1. John Ramsay Swinney was born on 13 April 1964 and is a Scottish politician who has served as First Minister of Scotland since 2024.
61 Facts About John Swinney
1. 2.
John Swinney has held various roles within the Scottish Cabinet from 2007 to 2023 under First Ministers Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon.
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John Swinney was Member of the Scottish Parliament for North Tayside from 1999 to 2011 and, following boundary changes, has been MSP for Perthshire North since 2011.
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John Swinney was Member of Parliament for Tayside North from 1997 to 2001.
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John Swinney joined the SNP at a young age, and quickly rose to prominence by serving as the National Secretary from 1986 to 1992 and as Deputy Leader from 1998 to 2000.
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John Swinney served in the House of Commons as MP for Tayside North from 1997 to 2001.
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John Swinney was elected to the inaugural Scottish Parliament at the 1999 Scottish Parliament election.
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John Swinney became Leader of the Opposition in the Scottish Parliament.
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John Swinney served under Salmond as Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Employment and Sustainable Growth from 2007 to 2014.
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John Swinney served as Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Constitution and Economy, until that role was divided into two posts in the second Sturgeon government as a result of the expansion of the Scottish Parliament's financial powers; he was then appointed Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills in 2016, and then as Cabinet Secretary for Covid Recovery in 2021.
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On 25 May 2022, John Swinney became the longest serving Deputy First Minister, surpassing the previous record which was held by Sturgeon.
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John Swinney served as Acting Finance and Economy Secretary in addition to his position of Covid Recovery Secretary from July 2022 to March 2023.
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John Swinney spent the duration of Humza Yousaf's premiership on the backbenches and served as a member of the Scottish Parliament's Justice Committee.
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John Ramsay Swinney was born on 13 April 1964 in the Western General Hospital, Edinburgh, the son of Kenneth Swinney, a garage manager, and Agnes Weir Swinney.
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John Swinney was educated at Forrester High School, before attending the University of Edinburgh, where he graduated with a Master of Arts Honours degree in politics in 1986.
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John Swinney was a research officer for the Scottish Coal Project from 1987 to 1988, a senior management consultant with Development Options from 1988 to 1992, and a strategic planning principal with Scottish Amicable Life Assurance from 1992 to 1997.
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John Swinney joined the Scottish National Party in 1979 at the age of 15, citing his anger at the way in which Scotland had been portrayed by television commentators at the Commonwealth Games.
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John Swinney quickly became a prominent figure in the party's youth wing, the Young Scottish Nationalist, now known as the Young Scots for Independence.
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John Swinney served as the SNP's Assistant National Secretary, before becoming the National Secretary in 1986, at the age of 22.
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John Swinney stood down as a Westminster MP at the 2001 general election in order to avoid splitting his time, in line with all of his colleagues who found themselves in a similar dual mandate position.
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In 1999 John Swinney was elected to the 1st Scottish Parliament, representing the North Tayside constituency.
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John Swinney served on the Parliament's Finance Committee and was the Convener of the Enterprise and Lifelong Learning Committee.
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John Swinney represented the gradualist wing and Neil represented the fundamentalists wing.
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John Swinney was appointed leader at the party's conference on 16 September 2000.
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John Swinney sat as an independent MSP, but Swinney called for her resignation, describing her actions as a "flout [of] the democratic will of the people of Glasgow".
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John Swinney led the SNP through a poor election result at the 2001 UK General election.
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The election was held at the party's 69th annual conference, and saw John Swinney winning a massive victory over Wilson.
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Moves in support of Wilson's proposition of pursuing independence negotiations without a referendum were thrown out at the party conference, and John Swinney won significant policy battles over imposing a monthly levy on party MPs, MSPs, and MEPs.
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John Swinney had backed Wilson's leadership challenge and had continued to be overtly critical of Swinney's leadership, resulting in disciplinary action.
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On 22 June 2004, John Swinney resigned as leader of the Scottish National Party, triggering a leadership contest.
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From 2004 until the 2007 Scottish Parliament election, John Swinney sat on the SNP's opposition backbenches.
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John Swinney served as a convener on the Parliament's European and External Relations Committee from 2004 to 2005 and deputy convener on the Finance Committee from 2005 to 2007.
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John Swinney was a substitute member of the Audit Committee from 2004 to 2007.
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In September 2005, John Swinney was made Shadow Minister for Finance.
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John Swinney remained as Finance Secretary in Sturgeon's new cabinet.
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John Swinney reappointed Swinney as deputy first minister, and for the first time in nine years, he was reshuffled from his roles as Finance Secretary to Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills.
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In March 2021 John Swinney was the subject of a second motion of no confidence.
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John Swinney u-turned and published the advice; the Scottish Greens declared they would not support the motion of no confidence and it was defeated by 65 votes to 57.
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John Swinney served as Acting Cabinet Secretary for Finance and the Economy from July 2022, whilst Kate Forbes was on maternity leave.
40.
John Swinney stated that it had been an "honour to serve Scotland".
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In March 2023, John Swinney moved to the SNP's backbenches and served as a member of the Scottish Parliament's Justice Committee.
42.
John Swinney spent the duration of Humza Yousaf's premiership on the backbenches.
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John Swinney said that he would work with Scottish unionists as leader.
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John Swinney was officially sworn into office as first minister of Scotland on 8 May 2024 at the Court of Session in Edinburgh after receiving the Royal Warrant of Appointment by King Charles III.
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John Swinney directed the SNP to abstain on the parliamentary vote on the committee's recommendations, after introducing an amendment re-iterating John Swinney's complaints about the investigation into Matheson.
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The majority of John Swinney's cabinet were previously part of Yousaf's previous governments.
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John Swinney claimed that he believed that Scottish independence could "be achieved in the next five years" as a result of Brexit consequences on Scotland and the Scottish economy, as well as the cost of living crisis.
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Early into his premiership, John Swinney faced questions from opposition parties regarding the Gender Recognition Reform Bill which had been introduced by Shona Robison and was blocked by the UK Government using a Section 35 order under the terms of the Scotland Act 1998.
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John Swinney claimed that "the Supreme Court has said that we can't legislate in that area and we can't take forward that legislation".
50.
Ahead of the strong winds association with Storm Eowyn, John Swinney urged the public "not to travel" and urged the public to take the alert seriously and follow all advice given by emergency services in preparation for the storm.
51.
On 23 January 2025, John Swinney advised that local councils across Scotland would make decisions on areas such as schools closing during the storm, and advised that the Scottish Government Resilience Room had been activated to co-ordinate the government's response and preparation for the storm.
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John Swinney appealed to the public to have a "high level of vigilance".
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John Swinney stated that it was "clear the severity of Storm Eowyn will continue into next week and this will have an impact on the speed at which utilities and local services can fully resume".
54.
In September 2022, amid the death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, John Swinney stated that the monarch should remain head of state of an independent Scotland.
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In May 2024, during an interview with Sky News, John Swinney claimed that he believed that Scotland could become independent "in the next five years" as a consequence of Brexit and the cost of living crisis.
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In May 2024, John Swinney described himself as following a "moderate centre-left agenda".
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John Swinney was married to Lorna King from 1991 to 1998.
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The marriage was annulled by the Roman Rota in order that John Swinney be allowed to marry in the Catholic Church, to which his second wife belongs.
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In 2003, John Swinney married Elizabeth Quigley, a BBC News Scotland reporter.
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John Swinney is a member of the Church of Scotland and has described himself as "a man of deep Christian faith".
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John Swinney was appointed to the Privy Council on 10 July 2024, entitling him to be styled "The Right Honourable" for life.