Liam Scott McArthur (born 8 August 1967) is a Scottish politician serving as Deputy Presiding Officer of the

Scottish Parliament The Scottish Parliament ( gd, Pàrlamaid na h-Alba ; sco, Scots Pairlament) is the devolved, unicameral legislature of Scotland. Located in the Holyrood area of the capital city, Edinburgh, it is frequently referred to by the metonym Holyro ...

, alongside

Annabelle Ewing Annabelle Janet Ewing (born 20 August 1960) is a Scottish politician and lawyer who has served as Deputy Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament, alongside Liam McArthur, since May 2021. A member of the Scottish National Party (SNP), sh ...

, since May 2021. A member of 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 ...

, he has been 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

Orkney Orkney (; sco, Orkney; on, Orkneyjar; nrn, Orknøjar), also known as the Orkney Islands, is an archipelago in the Northern Isles of Scotland, situated off the north coast of the island of Great Britain. Orkney is 10 miles (16 km) north ...

since

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 ...

Early life and education

McArthur was born on 8 August 1967 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 ...

. In 1977, at the age of ten, he moved to

Sanday, Orkney Sanday (, sco, Sandee) is one of the inhabited islands of Orkney that lies off the north coast of mainland Scotland. With an area of , it is the third largest of the Orkney Islands.Haswell-Smith (2004) p. 334. The main centres of population ar ...

with his family. McArthur attended Sanday Junior High School, then Kirkwall Grammar school, where he boarded at the Papdale Halls of Residence throughout the week. Whilst at Kirkwall, McArthur developed an interest in sport including football, which became a lifelong passion. McArthur went on to represent Orkney in the junior inter country matches against Caithness and Shetland. McArthur then spent a year in Mexico as an American field service student, before attending Edinburgh University to study politics. At university McArthur captained

Edinburgh University The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 1582 ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

first team and represented Scottish Universities in the UK finals.

Political career

McArthur had previously worked as an aide to

Jim Wallace James Robert Wallace, Baron Wallace of Tankerness, (born 25 August 1954) is a Scottish politician serving as a Liberal Democrat life peer in the British House of Lords since 2007 and Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland ...

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. ...

and as Special Adviser to the Deputy First Minister in 2002. When Wallace stepped down at the 2007 Parliament election, McArthur was chosen to replace him as the Lib Dem candidate and was elected. McArthur was subsequently re-elected in

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

and again in

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 trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

with a substantially increased majority. After being re-elected in the 2021 election, McArthur was elected as one of the two

Deputy Presiding Officers of the Scottish Parliament Deputy or depute may refer to: * Steward (office) * Khalifa, an Arabic title that can signify "deputy" * Deputy (legislator), a legislator in many countries and regions, including: ** A member of a Chamber of Deputies, for example in Italy, Spain, ...

Career timeline

* 1987–1990:

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...

, Politics (MA) * 1990–1992: Researcher,

MP ( Orkney and Shetland),

* 1992–1993:

Trainee A trainee is commonly known as an individual taking part in a trainee program within an organization after having graduated from higher and technical courses. A trainee is an official employee of the firm that is being trained to the job they wer ...

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body o ...

( External Affairs Directorate) * 1993–1996: Account Executive, various

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

public affairs consultancies * 1996–2002: Associate Director,

APCO Worldwide APCO Worldwide is a independent global public affairs and strategic communications consultancy. With 680 employees in 35 worldwide locations, it is also the fifth largest independently owned PR firm in the United States. Headquartered in Wa ...

and APCO Europe * 2002–2005: Special Adviser to

Deputy First Minister of Scotland The Deputy First Minister of Scotland ( gd, Leas-Phrìomh Mhinistear na h-Alba; sco, Heid Meinister Depute o Scotland) is the second highest ranking minister of the Government of Scotland, behind the First Minister of Scotland. The post-hold ...

MSP (

) * 2005–2006: Director, Greenhaus Communications * 2006–2007: Self-employed

political consultant Political consulting is a form of consulting that consists primarily of advising and assisting political campaigns. Although the most important role of political consultants is arguably the development and production of mass media (largely tel ...

* 2007–present: Member of the Scottish Parliament for Orkney * 2007–2008: Shadow Minister for Enterprise, Energy and Tourism * 2008–2011: Scottish Liberal Democrat Spokesperson on Environment, Rural Development and Energy * 2011–2021: Scottish Liberal Democrat Spokesperson on Education and Energy * 2021–present: Deputy Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament

References

External links

* *
Scottish Liberal Democrats page

BBC profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:McArthur, Liam 1967 births Living people People from Orkney Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Members of the Scottish Parliament 2007–2011 Liberal Democrat MSPs Members of the Scottish Parliament 2011–2016 Members of the Scottish Parliament 2016–2021 Members of the Scottish Parliament 2021–2026 Deputy Presiding Officers of the Scottish Parliament