Colin James Clark (born 20 May 1969) is a former

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 ...

politician who served as

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

Gordon Gordon may refer to: People * Gordon (given name), a masculine given name, including list of persons and fictional characters * Gordon (surname), the surname * Gordon (slave), escaped to a Union Army camp during the U.S. Civil War * Clan Gordon, ...

from 2017 to 2019.

Early life

Clark was educated at Turriff Academy, a comprehensive school and Heriot-Watt University. He worked in business and agriculture until his election to the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...

Political career

During the 2015 election campaign, Clark's Scottish National Party (SNP) opponent in Gordon, Alex Salmond, recorded in his diary: "The Tory candidate, Colin Clark, cuts an impressive figure but his politics are far too dry for this area. If the constituency were composed entirely of michty fairmers then he might be the ideal candidate. But it isn't and he is not." Clark then contested the East Aberdeenshire constituency at the 2016 Holyrood elections, and finished second to the SNP's

Gillian Martin Gillian Anne Martin is a Scottish politician serving as the Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the Aberdeenshire East since 2016. A member of the Scottish National Party (SNP), she has served as Convener of the Health, Social Care and ...

with a 29% share of the vote. Clark was elected to Aberdeenshire Council in a 2016 by-election and re-elected in May 2017, shortly before the 2017 snap general election at which he was elected as the MP for Gordon with a majority of 2,607 votes over

Alex Salmond Alexander Elliot Anderson Salmond (; born 31 December 1954) is a Scottish politician and economist who served as First Minister of Scotland from 2007 to 2014. A prominent figure on the Scottish nationalist movement, he has served as leader ...

of the SNP, a former First Minister of Scotland. In January 2019, he was appointed Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) to the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). He also sat on the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Backbench Committee. On 27 July 2019, he was appointed

Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Scotland The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Scotland is a junior ministerial post (of Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State rank) in the Government of the United Kingdom, supporting the Secretary of State for Scotland. The post is also kno ...

and a

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 ...

in the

first Johnson ministry The first Johnson ministry began on 24 July 2019 when Queen Elizabeth II invited Boris Johnson to form a new administration, following the resignation of the predecessor Prime Minister Theresa May. May had resigned as Leader of the Cons ...

. Clark was unseated at the 2019 United Kingdom general election by the SNP candidate Richard Thomson by a narrow majority of 819 votes.

Later career

Clark was blocked by

Ruth Davidson Ruth Elizabeth Davidson, Baroness Davidson of Lundin Links (born 10 November 1978), is a Scottish politician who served as Leader of the Scottish Conservative Party from 2011 to 2019 and Leader of the Scottish Conservative Party in the Scottish ...

from standing at the

2021 Scottish Parliament election The 2021 Scottish Parliament election took place on 6 May 2021, under the provisions of the Scotland Act 1998. All 129 Members of the Scottish Parliament were elected in the sixth election since the parliament was re-established in 1999. The e ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Clark, Colin 1968 births Living people Alumni of Heriot-Watt University People educated at Turriff Academy Politicians from Aberdeen Scottish Conservative Party MPs Scottish farmers UK MPs 2017–2019