Jim Wallace (Scottish politician)
| Jim Wallace | |
|---|---|
| Former Acting First Minister of Scotland From: 8 November 2001 – 27 November 2001 | |
| Predecessor | Henry McLeish (as First Minister) |
| Successor | Jack McConnell (as First Minster) |
| Former Acting First Minister of Scotland From: 11 October 2000 – 27 October 2000 | |
| Predecessor | Donald Dewar (as First Minister) |
| Successor | Henry McLeish (as First Minister) |
| Information | |
| Party | Liberal Democrats |
James Robert Wallace, Baron Wallace of Tankerness (b. 1954) is a Scottish politician for the Liberal Democrats, for whom he has served as a life peer since 2007. He was deputy First Minister of Scotland from 1999 to 2005, during which period he served as acting First Minister twice, first in 2000 when Donald Dewar died and again in 2001 after Henry McLeish resigned.
Political career
Jim Wallace entered the UK Parliament on 9 June 1983 when he was elected as the Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament for Orkney and Shetland in that year's general election, which was a landslide for Margaret Thatcher's Conservative Party. He won the seat with 46% of the vote,[1] replacing the retiring Joseph Grimond (1913-1993) who had represented that seat since February 1950.
Wallace led the Scottish Liberal Democrats into the first ever Scottish Parliament election, which took place on 6 May 1999, following a referendum in late 1997 in which a majority of Scottish voters supported the establishment of a Scottish Parliament. In that vote, Wallace was elected to represent the constituency of Orkney, with 67% of the vote.
Wallace became the first deputy First Minister of Scotland on 19 May 1999 with Labour's Donald Dewar (1937-2000) serving as First Minister, after Labour and the Liberal Democrats made an agreement to form the inaugural Scottish Executive.
Wallace's first of two periods serving as acting First Minister of Scotland, of which both lasted little more than a few weeks, began on 11 October 2000 with the in-office death of First Minister Donald Dewar.
Wallace was re-elected as MSP for Orkney in the 2003 Scottish Parliament election, which was held on 1 May that year. He won by a significantly reduced margin than in 1999, with only 45% of the vote.
