1. Joanna Catherine Cherry was born on 18 March 1966 and is a Scottish lawyer and former politician who was the Member of Parliament for Edinburgh South West from 2015 until 2024.
45 Facts About Joanna Cherry
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Joanna Cherry was born on 18 March 1966 in Edinburgh to Mary Margaret and Thomas Alastair Cherry.
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Joanna Cherry was educated at Holy Cross primary school, then at St Margaret's Convent School, before studying at the University of Edinburgh.
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Joanna Cherry worked as a part-time tutor in constitutional law, family law and civil court practice at the University of Edinburgh from 1990 to 1996.
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Joanna Cherry was admitted as an advocate in 1995, with a particular interest in employment and industrial relations, health and safety, mental health, personal injury and professional negligence.
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Joanna Cherry served as a Standing Junior Counsel to the Scottish Government from 2003 to 2008, and as an Advocate Depute and Senior Advocate Depute from 2008 until 2011.
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Joanna Cherry was appointed a Queen's Counsel in 2009 and was an advocate with the Arnot Manderson stable within the Faculty of Advocates until her election to parliament.
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Joanna Cherry set up the "Lawyers for Yes" group, which campaigned for a "Yes" vote in the 2014 Scottish independence referendum.
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In May 2017, Joanna Cherry apologised for telling journalists that a nurse, who had told a TV debate audience she had been unable to survive on her salary and had to use food banks, was suspected to be the wife of a Conservative councillor.
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In May 2019, executives from Facebook and Twitter appeared before the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights, of which Joanna Cherry was a member, and faced accusations over the way they handled abuse and harassment of parliamentarians on social media.
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Joanna Cherry cited several abusive tweets, that were not removed swiftly by Twitter, something the company's head of UK government, public policy and philanthropy, Katy Minshall, described as "absolutely an undesirable situation".
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Joanna Cherry was included on that list, with the paper reporting that she had had her official credit card repeatedly suspended for failing to repay money on time.
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On 11 May 2019 The Times reported that Joanna Cherry was being investigated by the House of Commons over bullying complaints from four former employees.
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Joanna Cherry rejected the allegations, and alleged that they were part of a politically motivated 'smear' campaign, from those within the SNP ranks who opposed her and her views.
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One former staff member took the complaint forward, alleging that Joanna Cherry both condoned bullying by her office manager and partook in bullying behaviour herself.
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Joanna Cherry was the leading litigant in the Scottish court case challenging the five-week prorogation of Parliament by Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
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In February 2020, Joanna Cherry announced that she was seeking nomination from the SNP Edinburgh Central constituency branch to run as the candidate for Edinburgh Central in the Scottish Parliament and would stand down as an MP in the House of Commons if elected.
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In July 2020, Joanna Cherry announced she was ruling out a bid for Holyrood, stating that the conditions for standing as an MSP were unreasonable and made a fair contest involving her "impossible".
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Joanna Cherry tweeted: "Despite hard work, results and a strong reputation I've been sacked today from the SNP front bench".
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On 21 February 2021, Joanna Cherry was criticised by the Scottish branch of PEN International for her attempts to silence critics who questioned her by threatening defamation action.
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On 26 March 2021, Joanna Cherry announced that she would step back from her public duties for health reasons.
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Later that month, Joanna Cherry announced that she was returning to the bar to defend Millar in court.
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In July 2022, Joanna Cherry was elected as the chair of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights, having previously served as the deputy chair.
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Joanna Cherry was covering for Harriet Harman, who temporarily stepped down to chair the Privileges Committee during its investigation into Boris Johnson, and returned to the deputy role after the investigation concluded.
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In May 2023, The Stand Comedy Club cancelled a proposed event by Joanna Cherry, who compared the cancellation to actions by the Stasi.
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The Stand reversed the cancellation when Joanna Cherry threatened to make a legal claim against them for discrimination in respect of her "gender-critical" beliefs.
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In July 2023 Joanna Cherry appeared in court over what she described as "frightening threats".
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Joanna Cherry has been described as a more hardline supporter of independence, advocating a less cautious approach towards holding a second referendum than Nicola Sturgeon, including the holding a referendum even if the Scottish government could not come to an agreement with the British government over such a referendum.
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Joanna Cherry has additionally denied that she advocates for illegally holding a referendum.
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In 2015 Joanna Cherry said that as a teenager, she wanted to be a Labour MP.
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Joanna Cherry was very involved with Labour Students while at university, a contemporary of Douglas Alexander.
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Joanna Cherry started voting for the SNP "in the mid 90s before joining the party in 2008".
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Joanna Cherry has had a number of views on the Bute House Agreement of 2021, which set up a power-sharing agreement between the SNP and the Scottish Greens, whose position on trans rights she disagreed with vehemently.
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Joanna Cherry has long admired Alex Salmond, describing him after her election alongside him as "the person I most admire in my political life by a mile".
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In March 2021, when Salmond formed the Alba Party, Joanna Cherry denied speculation she would be defecting to join him.
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Joanna Cherry was acquitted of the criminal charges, and that's a very significant matter.
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Joanna Cherry has argued that trans young people "must be treated like any other children with psychological problems" and called for Scotland's only gender identity clinic to be closed.
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Joanna Cherry has denied accusations of transphobia, stating that she approaches the issue "as a feminist" and that there was a "big dose of misogyny" in debates over Gender Recognition Act reform.
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Joanna Cherry said that the statement "women don't have penises" is an "undeniable biological fact".
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Joanna Cherry opposed reforms of the Gender Recognition Act in Scotland to allow transgender people to obtain a Gender Recognition Certificate on the basis of a statutory declaration, rather than requiring interview by a panel and medical reports.
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Joanna Cherry has stated that she has faced abuse over her position and that sections of the SNP with opposing views have "engaged in performative histrionics redolent of the Salem witch trials".
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Joanna Cherry believe "many same-sex attracted women and those who hold gender-critical beliefs have found themselves in a relationship of coercive control with employers, service providers and membership organisations".
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Joanna Cherry has faced criticism from LGBT charities over her views and statements thereof.
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In October 2021, Joanna Cherry criticised the Biden administration's actions during the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan and the Fall of Kabul, and urged Prime Minister Boris Johnson to help the refugees fleeing the Taliban.
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Joanna Cherry supported Remain during the 2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum and has supported an independent Scotland joining the European Union.