John Ramsay Swinney was born on 13 April 1964 and is a Scottish politician who served as Deputy First Minister of Scotland from 2014 to 2023.
42 Facts About John Swinney
2.
John Swinney held various Scottish Cabinet roles under First Ministers Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon from 2007 to 2023.
3.
John Swinney was the Leader of the Scottish National Party from 2000 to 2004.
4.
John Swinney joined the SNP at a young age and quickly rose to prominence serving as the National Secretary from 1986 to 1992 and Depute Leader of the SNP from 1998 to 2000.
5.
John Swinney served in the British House of Commons as Member of Parliament for Tayside North from 1997 to 2001.
6.
John Swinney was elected to the inaugural Scottish Parliament in 1999.
7.
John Swinney became Leader of the Opposition in the Scottish Parliament.
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Alex Salmond 8.
John Swinney's leadership proved ineffectual, with a loss of one MP in 2001 and a further reduction to 27 MSPs in 2003 despite the Officegate scandal unseating previous First Minister Henry McLeish.
9.
From 2004 to 2007, John Swinney sat in the SNP's opposition backbench.
10.
John Swinney served under Salmond as Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Employment and Sustainable Growth from 2007 to 2014.
11.
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.
12.
On 25 May 2022, John Swinney became the longest serving Deputy First Minister, surpassing the previous record which was held by Sturgeon.
13.
John Swinney served as Acting Finance Secretary in addition to his position of Covid Recovery Secretary from July 2022 to March 2023, covering the duties of Kate Forbes during her period of maternity leave.
14.
In March 2023, John Swinney announced his resignation as Deputy First Minister in response to Nicola Sturgeon's resignation as First Minister.
15.
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.
16.
John Swinney was educated at Forrester High School, before attending the University of Edinburgh, where he graduated with an Master of Arts Honours degree in politics in 1986.
17.
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 Building Society from 1992 to 1997.
18.
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.
19.
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.
20.
John Swinney served as the SNP's Assistant National Secretary, before becoming the National Secretary in 1986, at the age of 22.
21.
John Swinney served as the national secretary until 1992, then vice convenor, later senior vice-convenor from 1992 to 1997.
22.
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.
23.
In 1999, John Swinney was elected to the 1st Scottish Parliament, representing the North Tayside constituency.
24.
John Swinney served on the Parliament's Finance Committee and was the Convener of the Enterprise and Lifelong Learning Committee.
25.
John Swinney represented the gradualist wing and Neil represented the fundamentalists wing.
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Alex Salmond 26.
John Swinney was appointed leader at the party's conference on 16 September 2000.
27.
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".
28.
John Swinney led the SNP through a poor election result at the 2001 UK General election.
29.
The election was held at the party's 69th annual conference, and saw John Swinney winning a massive victory over Wilson.
30.
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 MP's, MSP's, and MEP's.
31.
John Swinney had backed Wilson's leadership challenge and had continued to be overtly critical of Swinney's leadership, resulting in disciplinary action.
32.
On 22 June 2004, John Swinney resigned as leader of the Scottish National Party, triggering a leadership contest.
33.
From 2004 until the 2007 Scottish Parliament election, John Swinney sat on the SNP's opposition backbenches.
34.
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.
35.
John Swinney was a substitute member of the Audit Committee from 2004 to 2007.
36.
In September 2005, John Swinney was made Shadow Minister for Finance.
37.
John Swinney remained as Finance Secretary in Sturgeon's new cabinet.
38.
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.
39.
In March 2021 John Swinney was the subject of a second motion of no confidence.
40.
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.
41.
John Swinney stated that it had been an "honour to serve Scotland".
42.
John Swinney was married to Lorna King from 1991 to 1998.