Philip John Boswell (born 23 July 1963) is a Scottish National Party (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 o ...

(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 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 s ...

Early life and career

Phil Boswell was born in Bellshill, 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, North Lanarkshire, Airdrie, Coatbrid ...

and worked there in the construction Industry and then for a brief time as a policeman in Kilmarnock. 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

at the 2015 United Kingdom general election. 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 form ...

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 als ...

. 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 Haszledine
and 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, part of the City of Brussels municipality of Belgium. The staff at the headquarters is composed of national delegations of NATO member states and includes civ ...

in Brussels and

SHAPE A shape or figure is a graphical representation of an object or its external boundary, outline, or external surface, as opposed to other properties such as color, texture, or material type. A plane shape or plane figure is constrained to lie ...

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 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 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 in ...

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 by 1,586 votes.

References

External links

*
Profile
on 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