Philip John Boswell (born 23 July 1963) is a
Scottish National Party
The Scottish National Party (SNP; sco, Scots National Pairty, gd, Pàrtaidh Nàiseanta na h-Alba ) is a Scottish nationalist and social democratic political party in Scotland. The SNP supports and campaigns for Scottish independence from ...
(SNP) politician who served as
Member of Parliament
A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...
(MP) for
Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill
Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill is a constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament (MP) using the first-past-the-post voting system.
It was created for the 2005 general el ...
from
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 ...
to
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 ...
.
Early life and career
Phil Boswell was born in
Bellshill
Bellshill (pronounced "Bells hill") is a town in North Lanarkshire in Scotland, southeast of Glasgow city centre and west of Edinburgh. Other nearby localities are Motherwell to the south, Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, Hamilton to the south ...
, raised in
Coatbridge
Coatbridge ( sco, Cotbrig or Coatbrig, gd, Drochaid a' Chòta) is a town in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, about east of Glasgow city centre, set in the central Lowlands. Along with neighbouring town Airdrie, Coatbridge forms the area known as ...
and worked there in the construction Industry and then for a brief time as a policeman in
Kilmarnock
Kilmarnock (, sco, Kilmaurnock; gd, Cill Mheàrnaig (IPA: ʰʲɪʎˈveaːɾnəkʲ, "Marnock's church") is a large town and former burgh in East Ayrshire, Scotland and is the administrative centre of East Ayrshire, East Ayrshire Council. ...
. Boswell then found work internationally in the construction industry before transferring to the oil industry in Qatar, as a quantity surveyor and contracts engineer.
He spent over 15 years in the oil and gas industry, with work taking him to Hong Kong, Malaysia, Egypt, USA, Qatar and the Falklands before returning to Scotland with BP in Aberdeen.
He now works in the Asia-Pacific region as specialist Oil & Gas and Construction Contracts Manager, QS and Disputes Resolution expert.
Political career
Boswell was elected as MP for
Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill
Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill is a constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament (MP) using the first-past-the-post voting system.
It was created for the 2005 general el ...
at the
2015 United Kingdom general election
The 2015 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday, 7 May 2015 to elect 650 members to the House of Commons. It was the first and only general election held at the end of a Parliament under the Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011. Loca ...
.
He was appointed to the
Public Accounts Committee where he served under the Chairmanship of
Dame Meg Hillier until
dissolution of Parliament
The dissolution of a legislative assembly is the mandatory simultaneous resignation of all of its members, in anticipation that a successive legislative assembly will reconvene later with possibly different members. In a democracy, the new assemb ...
in April 2017. Boswell served on all
Energy Bill Committees whilst at Westminster and was Patron o
Chris's House the Suicide Charity based in
Wishaw
Wishaw ( sco, Wishae or Wisha ; gd, Camas Neachdain) is a large town in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, on the edge of the Clyde Valley, south-east of Glasgow city centre. The Burgh of Wishaw was formed in 1855 within Lanarkshire. it formed ...
,
North Lanarkshire
North Lanarkshire ( sco, North Lanrikshire; gd, Siorrachd Lannraig a Tuath) is one of 32 council areas of Scotland. It borders the northeast of the City of Glasgow and contains many of Glasgow's suburbs and commuter towns and villages. It also ...
.
Boswell's voting record at Westminster shows that he voted for; the removal of hereditary peers, proportional representation and for UK to remain within the EU. He never voted to reduce local Government funding and spoke extensively on Energy as well as being a co-author of the definitive paper on
Carbon Capture and Storage
Carbon capture and storage (CCS) or carbon capture and sequestration is the process of capturing carbon dioxide (CO2) before it enters the atmosphere, transporting it, and storing it (carbon sequestration) for centuries or millennia. Usually th ...
in 2016, title
LOWEST COST DECARBONISATION FOR THE UK: THE CRITICAL ROLE OF CCS researched, prepared and published for the parliamentary advisory group along with other industry experts such a
Professor Stuart Haszledineand under the Chairmanship of
Lord Oxburgh.
In May 2016 Boswell was part of the SNP delegation that visited
NATO Headquarters
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is headquartered in a complex in Haren, Belgium, Haren, part of the Brussels (municipality), City of Brussels municipality of Belgium. The staff at the headquarters is composed of national delegation ...
in Brussels and
SHAPE
A shape or figure is a graphics, graphical representation of an object or its external boundary, outline, or external Surface (mathematics), surface, as opposed to other properties such as color, Surface texture, texture, or material type.
A pl ...
Headquarters in Mons all paid for by the donor US Mission to
NATO
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...
.
In December 2015, though perfectly legal, Boswell was criticised for having previously received an £18,000 interest-free loan from US energy company
Phillips 66
The Phillips 66 Company is an American Multinational corporation, multinational energy company headquartered in Westchase, Houston, Westchase, Houston, Houston, Texas. Its name, dating back to 1927 as a trademark of the Phillips Petroleum Compan ...
while working for them as a contracts manager. Earlier in 2015, Boswell had tabled a motion in the House of Commons, calling for Chancellor George Osborne to close the "Mayfair tax loophole" tax avoidance scheme. An SNP spokesperson stated that Boswell had always declared his interests, and was committed to ending tax avoidance schemes.
In January 2016 it was announced that Boswell would be investigated by the
Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards
The Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards is an officer of the British House of Commons. The work of the officer is overseen by the Commons Select Committee on Standards.
The current commissioner is Kathryn Stone.
Duties
The commissioner is i ...
over the claim that he did not properly record his directorship of a company (that had long since ceased trading) in the Commons Register of Members' Interests, thus breaching parliamentary procedure. He was registered with
Companies House
Companies House is the executive agency of the company registrars of the United Kingdom, falling under the remit of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. All forms of companies (as permitted by the Companies Act) are i ...
as the sole director of Boswell and Johnston Ltd.
On 30 March 2016 it was reported that this complaint had been upheld, however the Standards Commissioner stated that Mr Boswell had made a "genuine mistake" and that she did not think this was done in an attempt to conceal his financial interests as zero funds were involved.
In May 2016 Boswell's application for a £555 claimed on parliamentary expenses against the costs of promotional videos was rejected, this followed the Independent Parliamentary Standards Association finding that they were not eligible because they did not relate to parliamentary activities.
The SNP and Boswell lost Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill to Labour candidate
Hugh Gaffney
Hugh Lawrence Gaffney (born 10 August 1963) is a Scottish Labour politician who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill from 2017 to 2019. He was a Member of North Lanarkshire Council from 2017 to 2019.
E ...
at the
2017 United Kingdom general election
The 2017 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday 8 June 2017, two years after the previous general election in 2015; it was the first since 1992 to be held on a day that did not coincide with any local elections. The governing ...
by 1,586 votes.
References
External links
*
Profileon
SNP website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Boswell, Phil
1963 births
Alumni of Glasgow Caledonian University
Living people
Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Scottish constituencies
People from Coatbridge
Scottish National Party MPs
UK MPs 2015–2017
Politicians from North Lanarkshire