Andrew Egan Henderson Hendry (born 1964), known as Drew Hendry, 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 serving 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 of ...
(MP) for
Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey since 2015. He has been serving as SNP Foreign Affairs Spokesperson since December 2022. He was a
councillor
A councillor is an elected representative for a local government council in some countries.
Canada
Due to the control that the provinces have over their municipal governments, terms that councillors serve vary from province to province. Unl ...
in
Highland
Highlands or uplands are areas of high elevation such as a mountainous region, elevated mountainous plateau or high hills. Generally speaking, upland (or uplands) refers to ranges of hills, typically from up to while highland (or highlands) is ...
from 2007 to 2015 and was Council Leader from 2012 to 2015. He has served as the
SNP International Trade Spokesperson since 2021 and was previously the SNP Spokesperson for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy in 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. ...
from 2017 to 2021.
Early life
He grew up in
Edinburgh
Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...
. Although as a teenager he was too young to vote in the
Scottish referendum of 1979 he feels this sparked his interest in politics and representation.
He worked for Electrolux. He lived and worked in Edinburgh until 1999 when he and his wife moved to
Tore
Tore is a Scandinavian masculine name. It is derived from the Old Norse name ''Thórir'', which is composed of ''thorr'' which means thunder, and ''arr'' which means warrior. So Thunder Warrior or Thor's Warrior. The most famous person by this nam ...
in the
Black Isle
The Black Isle ( gd, an t-Eilean Dubh, ) is a peninsula within Ross and Cromarty, in the Scottish Highlands. It includes the towns of Cromarty and Fortrose, and the villages of Culbokie, Jemimaville, Rosemarkie, Avoch, Munlochy, Tore, and Nor ...
.
[ In 1999 he founded a company, teclan ltd, in Inverness, which delivers digital marketing services for online retailers and ecommerce merchants.][
He is the uncle of the wrestler ]Joe Hendry
Joseph Samuel Hendry (born 1 May 1988) is a Scottish Amateur wrestling, amateur wrestler, Professional wrestling, professional wrestler, and musician better known as Joe Hendry. He is currently signed to Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA). H ...
.
Political career
Hendry was first elected in the 2007
File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...
Local Elections for the Aird and Loch Ness Ward with 892 first preferences taking the third seat out of four. He was appointed leader of the SNP Highland Council group in 2011, replacing John Finnie
John Bradford Finnie (born 31 December 1956) is a Scottish Greens politician. He was the Green Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the Highlands and Islands region from 2016 up until 2021, having previously sat as a Scottish National P ...
who had become a list MSP for the Highlands and Islands. In September 2007, he was appointed to the board of the Cairngorms National Park Authority
Cairngorms National Park ( gd, Pàirc Nàiseanta a' Mhonaidh Ruaidh) is a national park in northeast Scotland, established in 2003. It was the second of two national parks established by the Scottish Parliament, after Loch Lomond and The Tross ...
.
He was selected to stand as one of the SNP's candidates for the six Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...
seats in the 2009 European Parliament election
The 2009 European Parliament election was held in the 27 member states of the European Union (EU) between 4 and 7 June 2009. A total of 736 Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) were elected to represent some 500 million Europeans, making th ...
, although he was fourth on their list and the outcome of the voting was the SNP returned two MEPs.
In the 2012 local elections he took the second seat in the ward, being elected with 840 first preferences and on the first count. After the 2012 Scottish local elections the SNP, the Scottish Liberal Democrats
The Scottish Liberal Democrats ( gd, Pàrtaidh Libearal Deamocratach na h-Alba, sco, Scots Leeberal Democrats) is a liberal, federalist political party in Scotland, a part of the United Kingdom Liberal Democrats. The party currently holds 4 o ...
and the Scottish Labour Party
Scottish Labour ( gd, Pàrtaidh Làbarach na h-Alba, sco, Scots Labour Pairty; officially the Scottish Labour Party) is a social democratic political party in Scotland. It is an autonomous section of the UK Labour Party. From their peak o ...
formed a coalition to run the council with Drew Hendry as Council Leader. The coalition held a 44–36 majority. This was the first time that the Independents have not been involved in the administration of the Highland Council.
