1. Malcolm Bruce was the Member of Parliament for Gordon from 1983 to 2015 and was the chairman of the International Development Select Committee from 2005 to 2015.
27 Facts About Malcolm Bruce
1. 2.
Malcolm Bruce was deputy leader of the Liberal Democrats from 28 January 2014.
3.
Malcolm Bruce was nominated for a life peerage in the 2015 Dissolution Honours.
4.
Malcolm Bruce was previously President of the Scottish Liberal Democrats until being succeeded by Councillor Eileen McCartin from 1 January 2016.
5.
Malcolm Bruce was a trainee journalist with the Liverpool Post for a year from 1966 prior to him becoming a section buyer with the Boots Group in 1967.
6.
Malcolm Bruce contested the Parliamentary seat of North Angus and Mearns for the Liberal Party at the October 1974 general election, but the sitting Conservative and Unionist MP Alick Buchanan-Smith won with a majority of 2,551.
7.
Malcolm Bruce was elected as the Vice-Chairman of the Scottish Liberal Party in 1975, in the same year he became a director with the Noroil Publishing House.
8.
Malcolm Bruce again stood for Parliament at the 1979 general election for the seat of West Aberdeenshire and was again defeated by the sitting Conservative and Unionist MP, this time Russell Fairgrieve by 2,766 votes.
9.
Malcolm Bruce became the editor of the Aberdeen Petroleum Press in 1981 until his election as MP for Gordon in 1983.
10.
Malcolm Bruce was called to the bar at Gray's Inn in 1995.
11.
Malcolm Bruce stood for parliament for a third time at the newly created seat of Gordon, based largely on the former Aberdeenshire West.
12.
Malcolm Bruce was an outspoken opponent of coalition with the Labour Party.
13.
When he was elected to parliament, Malcolm Bruce served on the Scottish Affairs Select committee, and in 1986 was given a job by David Steel as a Spokesman on Energy and Scotland.
14.
Malcolm Bruce became Rector of the University of Dundee in 1986 for three years.
15.
Whilst a Treasury spokesman it was Malcolm Bruce who developed the idea of a 'penny on income tax'.
16.
At the 1997 general election Malcolm Bruce's majority had risen again to 6,997.
17.
Paddy Ashdown created a new Shadow Cabinet system and Malcolm Bruce became the Liberal Democrat Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer.
18.
Malcolm Bruce won Gordon for the fifth consecutive time at the 2001 general election with a still rising majority of 7,879.
19.
Malcolm Bruce stood down from the frontbench following the 2005 general election, where he was re-elected with his highest majority yet at 11,026.
20.
Malcolm Bruce was Chairman of the International Development Select Committee from 2005 to 2015, scrutinising the work of the Department of International Development.
21.
Malcolm Bruce was made a Member of the Privy Council on 19 July 2006.
22.
Malcolm Bruce was knighted in the 2012 Birthday Honours for public and political service.
23.
Malcolm Bruce was announced as a life peer in the 2015 Dissolution Honours and was created Baron Bruce of Bennachie, of Torphins in the County of Aberdeen on 19 October.
24.
Malcolm Bruce married Veronica Jane Wilson in 1969 and they have a son and a daughter, before divorcing in 1992.
25.
Malcolm Bruce married secondly, in 1998, Rosemary Vetterlein, a Lib Dem activist and prospective parliamentary candidate who contested Beckenham unsuccessfully in 1997.
26.
Lord and Lady Malcolm Bruce have two daughters and a son together.
27.
Malcolm Bruce takes a keen interest in deaf issues; one of his children is deaf.