John Robert Lamont (born 15 April 1976) is a Scottish Conservative Party politician and solicitor who has served in the

British House of Commons The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the upper house, the House of Lords, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. The House of Commons is an elected body consisting of 650 mem ...

as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk 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 ser ...

. Lamont previously served as the

Member of the Scottish Parliament Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP; gd, Ball Pàrlamaid na h-Alba, BPA; sco, Memmer o the Scots Pairliament, MSP) is the title given to any one of the 129 individuals elected to serve in the Scottish Parliament. Electoral system The ad ...

(MSP) for Roxburgh and Berwickshire, later Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire after boundary changes, from

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 ...

to 2017. He has been serving as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Scotland since October 2022.

Early life

John Lamont was born on 15 April 1976 in Kilwinning to Robert and Elizabeth Lamont. He was educated at Kilwinning Academy and studied at the School of Law of the University of Glasgow where he gained a first class honours degree. He worked as a solicitor at Freshfields in London and then at

Brodies Brodies LLP A limited liability partnership (LLP) is a partnership in which some or all partners (depending on the jurisdiction) have limited liabilities. It therefore can exhibit elements of partnerships and corporations. In an LLP, each ...

in Edinburgh.

Political career

In 2002, Lamont stood as a candidate in the

London Borough of Lambeth Lambeth () is a London boroughs, London borough in South London, England, which forms part of Inner London. Its name was recorded in 1062 as ''Lambehitha'' ("landing place for lambs") and in 1255 as ''Lambeth''. The geographical centre of London ...

in the

Brixton Brixton is a district in south London, part of the London Borough of Lambeth, England. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. Brixton experienced a rapid rise in population during the 19th ce ...

ward where he finished in 10th place. As well as becoming involved in local politics, he became the Chairman of his local Conservative association and was the Conservative candidate for Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk at the

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

and

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 elections. JohnLamontMSP20110510

In May 2007, Lamont was elected

for Roxburgh and Berwickshire. In the

2011 Scottish Parliament election The 2011 Scottish Parliament election was held on Thursday, 5 May 2011 to Members of the 4th Scottish Parliament, elect 129 members to the Scottish Parliament. The election delivered the first majority government since the opening of Holyrood, ...

, he won the newly constituted Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire seat with an increased majority. As an MSP, he served as Scottish Conservative

Chief Whip The Chief Whip is a political leader whose task is to enforce the whipping system, which aims to ensure that legislators who are members of a political party attend and vote on legislation as the party leadership prescribes. United Kingdom ...

and Parliamentary Business Manager. From 1 March to 22 March 2011, Lamont was briefly Convener of the

Justice Committee The Justice Select Committee of the United Kingdom is a select committee of the House of Commons which scrutinizes the policy, administration, and spending of the Ministry of Justice. In addition, the committee examines the work of the Law Offi ...

following the resignation of Bill Aitken. He caused controversy in May 2011, for accusing Catholic education in the west of Scotland to be 'state-sponsored conditioning of sectarian attitudes'. Following the resignation of Annabel Goldie as the Scottish Conservative leader, Lamont had been tipped as a potential candidate to replace her, however he reportedly 'self-destructed' his chances following his remarks on

Catholic school Catholic schools are pre-primary, primary and secondary educational institutions administered under the aegis or in association with the Catholic Church. , the Catholic Church operates the world's largest religious, non-governmental school syste ...

s. In November 2017, it emerged that Lamont's local party had accepted a £2,000 donation from one of the funders of the Global Warming Policy Foundation, a self-proclaimed " climate sceptic" organisation. Lamont announced his intention to stand down from this Holyrood seat effective 4 May 2017 to stand at the 2017 snap election for the Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk seat. As a constituency MSP, Lamont's resignation triggered a by-election in the constituency, which was won by Rachael Hamilton of the Scottish Conservatives. In June 2017, he was elected Member of Parliament for Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk, with a majority of 11,060 votes; which made the constituency the safest Conservative seat in Scotland. He was re-elected to serve as MP at the December 2019 general election, but with a lower vote count of 48.4% and a majority of 5,148. Lamont was given the role of Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Foreign Office in November 2021. He resigned from this position on 6 June 2022 in order to vote against Boris Johnson in the vote of no confidence. He was previously critical of Johnson over the parties in Number 10 during lockdown, saying it was "sickening" to read about them.

Personal life

In 2014 he became the first UK politician to complete an Ironman Triathlon and was the fastest MP in the

2018 London Marathon The 2018 London Marathon was the 38th running of the annual marathon race in London, England, which took place on Sunday, 22 April. Kenyans Eliud Kipchoge and Vivian Cheruiyot won elite races. In the wheelchair races, Britain's David Weir and Aus ...

, running to raise funds for MND Scotland and the My Name's Doddie Foundation. He also ran the

2019 London Marathon The 2019 London Marathon was the 39th running of the annual marathon race in London, United Kingdom, which took place on 28 April. The elite men's race was won by Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge, who took his fourth London Marathon victory in a time of ...

, raising money for Marie Curie Daffodil Appeal.

References

External links

johnlamont.org
Website of John Lamont MP *
John Lamont MSP Biography
Biography at Scottish Conservatives website * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lamont, John Conservative MSPs 1976 births Scottish solicitors Alumni of the University of Glasgow Living people Members of the Scottish Parliament 2007–2011 Members of the Scottish Parliament 2011–2016 Members of the Scottish Parliament 2016–2021 People from Kilwinning Scottish Conservative Party MPs UK MPs 2017–2019 UK MPs 2019–present People educated at Kilwinning Academy