Prior to the formation of the administration, he was leader of the SNP group in the council. He is credited with bringing in the real living wage
A living wage is defined as the minimum income necessary for a worker to meet their basic needs. This is not the same as a subsistence wage, which refers to a biological minimum, or a solidarity wage, which refers to a minimum wage tracking labor ...
for council employees, along with the creation of the Science Skills Academy and, also for committing the Highland Council to achieving Carbon neutral
Carbon neutrality is a state of net-zero carbon dioxide emissions. This can be achieved by balancing emissions of carbon dioxide with its removal (often through carbon offsetting) or by eliminating emissions from society (the transition to the "p ...
status for Inverness by 2025 – as part of the wider 'Carbon Clever' initiative.
In November 2014 he put his name forward as a prospective candidate for the Westminster election
An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office.
Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has opera ...
. In January 2015 it was announced that he had been selected to contest the Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey constituency in the 2015
File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...
general election. The incumbent Danny Alexander
Sir Daniel Grian Alexander (born 15 May 1972) is a former politician who was Chief Secretary to the Treasury between 2010 and 2015. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for the Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch & Strathspey constituency from 2005 u ...
had held the seat for the past 10 years and had been a key architect of the Liberal Democrats coalition deal with the Conservatives in 2010. Hendry spent less than half the amount on his campaign for this election that Alexander did. Alexander's campaign spend of £50,000 was the highest in Scotland, with 80 per cent of this money coming from wealthy individuals. Hendry won the election, beating Alexander by more than 10,000 votes.
On 20 May 2015, he was announced as one of the SNP's leadership team at Westminster and as the party's spokesperson on Transport. In 2017, he was appointed as SNP Leader for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.
Having been elected as an MP, Hendry immediately resigned from his position as leader of Highland Council. Two months later, he announced that he was also resigning from his position of councillor for Aird and Loch Ness, in order to focus on his duties as an MP.
Hendry chairs Westminster's all-party parliamentary group
An all-party parliamentary group (APPG) is a grouping in the Parliament of the United Kingdom that is composed of members of parliament from all political parties, but have no official status within Parliament.
Description and functions
All-party ...
for the Terminally ill.
At the 2017 election, Hendry's majority was reduced from 10,809 to 4,924.
At the 2019 election, his majority increased from 4,924 to 10,440.
In June 2020, Hendry supported the declaration of additional financial support by the Scottish Government during the summer months for students experiencing financial distress. The Scottish Government approved early exposure to £11.4 million in surplus funding to assist graduates in higher education.
In December 2020, during a debate
Debate is a process that involves formal discourse on a particular topic, often including a moderator and audience. In a debate, arguments are put forward for often opposing viewpoints. Debates have historically occurred in public meetings, a ...
on the Internal Market Bill
The United Kingdom Internal Market Act 2020 is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom passed in December 2020. It is concerned with trade within the UK, as the UK is no longer subject to EU law. The act seeks to prevent internal trade b ...
, Hendry was named by Deputy Speaker
The speaker of a deliberative assembly, especially a legislative body, is its presiding officer, or the chair. The title was first used in 1377 in England.
Usage
The title was first recorded in 1377 to describe the role of Thomas de Hungerf ...
Dame Rosie Winterton after he removed the mace and attempted to leave the chamber with it. He was suspended from 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. ...
for the remainder of that day's sitting.
References
External links
personal website
profile
on SNP.org
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hendry, Drew
1964 births
Internet marketing people
Living people
Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Highland constituencies
Politicians from Edinburgh
Scottish businesspeople
Scottish National Party councillors
Scottish National Party MPs
UK MPs 2015–2017
UK MPs 2017–2019
UK MPs 2019–present
People educated at Boroughmuir High School