Russell Findlay (politician)
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Russell Findlay is a Scottish politician and journalist who has served as 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 West Scotland region since
2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...
. A member of the Scottish Conservatives, he served as the party's director of communications.


Journalist career

Findlay worked as a journalist for STV, the '' Scottish Sun'' and ''Sunday Mail''. His investigation into the disappearance of Margaret Fleming was used to help prosecute her killers. He has written three books, one of which is about his acid attack, and co-authored a fourth.


Acid attack

In December 2015, while working as a journalist for ''The Sun'' reporting on gangs in Glasgow, he was subjected to a doorstep acid attack. William Burns disguised himself as a postal worker and threw sulphuric acid on Findlay before attacking with a knife. Findlay managed to hold Burns down long enough for the police to arrive and arrest him. Burns was sentenced to a ten-year jail term with five years of post-release supervision. Ten months before the attack, Gordon Smart, editor of ''The Sun'', received a call that included threats against Findlay, which Smart did not reveal until days after the attack. Findlay initially returned to work for ''The Sun'' but later took sick leave and left with an agreement from his employer.


Political career


Member of the Scottish Parliament

Findlay was selected as the Scottish Conservatives candidate for the Paisley constituency in the
2021 Scottish Parliament election The 2021 Scottish Parliament election took place on 6 May 2021, under the provisions of the Scotland Act 1998. All 129 Members of the Scottish Parliament were elected in the sixth election since the parliament was re-established in 1999. The ele ...
. Failing to win the seat and coming third, he was elected to the party list as an additional member for the West Scotland region. On 12 January 2022, Findlay called for Boris Johnson 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 gather ...
along with a majority of Scottish Conservative MSPs. On 27 December 2022, Findlay posted on Twitter a picture of himself holding a merkin, with a group of people in a pub, including Elaine Miller, who had flashed the Scottish Parliament and then those in the gallery, from the gallery, following the conclusion of the last debate on the
Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill The Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill is a bill passed by the Scottish Parliament. The bill seeks to amend the Gender Recognition Act 2004 of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, making it simpler for people to change their legal gende ...
. In the post he criticised the police's decision to investigate Miller over her self-declared indecency.


Personal life

He has a daughter.


References


External links

* Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Scottish journalists Conservative MSPs Members of the Scottish Parliament 2021–2026 Scottish television producers Acid attack victims Scottish crime writers British non-fiction crime writers British crime journalists Organized crime writers {{MSP-stub