David Michael Doogan (born 4 March 1973) is a

Scottish National Party The Scottish National Party (SNP; sco, Scots National Pairty, gd, Pàrtaidh Nàiseanta na h-Alba ) is a Scottish nationalist and social democratic political party in Scotland. The SNP supports and campaigns for Scottish independence from ...

(SNP) politician who was elected as 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 of ...

(MP) for

Angus Angus may refer to: Media * ''Angus'' (film), a 1995 film * ''Angus Og'' (comics), in the ''Daily Record'' Places Australia * Angus, New South Wales Canada * Angus, Ontario, a community in Essa, Ontario * East Angus, Quebec Scotland * An ...

in the

2019 United Kingdom general election The 2019 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday, 12 December 2019. It resulted in the Conservative Party (UK), Conservative Party receiving a Landslide victory, landslide majority of 80 seats. The Conservatives made a net gain of 4 ...

, after defeating incumbent

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...

candidate

Kirstene Hair Kirstene Janette Hair (born 12 August 1989) is a former Scottish Conservative Party politician. She was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Angus between 2017 and 2019. Early life and career Hair was born on 12 August 1989 in Brechin, Angus, ...

. He has been serving as SNP Spokesperson for Defence since December 2022.

Early life and career

Doogan was born on 4 March 1973 in

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

to Irish parents James and Annie ( Walsh) Doogan. He was a civilian in the Royal Navy from 1989 to 2007. He served as an Apprentice Aircraft Engineer from 1989 to 1993, also working in repair and overhaul of Helicopter Transmission, specialising in Sea King Search and Rescue Aircraft, as a surveyor, team leader, supervisor, operations planning manager, Sea King and Lynx Transmissions Production Manager and in Commercial Management. A former aircraft engineer with the

Ministry of Defence {{unsourced, date=February 2021 A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in states ...

, Doogan left his successful career in the civil service in 2007 to pursue a career in politics. Doogan graduated in 2011 from the

University of Dundee The University of Dundee; . Abbreviated as ''Dund.'' for post-nominals. is a public university, public research university based in Dundee, Scotland. It was founded as a University college#United Kingdom, university college in 1881 with a donation ...

with a First Class MA (Hons) in Politics and International Relations. From 2011 to 2016, he was a caseworker for the office of

John Swinney John Ramsay Swinney (born 13 April 1964) is a Scottish politician who has served as Deputy First Minister of Scotland since 2014 and Cabinet Secretary for Covid Recovery since 2021. He was the Leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP) from 200 ...

MSP. Doogan was co-owner of Perthshire Garden and Property from 2016 to 2019.

Perth and Kinross Council

Doogan was elected to

Perth and Kinross Council Perth and Kinross Council ( gd, Comhairle Pheairt is Cheann Rois) is the local government council for the Perth and Kinross council area of Scotland. It employs around 6,000 people. The council was created in 1996, under the ''Local Government ...

as a councillor for Perth City North in

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

, with the largest share of first preference votes in that ward. Upon election, Doogan became Convenor of Housing and Health, having responsibility for

council housing Public housing in the United Kingdom, also known as council estates, council housing, or social housing, provided the majority of rented accommodation until 2011 when the number of households in private rental housing surpassed the number in so ...

, social care, and a seat on the board of

NHS Tayside NHS Tayside is an NHS board which forms one of the fourteen regions of NHS Scotland. It provides healthcare services in Angus, the City of Dundee and Perth and Kinross. NHS Tayside is headquartered at Ninewells Hospital in Dundee; one of the lar ...

. Doogan was reelected to PKC in

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 ser ...

, increasing his share of the vote by 4.02%. At the election he became the leader of the SNP group on Perth and Kinross Council, and as such,

Leader of the Opposition The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the largest political party not in government, typical in countries utilizing the parliamentary system form of government. The leader of the opposition is typically se ...

. Following his election, he delivered a speech about the Gaelic language in which he said: "Let us not reflect on concerns that we have been under the heel of foreign influence and power for over 300 years. The island of Britain is no longer subject to the actions of quislings who may seek to see smaller cultures extinguished on an island of coffins by red coats." The remarks were condemned by his party leader, Nicola Sturgeon, at a session of First Minister's Questions. After his election to Parliament in December 2019 Doogan announced his intention to stand down as a councillor in 2020, with the timing of his resignation subject to the Chief Executive of PKC scheduling a

by election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...

House of Commons

Upon the announcement of the 2019 general election Doogan was selected as the SNP candidate for

. He won election on 12 December 2019 after defeating the incumbent

, and was sworn into Parliament on 18 December. Doogan became the SNP Spokesperson for Agriculture and Rural Affairs on 7 January 2020. On 16 October 2020, he also became Spokesperson for Manufacturing.

Personal life

Doogan married Gillian Kirk in 1999; they have a son and daughter.

Electoral history

Perth and Kinross Council

House of Commons

file:AngusConstituency.svg , 185px,

shown within Scotland

References

External links

* Living people Scottish National Party MPs UK MPs 2019–present Scottish National Party councillors 1973 births People from Perth, Scotland Alumni of the University of Dundee Scottish people of Irish descent {{UK-MP-2019-stub