March 13, 2018

The Right Honourable Henry McLeish, a former professional football player, began his political career in Fife, Scotland in the early 1970’s, working his way through the ranks of the Kirkcaldy District Council and the Fife Regional Council.Elected to the United Kingdom Parliament in 1987 he became a member of the Blair Government in 1997.

As Minister for Devolution and Home Affairs at the Scottish Office from 1997 to 1999 he was instrumental in shaping Scotland’s first Parliament in almost 300 years. He was also responsible for Law and Order including the Police and the Prison Service. Elected to the Scottish Parliament in 1999 he was Minister for Enterprise and Life Long Learning overseeing higher education, industry, science, technology and the economy.

He became First Minister of Scotland in 2000: taking responsibility for Scotland’s emerging role on the European and World stage, leading official government missions internationally and implementing Scotland’s social and economic policies. He became a member of the Privy Council – an honour bestowed by Her Majesty the Queen – in the same year. He played a key role in the process of devolution, which returned key aspects of legislative power and Government authority from the UK to Scotland. After 30 years in elected office, Mr McLeish retired from elected public office in 2003.

During the last few years he has been visiting professor and lecturer at a number of universities in the US, teaching European Union studies and UK Government and Politics. He was Visiting Professor of European Studies at the University of Arkansas and Honorary Professor at Edinburgh University and is currently Visiting Professor of European Studies at St Mary’s University Law School, San Antonio, Texas. He has also lectured at the University of Oklahoma and the United States Air Force Academy at Colorado Springs. Courses have included: The political integration of the EU; Economic and Monetary Union; Current EU issues; Democracy and Government in the EU; EU foreign policy and external affairs; How the EU works and the complex structure of EU law; The issues of intergovernmentalism, supranationalism and federalism; and the future of the EU viewed through the prism of, “a United Europe of States” or “a United States of Europe”

He has advised the LEED programme of the OECD in Paris, the European foundation for the Improvement of Working and Living Conditions in Dublin. He has worked for the European Commission and CEDEFOP as a consultant and retains a real enthusiasm for the EU. Learning and Education remain very powerful interests. He is involved in consultancy and advisory work and is a regular contributor to newspapers and broadcasting. And also writes a twice monthly column for the Holyrood Political Magazine in Scotland.

He was a member of the Broadcasting Commission and Chair of the Scottish Prisons Commission, both set up by the Scottish Government. Chair of the National Mining Museum of Scotland and was recently Chair of a major review of Scottish football. He recently chaired a Sports Commission for the Scottish Government looking at the possible impact of Independence. He was Chair the Glasgow Colleges Regional Board. He is also a member of the Open University Advisory Group in Scotland. Included in his interests are: the life and works of Robert Burns, Scotland’s National Poet-now Honorary President of the Bowhill Peoples Burns Club; Scottish and European History; the study of famous speeches; US politics; and Football. He is a frequent visitor to the USA and has now visited 42 states of the Union in the last 20 years.

On leaving office he published “Scotland First” a political autobiography. With a colleague Kenny MacKaskill, a Member of the Scottish Parliament and formerly Cabinet Secretary, he has published two books on Scottish organisations and Diaspora World- wide, “Where Ever the Saltire Flies” and “Global Scots- Voices From Afar” In 2008 he published with Tom Brown, political journalist, a book on the Future of the Union of the United Kingdom, titled “Scotland : The Road Divides”. Again with Tom Brown, he published “Scotland: a Suitable Case for Treatment” in August 2009. And, in 2012 he published, “Scotland the Growing Divide”. His most recent book was published in the summer of 2014, “Rethinking our Politics- The Political and Constitutional Future of the United Kingdom”.