In 2005, following the resignation of his predecessor Jim Wallace, Stephen was elected leader of the party and became deputy first minister and Minister for Enterprise and Lifelong Learning.
18 Facts About Nicol Stephen
2.
Nicol Stephen led his party into the 2007 election, where it won 16 seats.
3.
Nicol Stephen resigned as party leader on 2 July 2008, triggering a leadership election.
4.
Nicol Stephen became a patron of The Aberdeen Law Project in 2011.
5.
Nicol Stephen was a former Chair of CREATE ; a chairperson of STAR ; and the founder and director of Grampian Enterprise.
6.
Nicol Stephen was elected to Grampian Regional Council in 1982 and was Chair of Grampian's Economic Development and Planning Committee from 1986 to 1991.
7.
Nicol Stephen was briefly a Member of Parliament for the Kincardine and Deeside constituency, elected in the November 1991 by-election following the death of Conservative and Unionist Alick Buchanan-Smith.
8.
Nicol Stephen was a member of the Liberal Democrat treasury team and spokesperson on small business during his time in the House of Commons.
9.
Nicol Stephen later stood for the Aberdeen South constituency in the 1997 election for Aberdeen South, but was defeated by the Scottish Labour candidate.
10.
Nicol Stephen was elected as MSP for Aberdeen South in the first elections to the Scottish Parliament.
11.
Nicol Stephen later helped negotiate the Partnership Agreement for the coalition government with the Labour Party.
12.
Nicol Stephen later served in the Scottish Executive as Deputy Minister for Enterprise and Lifelong Learning, then as Deputy Minister for Education, Europe and External Affairs, and as Deputy Minister for Education and Young People.
13.
The SNP became a minority administration and officially entered government on 17 May 2007; Nicol Stephen ceased to be Deputy First Minister and began led his party to the opposition benches.
14.
Nicol Stephen developed a reputation among some journalists as an effective and forceful critic of some aspects of the Scottish Government's policy and performance, especially at First Minister's Question Time.
15.
On 2 July 2008, Nicol Stephen announced he was stepping down as party leader with immediate effect because of the pressures of leading a political party while having a young family based in Aberdeen, some distance from Parliament in Edinburgh.
16.
Nicol Stephen's resignation took many in Scottish politics by surprise, and came only four days after the resignation of the former leader of Labour in the Scottish Parliament, Wendy Alexander.
17.
On 24 September 2010, Nicol Stephen announced he would not be standing again at the Scottish elections in May 2011.
18.
Nicol Stephen said he would use his new position to help reform the House of Lords.