1. Iain Cumming Gray was born on 7 June 1957 and is a Scottish politician who served as Leader of the Scottish Labour Party from 2008 to 2011.
20 Facts About Iain Gray
1. 2.
Iain Gray was the Member of the Scottish Parliament for the East Lothian constituency from 2007 to 2021, having previously represented Edinburgh Pentlands from 1999 to 2003.
3.
Iain Gray was returned to Holyrood in 2007 as MSP for East Lothian.
4.
Iain Gray himself was only re-elected as MSP for East Lothian with a narrow majority of 151 votes.
5.
Iain Gray announced his resignation the day after the result, but remained in post as leader until his successor, Johann Lamont, took over on 17 December 2011.
6.
Iain Gray was educated at the state comprehensive Inverness Royal Academy and briefly privately at George Watson's College, Edinburgh.
7.
Iain Gray studied physics at the University of Edinburgh before training as a teacher at Moray House College of Education.
8.
Iain Gray then spent twelve years as the campaigns director for the Scottish arm of the aid charity Oxfam.
9.
At the 2003 Scottish Parliament election, Iain Gray was defeated by Scottish Conservative leader David McLetchie, who he had stood against in 1999.
10.
Iain Gray was appointed as Scottish Labour's Shadow spokesman for enterprise, energy and tourism upon his return to Holyrood.
11.
In December 2010, Iain Gray sparked a diplomatic row when he appeared to claim in parliament that Montenegro had been involved in ethnic cleansing and war crimes during the 1990s Balkans Conflict.
12.
On 7 April 2011, whilst campaigning at Glasgow Central station for the Scottish Parliament election, Iain Gray was forced to cancel an event due to disruption by a group protesting against public spending cuts lead by Sean Clerkin.
13.
Iain Gray quickly left the station and ran into a nearby Subway outlet to escape the protesters, who followed him into the shop and continued to heckle him.
14.
Iain Gray later stated that he had not been unsettled by the incident as "I spent two years working in the civil war in Mozambique, I've been to Rwanda two months after the genocide, I walked the killing fields in Cambodia and I was in Chile three days after Pinochet was demitted from office".
15.
Iain Gray was reappointed to the post of Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Finance in the Scottish Labour Shadow Cabinet on 29 June 2013.
16.
On 13 June 2015, Iain Gray was appointed Acting Leader of the Scottish Labour Party whilst a leadership and a deputy leadership election were simultaneously held, on account of deputy leader Kezia Dugdale resigning to run for the leadership.
17.
At the 2016 Scottish Parliament election, while several Labour MSPs lost their seats, Iain Gray retained his seat with an increased majority compared to 2011.
18.
Iain Gray announced that he would be standing down at the 2021 Scottish Parliament election in June 2020, in order to spend more time with his family.
19.
Iain Gray nominated Anas Sarwar in the 2021 Scottish Labour leadership election.
20.
Iain Gray is a lifelong fan of Edinburgh football club Hibernian, and enjoys reading, music and hill walking.