Hugh Henry (born 12 February 1952) is a former Scottish Labour Party politician. He was the Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for Renfrewshire South, formerly Paisley South, from

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shoot ...

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the Impeachment of Dilma Rousseff, impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses duri ...

Background

Henry was born in

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

and raised in

Erskine Erskine (, sco, Erskin, gd, Arasgain) is a town in the council area of Renfrewshire, and historic county of the same name, situated in the West Central Lowlands of Scotland. It lies on the southern bank of the River Clyde, providing the l ...

Renfrewshire Renfrewshire () ( sco, Renfrewshire; gd, Siorrachd Rinn Friù) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland. Located in the west central Lowlands, it is one of three council areas contained within the boundaries of the historic county of Re ...

. He was educated at St Mirin's Academy in Paisley, the

University of Glasgow , image = UofG Coat of Arms.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms Flag , latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis , motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita , ...

and

Jordanhill College of Education Jordanhill Campus is an historic estate within the boundaries of Jordanhill, Glasgow, Scotland, which developed as a country estate. It is best known and most recently used as the home to the Faculty of Education of the University of Strathc ...

in Glasgow. Prior to working in politics, he worked as an accountant with IBM UK Ltd, as a teacher and as a

welfare rights Welfare rights means the rights of people to be aware of and receive their maximum entitlement to state welfare benefits, and to be treated reasonably well by the welfare system. It has been established in the United Kingdom since 1969 and has als ...

officer with

Strathclyde Regional Council Strathclyde ( in Gaelic, meaning "strath (valley) of the River Clyde") was one of nine former local government regions of Scotland created in 1975 by the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 and abolished in 1996 by the Local Government ...

. He was a local councillor from 1984 until 1999, including 4 years as leader of

Renfrewshire Council Renfrewshire () ( sco, Renfrewshire; gd, Siorrachd Rinn Friù) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland. Located in the west central Lowlands, it is one of three council areas contained within the boundaries of the historic county of Ren ...

. A former Marxist, he was once a supporter of the

Militant tendency , native_name_lang = cy , logo = , colorcode = , leader = collective leadership(''Militant'' editorial board) , leader1_name = Ted Grant , leader1_title = Political Secretary , leader2_name = Pet ...

Member of the Scottish Parliament

Henry was appointed Deputy Minister for Health and Community Care in the Scottish Executive in 2001, and moved to become Deputy

Minister for Social Justice The Minister for Housing and Welfare was a Junior ministerial post in the Scottish Government. As a result, the Minister did not attend the Scottish Cabinet. The post was created in May 2007 as the Minister of Communities and Sport, but was ren ...

in 2002. He was appointed Deputy Minister for Justice after the 2003 Scottish Parliament election, and became Minister for Education in 2006. He retained the education brief in opposition after the 2007 election. Henry was named

Scottish Politician of the Year Scottish Politician of the Year is an annual award established in 1999. It is held by '' The Herald'' newspaper in Prestonfield House, Edinburgh. Although the awards ceremony has been held once at the Royal Museum, Prestonfield House Hotel is c ...

in 2010, for his performance as Convenor of the Public Affairs Committee. On 11 May 2011, Henry stood in the election for the 4th

Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament sco, Preses o the Scots Pairlament , body = , member_of = Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body Scottish Parliament , insignia = Scottish_Parliament_logo_purple_vertical.png , insigniasize = 150px , insigniacaption = Logo used to represen ...

, coming second to

Tricia Marwick Patricia Marwick (née Lee; born 5 November 1953) is a Scottish politician who served as Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament from 2011 to 2016. She was a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) from 1999 to 2016. Elected as a member of ...

, a Scottish National Party MSP. He stood down from the Scottish Parliament on 23 March 2016.

Personal life

Henry is married with two daughters and one son.

References

External links

*
Scottish ExecutiveConstituency website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Henry, Hugh 1952 births Living people People from Renfrewshire People educated at St Mirin's Academy Scottish people of Irish descent Politicians from Glasgow Scottish accountants Alumni of the University of Glasgow Ministers of the Scottish Government Labour MSPs Members of the Scottish Parliament 1999–2003 Members of the Scottish Parliament 2003–2007 Members of the Scottish Parliament 2007–2011 Members of the Scottish Parliament 2011–2016 Scottish Labour councillors Councillors in Renfrewshire Militant tendency supporters