Alister Jack
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Alister William Jack (born 7 July 1963) is a British politician serving as Secretary of State for Scotland since 2019. A member of the
Scottish Conservatives The Scottish Conservative & Unionist Party ( gd, Pàrtaidh Tòraidheach na h-Alba, sco, Scots Tory an Unionist Pairty), often known simply as the Scottish Conservatives and colloquially as the Scottish Tories, is a centre-right political par ...
, he has been the
Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...
(MP) for Dumfries and Galloway since
2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a s ...
.


Early life

Jack was born on 7 July 1963 in Dumfries,
Dumfriesshire Dumfriesshire or the County of Dumfries or Shire of Dumfries (''Siorrachd Dhùn Phris'' in Gaelic) is a historic county and registration county in southern Scotland. The Dumfries lieutenancy area covers a similar area to the historic county. I ...
, in
Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...
to David and Jean Jack (who was
Lord Lieutenant of Dumfries This is a list of people who have served as Lord-Lieutenant of Dumfries. *William Douglas, 4th Duke of Queensberry 17 March 1794 –1797 * Charles Montagu-Scott, 4th Duke of Buccleuch 17 November 1797 – 20 April 1819 *Charles Douglas, ...
between 2006 and 2016). He was raised in
Dalbeattie Dalbeattie (, sco, Dawbeattie, gd, Dail Bheithe meaning 'haugh of the birch' or ''Dail'' ''bhàite'' 'drowned (''i.e.'' liable to flood) haugh') is a town in the historical county of Kirkcudbrightshire in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. Dalbe ...
and
Kippford Kippford (; otherwise Scaur)
Gazetteer for Scotland is a small village along the Crawfordton House – a private prep school near
Moniaive Moniaive ( 'monny-IVE'; gd, Am Moine Naomh, ''"The Holy Moor"'') is a village in the Parish of Glencairn, in Dumfries and Galloway, southwest Scotland. It stands on the Cairn and Dalwhat Waters, north-west of the town of Dumfries. Moniaive has ...
, Dumfriesshire – and then at
Glenalmond College Glenalmond College is a co-educational independent boarding school in Perth and Kinross, Scotland, for children aged between 12 and 18 years. It is situated on the River Almond near the village of Methven, about west of the city of Perth. ...
, at that time an all-boys
independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...
boarding school. He later attended Heriot-Watt University.


Business career

Alister Jack is a businessman, having founded tent-hire and self-storage companies, the latter building his fortune of £20 million. He currently owns a farm of 1,200 acres in Courance, near Lockerbie. He formerly chaired the River Annan Fishery Board and Trust, Fisheries Management Scotland and Galloway Woodlands.


Political career


House of Commons

In the 1997 general election, Jack stood in Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale, but came third, being defeated by the
Liberal Democrat Several political parties from around the world have been called the Liberal Democratic Party or Liberal Democrats. These parties usually follow a liberal democratic ideology. Active parties Former parties See also *Liberal democracy *Lib ...
future Secretary of State for Scotland Michael Moore. Jack was elected to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom in the 2017 general election. He stood in the rural Scottish constituency of Dumfries and Galloway and defeated incumbent Scottish National Party MP
Richard Arkless Richard Lambert Thomas Arkless (born 7 July 1975) is a Scottish National Party politician, who was elected as MP for Dumfries and Galloway (UK Parliament constituency), Dumfries and Galloway at the 2015 United Kingdom general election, 2015 UK ...
. Jack was one of the 13
Scottish Conservative The Scottish Conservative & Unionist Party ( gd, Pàrtaidh Tòraidheach na h-Alba, sco, Scots Tory an Unionist Pairty), often known simply as the Scottish Conservatives and colloquially as the Scottish Tories, is a centre-right political par ...
MPs elected to the
UK Parliament The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative suprema ...
being the highest number since the 1983 general election. He was a member of the
Treasury Select Committee The House of Commons Treasury Committee (often referred to as the Treasury Select Committee) is a select committee of the House of Commons in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The remit of the committee is to examine the expenditure, administr ...
in the 57th Parliament. He signed a letter to the
prime minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...
,
Theresa May Theresa Mary May, Lady May (; née Brasier; born 1 October 1956) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2016 to 2019. She previously served in David Cameron's cabi ...
, on 16 February 2018, making suggestions about the way the United Kingdom should leave the
European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...
. Jack was appointed Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) to the Leader of the House of Lords on 31 August 2018, a position he held until he was appointed an Assistant Government Whip on 20 February 2019. On 23 April 2019 he was appointed
Lord Commissioner of the Treasury In the United Kingdom there are at least six Lords Commissioners of His Majesty's Treasury, serving as a commission for the ancient office of Treasurer of the Exchequer. The board consists of the First Lord of the Treasury, the Second Lord of the ...
, a role in the Government Whips Office.


Secretary of State for Scotland

He was appointed as Secretary of State for Scotland by
Boris Johnson Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (; born 19 June 1964) is a British politician, writer and journalist who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2019 to 2022. He previously served as F ...
on 24 July 2019. Jack was the first MP of the 2017 intake to join the Cabinet. Jack retained his seat at the 2019 general election with an increased share of the vote but with a reduced majority. He was reappointed to the
Truss ministry Liz Truss was invited by Queen Elizabeth II—two days before the monarch's death—to succeed Boris Johnson as prime minister of the United Kingdom on 6 September 2022. Johnson resigned as leader of the Conservative Party the previous day a ...
in September 2022. On 10 September 2022, Jack attended the Accession Council and Principal Proclamation for His Majesty King Charles III at St James's Palace, London. Jack signed the Official Proclamation and witnessed His Majesty's Oath relating to the security of the Church of Scotland. On 15 September 2022, as a member of the
Royal Company of Archers The Royal Company of Archers, The King's Bodyguard for Scotland is a ceremonial unit that serves as the Sovereign's bodyguard in Scotland—a role it has performed since 1822 during the reign of King George IV when the company provided a per ...
, Jack and fellow Cabinet Minister Ben Wallace stood vigil at Queen Elizabeth II's coffin. He was retained by Rishi Sunak when he became prime minister on 25 October 2022.


Personal life

Jack is married to Ann (née Hodgson) and has three grown-up children. On 28 March 2020 he developed
COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickly ...
symptoms and became the third Cabinet minister to begin self-isolating.


Honours

* He was sworn in as a member of Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council on 25 July 2019 at Buckingham Palace. This gave him the Honorific Prefix "
The Right Honourable ''The Right Honourable'' (abbreviation: ''Rt Hon.'' or variations) is an honorific Style (form of address), style traditionally applied to certain persons and collective bodies in the United Kingdom, the former British Empire and the Commonwealth ...
" for Life. * He was appointed as a deputy lieutenant for the Lieutenancy of
Dumfriesshire Dumfriesshire or the County of Dumfries or Shire of Dumfries (''Siorrachd Dhùn Phris'' in Gaelic) is a historic county and registration county in southern Scotland. The Dumfries lieutenancy area covers a similar area to the historic county. I ...
. This gave him the
Post Nominal Letters Post-nominal letters, also called post-nominal initials, post-nominal titles, designatory letters or simply post-nominals, are letters placed after a person's name to indicate that the individual holds a position, academic degree, accreditation, ...
"DL" for Life.


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Jack, Alister 1963 births Living people Scottish Conservative Party MPs UK MPs 2017–2019 UK MPs 2019–present Scottish farmers People from Dumfries People educated at Glenalmond College Secretaries of State for Scotland Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom 21st-century Scottish businesspeople Deputy Lieutenants of Dumfries Members of the Royal Company of Archers