Jack McConnell has been a Labour life peer in the House of Lords since 2010 and previously served as a Member of the Scottish Parliament for Motherwell and Wishaw from 1999 to 2011.
39 Facts About Jack McConnell
2.
Jack McConnell served as a member of the Scottish Constitutional Convention, having campaigned in-favour for a Scottish Parliament in the 1997 devolution referendum.
3.
In 2001, McLeish resigned in the aftermath of the Officegate scandal and Jack McConnell was elected unopposed as the Scottish Labour leader.
4.
Jack McConnell was appointed First Minister on 22 November 2001, becoming the youngest office holder.
5.
Jack McConnell sat as a backbencher and stood down as an MSP in the 2011 election.
6.
In 2010, Jack McConnell became a member of the House of Lords of the United Kingdom.
7.
Jack McConnell made a commitment to continuing his work to tackle poverty in Africa and to develop the relationship between Scotland and Malawi.
8.
Jack Wilson McConnell was born on 30 June 1960 in Irvine, Ayrshire.
9.
Jack McConnell is the eldest of four children born to William Wilson McConnell and Elizabeth McCallum McConnell.
10.
Jack McConnell was brought up on Glenscorrodale Farm near Lamlash on the Isle of Arran, where his father was a sheep farmer and a member of the Arran Farmer's Society.
11.
Jack McConnell was educated at Lamlash Primary and Arran High School.
12.
Jack McConnell attended the University of Stirling, where he was President of the Students' Association from 1980 to 1982 and National Union of Students Scotland Vice-President from 1982 to 1983.
13.
Jack McConnell met Margo MacDonald and Richard Leonard at university.
14.
Jack McConnell took part in a siege to occupy the administration offices at the university and slept in sleeping bags in the university's court room.
15.
Jack McConnell graduated in 1983 with a BSc Dip Ed.
16.
In 1984, Jack McConnell was elected to the Stirling District Council, while still teaching at Lornshill.
17.
Jack McConnell served as Treasurer from 1988 until 1992, and was the Leader of the council from 1990 to 1992.
18.
Jack McConnell initially joined the Scottish National Party when he was 16 years old.
19.
From 1992 to 1998, Jack McConnell served as the General Secretary of the Labour Party in Scotland.
20.
Jack McConnell was appointed immediately by Donald Dewar, the then First Minister, to the post of Minister of Finance.
21.
Jack McConnell was elected an MSP in the first Scottish Parliament elections in 1999.
22.
Jack McConnell was appointed Minister for Finance in the new Scottish Executive by then First Minister Donald Dewar.
23.
Jack McConnell's department passed the Public Finance and Accountability Act 2000 through Parliament, which set out the finance and auditing procedures of the Executive.
24.
Jack McConnell was seen by many political analysts as the likely successor and he later launched his bid for leader.
25.
Jack McConnell continued to led the Labour-Liberal Democrat coalition that had existed under the Dewar and McLeish administrations.
26.
Shortly after being appointed Jack McConnell began making appointments to his cabinet.
27.
In December 2002, Jack McConnell launched his government's campaign against sectarianism.
28.
Jack McConnell was re elected MSP for Motherwell and Wishaw at the Scottish Parliament elections.
29.
Jack McConnell attended the 31st G8 summit which was held in Gleneagles Hotel, Scotland, and welcomed guests invited to the conference to Glasgow Prestwick Airport on arrival.
30.
On 17 May 2007, Jack McConnell told Salmond he would abstain in a Parliament vote to appoint ministers.
31.
Jack McConnell has learned nothing in opposition, despite what he said about doing so.
32.
On 15 August 2007, Jack McConnell announced his intention to resign as Leader of the Labour Party in Scotland.
33.
On 28 May 2010, it was announced that Jack McConnell would be made a life peer and enter the House of Lords as a working peer on behalf of the Labour Party.
34.
Jack McConnell is a UK Ambassador for Action for Children; a Fellow of the 48 Group Club, which promotes relationships between the United Kingdom and China and an Ambassador for Pump Aid.
35.
Jack McConnell was a non executive director at DCM from 2011 to 2015.
36.
In 1990, Jack McConnell married to Bridget Jack McConnell, a cultural administrator and former Chief Executive Officer of Glasgow Life.
37.
On 5 March 1991, a sheriff ruled Jack McConnell could become the legal father of Bridget's children, Hannah and Mark; whom she had in her previous marriage with Richard Brown.
38.
Jack McConnell admitted the affair had been "an open secret for seven years" and "It caused significant hurt to a number of people and I regret that very much to this day".
39.
Jack McConnell told police she needed money to pay her mortgage and blamed her crime on her menopause and hoped "Jack would help her pay it back".