58 Facts About Ruth Davidson

Ruth Davidson served as a Member of the Scottish Parliament for Glasgow from 2011 to 2016 and for Edinburgh Central from 2016 to 2021.

At the 2011 Scottish Parliament election, Ruth Davidson stood in the Glasgow Kelvin constituency, where she finished fourth, and on the Glasgow regional list, from which she was elected.

Ruth Davidson won the contest and was declared party leader on 4 November 2011.

Ruth Davidson resigned the leadership in August 2019, shortly after Boris Johnson became Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

Ruth Davidson was succeeded by her deputy leader of eight years, Jackson Carlaw who was in turn replaced by Douglas Ross.

At the 2021 Scottish Parliament election, Ruth Davidson stood down as an MSP in preparation to enter the House of Lords and become a life peer.

Ruth Davidson was born at Edinburgh Royal Maternity Hospital and Simpson Memorial Maternity Pavilion in Edinburgh.

Ruth Davidson was raised in Selkirk and later in Fife.

Ruth Davidson's family lived in Bridgelands Road, Selkirk, and Davidson attended Knowepark Primary School until Primary 3.

Ruth Davidson studied English literature at the University of Edinburgh, gaining an undergraduate Master of Arts degree.

Ruth Davidson later moved to Kingdom FM, followed by Real Radio, and finally joined BBC Scotland in late 2002 where she worked as a radio journalist, producer, presenter and reporter.

Ruth Davidson left the BBC in 2009 to study International Development at the University of Glasgow.

Ruth Davidson served as a signaller in the 32 Signal Regiment of the Territorial Army for three years before suffering a back injury in a training exercise at Sandhurst.

In 2009, after having left the BBC to study at the University of Glasgow, Ruth Davidson joined the Conservative Party.

Ruth Davidson said she was inspired by a call by David Cameron, the then Leader of the Opposition, in the wake of the United Kingdom parliamentary expenses scandal, for people to get involved in politics who had never previously been political.

Ruth Davidson was encouraged by the Scottish Conservative Party's Director of Media, Ramsay Jones, to join the party and stand for the House of Commons seat of Glasgow North East at the 2009 by-election, which was triggered by the resignation of Labour MP and Speaker of the House, Michael Martin.

Ruth Davidson finished in third place, with 1,075 votes.

Ruth Davidson made the shortlist but in the end lost out to Sajid Javid.

Ruth Davidson played a large part in the organisation of campaign media events in the run-up to the 2010 general election, at which she ran again in Glasgow North East, finishing in fourth place with 1,569 votes.

Ruth Davidson's campaign was endorsed by two MSPs: John Lamont and John Scott; and the Conservatives' only Scottish MP and Scotland Office minister, David Mundell.

Ruth Davidson's campaign was endorsed by the following party grandees: Sir Albert McQuarrie; The 13th Marquess of Lothian, a former Chairman of the Conservative Party; former Scottish Office minister and Scottish party chairman Lord Sanderson; a former Secretary of State for Scotland, Lord Forsyth; the Leader of the House of Lords, Lord Strathclyde; and former MSP and Holyrood deputy presiding officer Murray Tosh.

On 11 September 2011, Ruth Davidson sacked her election agent and parliamentary assistant Ross McFarlane after he was filmed trying to burn a European Union flag in a Glasgow street following a University Conservative Association, St Andrew's Day dinner in November 2010.

Ruth Davidson subsequently won the leadership election and was made the leader of the Scottish Conservatives on 4 November 2011.

Ruth Davidson gained 2,278 first preference votes out of the 5,676 votes cast, after second preference votes were counted, she won by 2,983 votes to second-placed Murdo Fraser's 2,417.

Ruth Davidson campaigned for the Union in 2014 because she loved the "wonderful messiness of these islands".

Ruth Davidson knew that the SNP's majority virtually assured that Salmond's successor as SNP leader, Nicola Sturgeon, would become First Minister.

In September 2015, following a year-long police investigation into allegations that pro-Union campaigners, including Ruth Davidson, had breached secrecy provisions of the Scottish Independence Referendum Act 2013 during the Scottish independence referendum, detectives reported their findings to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service.

