Stephen Gethins

Stephen Patrick Gethins (born 28 March 1976) is a Scottish National Party (SNP) politician who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for North East Fife from the 2015 general election, until he lost his seat at the 2019 general election to Wendy Chamberlain of the Liberal Democrats.

Stephen Gethins
Gethins in 2017
SNP Spokesperson for International Affairs and Europe
In office
20 June 2017 – 12 December 2019
LeaderIan Blackford
Preceded byAlex Salmond
Succeeded byAlyn Smith
Member of Parliament
for North East Fife
In office
7 May 2015 – 6 November 2019
Preceded byMenzies Campbell
Succeeded byWendy Chamberlain
Personal details
Born
Stephen Patrick Gethins

(1976-03-28) 28 March 1976[1]
Glasgow, Scotland, UK
Political partyScottish National Party
Children2
Alma materUniversity of Dundee
University of Kent

Background and education

Gethins was born in Glasgow and brought up in Perth.[2] He was educated at Perth Academy. He graduated with a Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of Dundee in 1998, specialising in public international law. He also holds a Master of Research from the University of Kent. He worked in the NGO Sector specialising in peace-building, arms control and democracy in the Caucasus and the Balkans regions. He worked with NGO Links in Tbilisi focusing on the conflicts surrounding the breakaway entities in the South Caucasus such as South Ossetia, Abkhazia and Nagorno-Karabakh. He also worked for Saferworld on arms control, peace-building and democratisation in the former Soviet Union and Balkans.[2]

Political career

Gethins was appointed a Special Adviser to Scotland's First Minister, Alex Salmond, advising on European and International Affairs as well as Rural Affairs, Energy and Climate Change[3] and subsequently advised Nicola Sturgeon. He was a Political Advisor with the Committee of the Regions in the European Union, a position which saw him working with local authorities from across Europe. He also worked at Scotland Europa.[4]

He was on the list of SNP candidates for the six Scottish seats in the 2014 European Parliament election,[5] although only the first two SNP candidates were elected.

UK Parliament

In February 2015, he was selected by the local party members to contest the 2015 general election at the North East Fife constituency. He won 18,523 votes (a 40.9% share of the vote) and received a majority of 4,344 votes over the Liberal Democrat candidate, Tim Brett, who was selected after the retirement of the seat's long-term Lib Dem MP and former party leader, Sir Ming Campbell.[6][7] In May 2015, the SNP made him their Spokesperson on Europe at Westminster.[8] In July he was appointed as a member of the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Select Committee,[9] the first SNP candidate to win the seat.

At the 2017 general election, Gethins was narrowly re-elected as the MP for North East Fife. He received 13,743 votes, giving him a very slim majority of just two votes over the Liberal Democrats; the joint-third smallest majority in British political history. This was confirmed after three re-counts before being declared.[10] After the election, Gethins was promoted to the SNP Westminster frontbench team of Ian Blackford as the party's Spokesperson for International Affairs and Europe.[11][12]

Despite increasing his share of the vote, he lost his seat at the 2019 general election to the Liberal Democrat candidate, Wendy Chamberlain[13][14] who won by a majority of 1,316 votes.[15] This made him the only SNP MP to lose their seat at the general election that year.

After Westminster

In July 2020, Gethins was announced as the chair of ‘eu+me’- a campaign for a close relationship between Scotland and the EU after Brexit.[16]

References
  1. "Members' Names Data Platform query". UK Parliament. Retrieved 24 April 2019.
  2. Demianyk, Graeme (28 July 2015). "Stephen Gethins Interview: Kalashnikovs, Kylie And Cans Of Irn-Bru". Huffington Post. Retrieved 19 April 2017.
  3. "SNP selects Gethins as candidate". Fife Today. 7 February 2015. Retrieved 11 May 2015.
  4. "Tiny majority sees Stephen Gethins again keep Lib Dems out". The Herald. 9 June 2017. Retrieved 11 March 2018.
  5. "Hudghton and Smith to stand for SNP at European Parliament elections". STV News. 29 July 2013. Retrieved 11 May 2015.
  6. Alexander, Michael (8 May 2015). "General Election 2015: SNP's 'positive ambition' rewarded with victory in North East Fife". The Courier. Retrieved 11 May 2015.
  7. "Election 2015: Fife North East". bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 8 May 2015.
  8. Alexander, Lindsey (21 May 2015). "Prestigious role for North East Fife's new MP Gethins". Fife Today. Retrieved 19 April 2017.
  9. Cormack, Lori (10 July 2015). "North east Fife MP Gethins appointed to foreign affairs committee". Fife Today. Retrieved 19 April 2017.
  10. "General election 2017: SNP wins Fife North East seat by just two votes". BBC News. 9 June 2017. Retrieved 9 June 2017.
  11. "SNP announces Westminster front bench team". The Scotsman. 21 June 2017. Retrieved 20 March 2018.
  12. "Stephen Gethins MP". UK Parliament. Retrieved 20 March 2018.
  13. "SNP loses in UK's narrowest marginal". 13 December 2019 – via www.bbc.co.uk.
  14. "Fife North East parliamentary constituency - Election 2019" – via www.bbc.co.uk.
  15. "North East Fife (Constituency) 2019 results - General election results". parliament.uk.
  16. Ponson, Bernard (22 July 2020). "New campaign to forge close ties between Scotland and EU". STV News. Retrieved 11 January 2021.
  • profile at University of St Andrews
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Ming Campbell		 Member of Parliament
for North East Fife
2015–2019		 Succeeded by
Wendy Chamberlain
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