the position of office.
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Alison Johnstone was born on 11 October 1965 in Edinburgh, Scotland, where she attended St Augustine's High School.
8.
Alison Johnstone is a qualified athletics coach and board member of Scottish Athletics, and formerly held the East of Scotland 800m and 1500m records.
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Alison Johnstone worked at Basil Paterson College as a registrar for a decade.
10.
Alison Johnstone began to have an interest in politics in the mid-1990s, when she joined the Keep Meggetland Green, a campaign against a proposal for flats to be built on Meggetland Playing Fields.
11.
Alison Johnstone wrote to politicians to gain attention, with Green politicians Robin Harper and Gavin Corbett the only ones to respond.
12.
Alison Johnstone was a member of Scotland FORward and campaigned in-favour of a devolved Scottish Parliament.
13.
Alison Johnstone did not stand for re-election in the 2012 local elections after being elected as a Member of the Scottish Parliament for the Lothian region in the 2011 election.
14.
Alison Johnstone was "certain that the Green Party will grow and attract more support as the other parties reveal themselves to lack the ambition to really change course from business as usual when it comes to the crunch".
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Alison Johnstone served alongside Robin Harper, and both were replaced in 2008 as co-conveners by Patrick Harvie and Eleanor Scott.
16.
Alison Johnstone unsuccessfully contested Edinburgh Central in the 2016 Scottish Parliament election but finished fourth behind the Scottish Conservatives' Ruth Davidson, the Scottish National Party's Alison Dickie and Scottish Labour's Sarah Boyack.
17.
Alison Johnstone served as Co-Leader of the Scottish Greens in the Scottish Parliament, serving with Patrick Harvie from March 2019 to May 2021.
18.
On 13 May 2021, Alison Johnstone stood unopposed in the election to appoint the 6th Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament.
19.
The Presiding Officer is expected to be strictly nonpartisan, so Alison Johnstone resigned her Greens membership to take on the role.
20.
Alison Johnstone is the first Green MSP to serve as Presiding Officer.
21.
Alison Johnstone is the second Presiding Officer to be elected unopposed, after George Reid in 2003.
22.
On 16 March 2022, Alison Johnstone was appointed to the Privy Council by Her Majesty The Queen and therefore granted the title 'The Right Honourable'.