Murdo MacKenzie Fraser (born 5 September 1965) is a Scottish politician who served as Deputy Leader of the Scottish Conservative Party from 2005 to 2011. He has been a

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 the Mid Scotland and Fife region since 2001. Since May 2021, he has served as Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Covid Recovery, shadowing Deputy First Minister

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 ...

Early life

Born in 1965, Fraser was educated at

Inverness Royal Academy Inverness Royal Academy is a comprehensive secondary school in the city of Inverness in the Highland area of Scotland. A former grammar school with a history dating back to the 13th century, the Academy became a comprehensive in the mid-1970 ...

. He studied law at the

University of Aberdeen The University of Aberdeen ( sco, University o' 'Aiberdeen; abbreviated as ''Aberd.'' in List of post-nominal letters (United Kingdom), post-nominals; gd, Oilthigh Obar Dheathain) is a public university, public research university in Aberdeen, Sc ...

, and was chairman of the Scottish Young Conservatives from 1989 to 1992. During this time, he said he had "appropriated" a plaque marking a TV lounge that had been named to honour

Nelson Mandela Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela (; ; 18 July 1918 – 5 December 2013) was a South African Internal resistance to apartheid, anti-apartheid activist who served as the President of South Africa, first president of South Africa from 1994 to 1 ...

, as a prank to annoy left-wing students. In 2016, Fraser said he returned the engraved "trophy" to students, although Aberdeen University Student Association disputes the claim. After undertaking a postgraduate Diploma in Legal Studies, he worked as a

solicitor A solicitor is a legal practitioner who traditionally deals with most of the legal matters in some jurisdictions. A person must have legally-defined qualifications, which vary from one jurisdiction to another, to be described as a solicitor and ...

in Aberdeen and Edinburgh, latterly as an associate with Ketchen and Stevens WS in Edinburgh, specialising in commercial law.

Political career

At the

1999 Scottish Parliament election The first election to the devolved Scottish Parliament, to fill 129 seats, took place on 6 May 1999. Following the election, the Labour Party and the Liberal Democrats formed the Scottish Executive, with Labour Member of the Scottish Parliam ...

, Fraser was an unsuccessful candidate for North Tayside, as he was in

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

and

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 ...

. He stood unsuccessfully for 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. ...

at the 1997 general election in

East Lothian East Lothian (; sco, East Lowden; gd, Lodainn an Ear) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland, as well as a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area. The county was called Haddingtonshire until 1921. In 1975, the histo ...

and at the 2001 general election in North Tayside. Fraser became an MSP in 2001, after the resignation of Nick Johnston, as next name on the Conservative Party's Mid Scotland and Fife list. He gained a list seat in

, 2011, 2016 and 2021, having lost to John Swinney on each occasion in the constituency vote. Previously the convenor of the Economy, Energy, and Tourism Committee, Fraser is a member of the Finance Committee of the Scottish Parliament. He became deputy leader of the Scottish Conservatives in November 2005 when

Annabel Goldie Annabel MacNicoll Goldie, Baroness Goldie (born 27 February 1950) is a Scottish politician and life peer who served as Leader of the Scottish Conservative Party from 2005 to 2011 and has served as Minister of State for Defence since 2019. She ...

became leader. After the 2011 election, at which 15 Conservative MSPs were elected,

triggered a leadership election by announcing that she would stand down in Autumn 2011. In June 2014, Fraser spoke in favour of reconstituting the United Kingdom on a federal basis.

Party leadership election

After being elected through the party list in 2011, he announced in August his decision to seek the leadership of the Scottish Conservative Party, and launched his campaign on 4 September in Edinburgh. His launch plans included a commitment to further devolution to the Scottish Parliament from Westminster, as well as launching a new party to redefine the politics of Scotland, harnessing the support of the centre-right, but independent of the UK Conservative Party and with a new name and identity. Fraser was unsuccessful in his attempt to be elected party leader, losing out to

Ruth Davidson Ruth Elizabeth Davidson, Baroness Davidson of Lundin Links (born 10 November 1978), is a Scottish politician who served as Leader of the Scottish Conservative Party from 2011 to 2019 and Leader of the Scottish Conservative Party in the Scottish ...

, and following the election was succeeded as deputy leader by

Jackson Carlaw David Jackson Carlaw (born 12 April 1959) is a Scottish politician who served as Leader of the Scottish Conservative Party from 2019 to 2020. He previously served as Deputy Leader of the Scottish Conservative Party from 2011 to 2019. He has b ...

Personal life

Fraser lives with his wife and two children in

Perthshire Perthshire (locally: ; gd, Siorrachd Pheairt), officially the County of Perth, is a historic county and registration county in central Scotland. Geographically it extends from Strathmore in the east, to the Pass of Drumochter in the north, ...

. He is a fan of

Rangers Football Club Rangers Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the Govan district of Glasgow which plays in the Scottish Premiership. Although not its official name, it is often referred to as Glasgow Rangers outside Scotland. The fou ...

References

External links

Personal website
*
Murdo Fraser MSP
profile at Scottish Conservative Party
Murdo Fraser MSP
profile at the site of the Conservative Party {{DEFAULTSORT:Fraser, Murdo 1965 births Living people People from Inverness People educated at Inverness Royal Academy Alumni of the University of Aberdeen Scottish solicitors Conservative MSPs Members of the Scottish Parliament 2003–2007 Members of the Scottish Parliament 1999–2003 Members of the Scottish Parliament 2007–2011 Members of the Scottish Parliament 2011–2016 Members of the Scottish Parliament 2016–2021 Members of the Scottish Parliament 2021–2026