Alex Rowley
| Alex Rowley MSP |
|
|---|---|
| Deputy Leader of the Scottish Labour Party | |
| Assumed office 15 August 2015 |
|
| Leader | Kezia Dugdale |
| Preceded by | Kezia Dugdale |
| Member of the Scottish Parliament for Mid Scotland and Fife |
|
| Assumed office 6 May 2016 |
|
| Member of the Scottish Parliament for Cowdenbeath |
|
| In office 23 January 2014 – 23 March 2016 |
|
| Preceded by | Helen Eadie |
| Succeeded by | Annabelle Ewing |
| Personal details | |
| Born | November 30, 1963 Dunfermline |
| Nationality | United Kingdom |
| Political party | Labour |
| Residence | Kelty, Fife |
| Alma mater | Nottingham Trent University |
| Religion | Roman Catholic |
| Website | www.alexrowley.org |
Alex Rowley (born 1963) is the Deputy Leader of the Scottish Labour Party since 15 August 2015 and an additional member of the Scottish Parliament for Mid Scotland and Fife.
First elected at the Cowdenbeath by-election in January 2014 for the Cowdenbeath constituency, he lost the seat to Annabelle Ewing of the SNP in the Scottish Parliament election, 2016 but was re-elected to the Scottish Parliament as an additional member for Mid Scotland and Fife.
Early life
Born in Dunfermline and raised in Kelty, he was educated at St Columba's High School Dunfermline and Newbattle Abbey College Dalkeith, and at Edinburgh University graduating with an MA Honours in Sociology and Politics, and an MSc in community education.[1]
Political career
Rowley was General Secretary of the Scottish Labour Party from May 1998 to May 1999. He was first elected to Fife Regional Council in 1990 when he was Chairman of Finance, and he later became the first leader of the new Fife Council, a position he returned to in 2012 until his election to the Scottish Parliament in 2014.
Prior to his election as an MSP he was a Fife councillor (re-elected in 2007) and Labour Council Group Leader.[2] He has three grown up children and one granddaughter. He worked as an education official with the TUC and worked for five years as an assistant, election agent and constituency manager to Gordon Brown. He has been considered Gordon Brown's right-hand man and protégé.[3][4] He stood in the 2011 Scottish election as a Labour candidate for Dunfermline.
He declared his candidacy for the Scottish Labour Party's 2015 deputy leadership election, and was elected on the 15th of August 2015.
