Miles Edward Frank Briggs (born 30 March 1983) is a British politician of the
Scottish Conservative
The Scottish Conservative & Unionist Party ( gd, Pàrtaidh Tòraidheach na h-Alba, sco, Scots Tory an Unionist Pairty), often known simply as the Scottish Conservatives and colloquially as the Scottish Tories, is a centre-right political par ...
, who has served as a regional list
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 add ...
(MSP) for the
Lothian
Lothian (; sco, Lowden, Loudan, -en, -o(u)n; gd, Lodainn ) is a region of the Scottish Lowlands, lying between the southern shore of the Firth of Forth and the Lammermuir Hills and the Moorfoot Hills. The principal settlement is the Scott ...
region since the
2016 Scottish Parliament election
The 2016 Scottish parliament election was held on Thursday, 5 May 2016 to elect 129 members to the Scottish Parliament. It was the fifth election held since the devolved parliament was established in 1999. It was the first parliamentary electio ...
. He served as the Scottish Conservative
Shadow Cabinet member for Health and Sport from 2017 to 2020 and as the 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
...
from 2020 to 2021.
Early life
Briggs was born in
Preston, Lancashire
Preston () is a city on the north bank of the River Ribble in Lancashire, England. The city is the administrative centre of the county of Lancashire and the wider City of Preston local government district. Preston and its surrounding distr ...
in
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...
, before moving to Perthshire with his family when he was young. Briggs was educated at
Auchtergaven Primary School,
Perth Grammar School and
Robert Gordon University
, mottoeng = Now by all your mastered arts
, established = 1992 (origins mid-18th century)
, type = Public
, endowment = £1.9 million (2015)
, budget = £103 million (2014)
, chancellor = Dame Evelyn Glennie
, principal = Professor St ...
.
Political career
Briggs was the official Conservative Party candidate at the
2010 general election for the
North East Fife constituency, then in the
2011 Scottish Parliament election
The 2011 Scottish Parliament election was held on Thursday, 5 May 2011 to elect 129 members to the Scottish Parliament.
The election delivered the first majority government since the opening of Holyrood, a remarkable feat as the Additional M ...
for
North East Fife. In 2016, he stood for the
Edinburgh Southern constituency.
In December 2015, Briggs was named second on the
Scottish Conservatives
The Scottish Conservative & Unionist Party ( gd, Pàrtaidh Tòraidheach na h-Alba, sco, Scots Tory an Unionist Pairty), often known simply as the Scottish Conservatives and colloquially as the Scottish Tories, is a centre-right political par ...
'
Lothian
Lothian (; sco, Lowden, Loudan, -en, -o(u)n; gd, Lodainn ) is a region of the Scottish Lowlands, lying between the southern shore of the Firth of Forth and the Lammermuir Hills and the Moorfoot Hills. The principal settlement is the Scott ...
regional list in the
2016 Scottish Parliament election
The 2016 Scottish parliament election was held on Thursday, 5 May 2016 to elect 129 members to the Scottish Parliament. It was the fifth election held since the devolved parliament was established in 1999. It was the first parliamentary electio ...
, behind party leader
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 ...
.
Briggs is the Scottish Conservative spokesman for Mental Health and Public Health in 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 Holyr ...
In addition, he sits on the Health and Sport Committee of the Scottish Parliament.
Briggs was announced as the official
Conservative Party
The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right.
Political parties called The Conservative P ...
candidate for
Edinburgh South West
Edinburgh South West is a Scottish constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, first used at the 2005 UK general election. It elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of electio ...
at the
2017 general election. He finished in second place, and received 16,478 votes, behind the sitting
SNP MP,
Joanna Cherry
Joanna Catherine Cherry (born 18 March 1966) is a Scottish politician and lawyer serving as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Edinburgh South West since 2015. A member of the Scottish National Party (SNP), she was the party's Shadow Home Secr ...
. Despite not being elected, Briggs was successful in significantly reducing Cherry's majority from 8,135 votes at the previous election, to just 1,097 votes.
On 12 January 2022, Briggs called for
Boris Johnson
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (; born 19 June 1964) is a British politician, writer and journalist who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2019 to 2022. He previously served as ...
to resign as Conservative party leader and Prime Minister over the
Westminster lockdown parties controversy
Partygate was a political scandal in the United Kingdom about parties and other gatherings of government and Conservative Party staff held during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021, when public health restrictions prohibited most gath ...
along with a majority of Scottish Conservative MSPs.
Controversy
In 2018, Briggs was accused by a woman from another political party of sexual harassment at a parliamentary event. After an internal investigation, the Scottish Conservatives found Briggs not guilty of making "unwanted persistent advances" towards the woman. Women's rights charity Rape Crisis Scotland voiced "significant concerns" with how the investigation was conducted and called on the Scottish Conservatives to change the way they investigate claims of sexual harassment. The charity claimed that the party would not reveal whether the investigating committee had received training in how to investigate sexual harassment complaints.
References
External links
*
1983 births
Living people
Alumni of Robert Gordon University
Conservative MSPs
Members of the Scottish Parliament 2016–2021
Members of the Scottish Parliament 2021–2026
People from Perth and Kinross
Place of birth missing (living people)
Scottish Conservative Party parliamentary candidates
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