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Leader of the Scottish National Party

Head of the Scottish National Party

Field	Value
post	Leader of the Scottish National Party
image	John Swinney - First Minister (53720492021) (cropped).jpg
incumbent	John Swinney
incumbentsince	6 May 2024
formation	7 April 1934
inaugural	Alexander MacEwen
website	https://www.snp.org
deputy	Keith Brown
flag	Scottish National Party logo 2016.svg
flagsize	170px
flagcaption	Logo of the Scottish National Party
imagesize	150px

The leader of the Scottish National Party is the highest position within Scotland's Scottish National Party (SNP). The incumbent is John Swinney, who was elected unopposed in the 2024 leadership election on 6 May 2024, succeeding Humza Yousaf as party leader.

Scotland has had a devolved government since 1999. When the SNP is Scotland's major governing party, as it currently is, its leader has also been the First Minister of Scotland.

History

The post was officially created on 7 April 1934 with the foundation of the SNP. The role was titled Chairman of the Scottish National Party from 1934 until 1969, with the first chairman, Alexander MacEwen, appointed to the office in 1934. In 1969 the title of chairman was replaced with that of National Convener, with William Wolfe the first person elected as National Convener. The post gained its current title of Leader at the SNP spring conference on 24 April 2004.

While Gordon Wilson had the longest uninterrupted spell as leader, lasting just over eleven years from 1979 to 1990, Alex Salmond has been the party's longest-serving leader overall, serving twenty years and two months across two spells as leader.

Other party leadership

Keith Brown is the depute leader of the party; however, he is not the Deputy First Minister of Scotland.

Stephen Flynn is the Leader of the party's House of Commons delegation, with Pete Wishart as deputy leader.

Leaders of the Scottish National Party (1934–present)

Leader
(Birth–Death)	Portrait	Political office	Took office	Left office
Sir Alexander MacEwen
(1875–1941)	[[File:Mcewan.jpg	85px]]	Provost of Inverness (1925–1931)
Councillor for Benbecula (1931–1941)	7 April 1934	1936
Prof Andrew Dewar Gibb KC
(1888–1974)	[[File:Male portrait placeholder cropped.jpg	85px]]	Candidate for Combined Scottish Universities (1936, 1938)	1936	1940
William Power
(1873–1951)	[[File:Male portrait placeholder cropped.jpg	85px]]	Candidate for Argyllshire (1940)	1940	30 May 1942
Douglas Young
(1913–1973)	[[File:Douglas Young, circa 1945.jpg	85px]]	Candidate for Kirkcaldy Burghs (1944)	30 May 1942	9 June 1945
Prof Bruce Watson
(1910–1988)	[[File:Male portrait placeholder cropped.jpg	85px]]		9 June 1945	May 1947
Dr Robert McIntyre
(1913–1998)	[[File:Male portrait placeholder cropped.jpg	85px]]	MP for Motherwell (1945)
Provost of Stirling (1967–1975)
Councillor for Stirling (1956–1975)	May 1947	June 1956
James Halliday
(1927–2013)	[[File:Male portrait placeholder cropped.jpg	85px]]	Candidate for Stirling and Falkirk (1959)	June 1956	5 June 1960
Arthur Donaldson
(1901–1993)	[[File:Arthur Donaldson, circa 1945.jpg	85px]]	Councillor for Angus (1946–1955)
Councillor for Forfar (1945–1968)	5 June 1960	1 June 1969
William Wolfe
(1924–2010)		Candidate for West Lothian (1970–79)	1 June 1969	15 September 1979
Gordon Wilson
(1938–2017)	[[File:Winnie_Ewing_and_Gordon_Wilson_Brussels_(cropped).jpg	85px]]	MP for Dundee East (1974–1987)	15 September 1979	22 September 1990
Alex Salmond
(1954–2024)
(1st Term)	[[File:Alex Salmond, First Minister of Scotland (cropped).jpg	85px]]	MP for Banff and Buchan (1987–2010)
MSP for Banff and Buchan (1999–2001)	22 September 1990	26 September 2000
John Swinney
(born 1964)
(1st Term)	[[File:John Swinney in 1999.jpg	85px]]	MSP for North Tayside (1999–2011)
MP for North Tayside (1997–2001)	26 September 2000	3 September 2004
The Right Hon. Alex Salmond
(1954–2024)
(2nd Term)	[[File:Alex Salmond, First Minister of Scotland (cropped).jpg	85px]]	First Minister (2007–2014)
MSP for Aberdeenshire East (2011–2016)
MSP for Gordon (2007–2011)
MP for Gordon (2015–2017)	3 September 2004	14 November 2014
The Right Hon. Nicola Sturgeon
(born 1970)	[[File:First Minister Nicola Sturgeon official portrait (cropped).jpg	85px]]	First Minister (2014–2023)
MSP for Glasgow Southside (since 2011)
MSP for Glasgow Govan (2007–2011)
MSP for Glasgow (1999–2007)	14 November 2014	27 March 2023
The Right Hon. Humza Yousaf
(born 1985)	[[File:First Minister of Scotland Humza Yousaf (cropped 4).jpg	85px]]	First Minister (2023–2024)	27 March 2023	6 May 2024
The Right Hon. John Swinney
(born 1964)
(2nd Term)	[[File:John_Swinney_-_First_Minister_(53720492021)_(cropped).jpg	85px]]	First Minister (2024–present)
MSP for Perthshire North (since 2011)
MSP for North Tayside (1999–2011)
MP for North Tayside (1997–2001)	6 May 2024	Incumbent

