1. Sir Graham Robert Watson was born on 23 March 1956 and is a British Liberal Democrat politician who served as a Member of the European Parliament for South West England from 1994 to 2014.
30 Facts About Graham Watson
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Graham Watson then served for seven and a half years as leader of the Liberal Group in the European Parliament, first as leader of the European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party Group and then as leader of the new Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Group.
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Graham Watson is currently an adjunct Professor at the University of Toronto's Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy.
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Sir Graham Watson, who holds Italian citizenship through marriage, was chosen as head of list for the 2024 European Parliament election in North East Italy by the centrist coalition 'United States of Europe'.
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Graham Watson was not elected since the coalition failed to reach the threshold of votes required nationwide to elect MEPs.
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Graham Watson was born in Rothesay on the Isle of Bute, the eldest of six children.
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Graham Watson's father was an officer in the Royal Navy and his mother a teacher.
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Graham Watson was educated at the City of Bath Boys' School following his father's posting to the Admiralty in Bath.
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Graham Watson returned to Scotland to attend Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh where he graduated in 1979 with a Bachelor of Arts in modern languages.
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On graduating from university in 1979, Graham Watson worked first as a freelance interpreter and translator and then as an administrator at Paisley College of Technology.
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Graham Watson began his political activity in the Scottish Young Liberals in 1976.
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Graham Watson was a founder of the European Communities' Youth Forum.
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Graham Watson served as a council member of the European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party between 1983 and 1993.
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Graham Watson has travelled widely in the region and speaks some Mandarin Chinese.
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Graham Watson was the first Liberal Democrat returned from a British constituency to serve in the European Parliament.
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In 1999 the introduction of the list system in Great Britain for European elections meant Graham Watson's constituency was abolished in favour of a larger multi-member constituency encompassing South West England.
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Graham Watson was re-elected in this constituency as the sole Liberal Democrat member at the 1999 European Parliamentary election.
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Graham Watson was re-elected once more at the 2004 European Parliamentary election with his party winning 265,619 votes.
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Graham Watson was elected leader of the new ALDE group, which was the largest group ever established in the Parliament outside of the European People's Party and Party of European Socialists.
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Graham Watson was elected to a fourth term as an MEP for the South West in the European Parliament elections of June 2009, with the Liberal Democrats winning 266,253 votes.
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Graham Watson sat on the European Parliament's foreign affairs committee and served as Chairman of Parliament's Delegation for relations with India.
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Graham Watson chaired a global network of legislators campaigning for a switch from fossil fuels to renewable energy known as The Climate Parliament, of which he had been a founder member in the late 1990s.
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Graham Watson established a global advocacy practice, Bagehot Limited, which he ran until reaching retirement age in 2021.
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In 2015 Graham Watson was appointed by the UK Government to sit on the European Economic and Social Committee, an advisory body with a five-year mandate.
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Graham Watson sat on the Transport and Energy section and on the Foreign Affairs section and from 2015 to 2017 was chairman of the EESC's China Contact Group.
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Graham Watson's wife is from Italy and their children, one daughter and one son, were born in 1992 and 1995 respectively.
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Graham Watson was knighted in the 2011 Birthday Honours for political and public service.
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Graham Watson is the recipient of honours from the Republic of China, Georgia and Gibraltar.
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From 2018 to 2023 Graham Watson served as Chairman of the Advisory Board of the European Centre for Populism Studies.
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Graham Watson is a supporter of the Campaign for the Establishment of a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly, an organisation which advocates democratic reform of the United Nations.