Ruth Davidson led the Scottish Conservatives into the 2016 Scottish Parliament election, where the party doubled its number of Scottish Parliament seats to 31, replacing Labour as the second largest party at Holyrood behind the Scottish National Party.

The election saw Ruth Davidson, who had previously been a list MSP, win the constituency of Edinburgh Central from the SNP with 10,399 votes.

However, Ruth Davidson dismissed the suggestion in an interview with The House magazine, describing the role of Prime Minister as "the loneliest job in the world".

Ruth Davidson was appointed to the Privy Council on 13 July 2016.

On 29 August 2019, Ruth Davidson stood down citing several political and personal reasons for her decision to resign as leader.

Ruth Davidson praised Amber Rudd's decision to leave the cabinet over the "act of political vandalism".

In October 2019, Ruth Davidson accepted a public relations role for lobbying firm Tulchan Communications while retaining her job as an MSP.

In July 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, Ruth Davidson lobbied for the leadership bid of Douglas Ross after the resignation of Jackson Carlaw who resigned due to Scottish Conservative support falling in polls, pressure from backbenchers and support for Scottish Independence on the rise.

Ruth Davidson agreed to serve as Leader of the Conservative Party in the Scottish Parliament until the 2021 Scottish Parliament election, while Ross was yet to be elected to the Scottish Parliament.

In July 2021, Ruth Davidson entered the House of Lords as Baroness Ruth Davidson of Lundin Links, of Lundin Links in the County of Fife.

Ruth Davidson made her maiden speech on 22 October 2021 when she supported Baroness Meacher's Assisted Dying Bill.

Ruth Davidson identifies as a "One Nation Conservative" and a centrist, and is seen as being on the socially liberal wing of the Conservative Party.

Ruth Davidson advocated a "Remain" vote at the 2016 European Union referendum and, after the UK voted to leave the EU, said she wanted the UK to remain part of the European Single Market and Customs Union with reciprocal freedom of movement rights, though she subsequently supported leaving the Customs Union and ending free movement.

At the 2016 Conservative Party Conference, Ruth Davidson warned her party that "immigrants should be made to feel welcome in the UK" and the "party should not lurch to the right in the wake of Labour's implosion".

Ruth Davidson argued that Britain should seek access to the European Single Market even if that means accepting reciprocal freedom of movement.

Ruth Davidson calls for an end to the automatic release of prisoners, and believes that alcohol and drug consumption should not grant more lenient sentencing to people who have committed crimes.

Ruth Davidson emphasises the necessity for proper infrastructure in rural areas, particularly with regard to ferry links.

Ruth Davidson supports state-funded Roman Catholic schooling in Scotland, and believes the Church of Scotland should open its own faith schools as well.

Ruth Davidson called on the UK and Scottish Governments to work together and put "stability" first.

Ruth Davidson is willing to support a legal challenge in the Supreme Court on the basis of the Scottish Parliament voting to protect what it argued were its existing powers over Brexit.

Ruth Davidson asserts that the importance of legal action is to test the complex situation in the court.

Ruth Davidson has stated that she supports same-sex marriage, but believes religious institutions should not be forced to carry out the ceremonies should it conflict with their views.

Ruth Davidson urged the Republic of Ireland to vote "Yes" in the 2015 constitutional vote to enable same-sex marriage.

However, Ruth Davidson dismissed the suggestion in an interview with The House magazine, describing the role of Prime Minister as "the loneliest job in the world".

On 18 February 2015, Ruth Davidson appeared in a party election broadcast in which she was seen with her same-sex partner Jen Wilson, a 33-year-old Irish woman from County Wexford.

On 26 April 2018 Ruth Davidson announced that she had become pregnant after receiving IVF treatment, and that she and Wilson were "excited" to be expecting their first child.

Ruth Davidson has said that these struggles almost dissuaded her from running for leadership.

Ruth Davidson is a member of the Church of Scotland and counts dog walking, hillwalking and kickboxing as her hobbies.

On 23 October 2015, Ruth Davidson became the first female Scottish politician to appear as a panellist on the BBC One satirical news quiz Have I Got News for You.

In 2017, Ruth Davidson became Honorary Colonel of 32nd Signal Regiment.

Ruth Davidson was included in Time magazine's 100 Most Influential People of 2018.