Timeline

DateFormat = dd/mm/yyyy ImageSize = width:1000 height:auto barincrement:14 Period = from:01/01/1934 till:31/12/ TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal AlignBars = late PlotArea = top:10 bottom:50 right:130 left:20 ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:4 start:01/01/1934 ScaleMinor = unit:year increment:1 start:01/01/1935

Define $today =

Colors = id:leader value:rgb(0.961, 0.914, 0.42)

BarData = bar:MacEwen bar:Dewar-Gibb bar:Power bar:Young bar:Watson bar:McIntyre bar:Halliday bar:Donaldson bar:Wolfe bar:Wilson bar:Salmond bar:Swinney bar:Sturgeon bar:Yousaf

PlotData = width:5 align:left fontsize:S shift:(5,-4) anchor:till

bar:MacEwen from: 07/04/1934 till: 01/01/1936 color:leader text:"Alexander MacEwen" bar:Dewar-Gibb from: 01/01/1936 till: 01/01/1940 color:leader text:"Andrew Dewar Gibb" bar:Power from: 01/01/1940 till: 30/05/1942 color:leader text:"William Power" bar:Young from: 30/05/1942 till: 09/06/1945 color:leader text:"Douglas Young" bar:Watson from: 09/06/1945 till: 01/05/1947 color:leader text:"Bruce Watson" bar:McIntyre from: 01/05/1947 till: 01/06/1956 color:leader text:"Robert McIntyre" bar:Halliday from: 01/06/1956 till: 05/06/1960 color:leader text:"James Halliday" bar:Donaldson from: 05/06/1960 till: 01/06/1969 color:leader text:"Arthur Donaldson" bar:Wolfe from: 01/06/1969 till: 15/09/1979 color:leader text:"William Wolfe" bar:Wilson from: 15/09/1979 till: 22/09/1990 color:leader text:"Gordon Wilson" bar:Salmond from: 22/09/1990 till: 26/09/2000 color:leader from: 03/09/2004 till: 14/11/2014 color:leader text:"Alex Salmond" bar:Swinney from: 26/09/2000 till: 03/09/2004 color:leader text: from: 06/05/2024 till: $today color:leader text:"John Swinney" bar:Sturgeon from: 14/11/2014 till: 27/03/2023 color:leader text:"Nicola Sturgeon" bar:Yousaf from: 27/03/2023 till: 06/05/2024 color:leader text:"Humza Yousaf"

References

(2019-10-09). "Keith Brown".
(2018-06-08). "Keith Brown elected SNP deputy leader". BBC News.
(6 December 2022). "Stephen Flynn elected as new SNP leader at Westminster". BBC News.
(2024-07-10). "New SNP frontbench roles confirmed after loss of seats at General Election".
"Scottish Highland Photo Archive – Image Detail".

Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

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