William Kidd (born 24 July 1956) 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 th ...

(SNP) politician, and

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 Glasgow Anniesland constituency since 2011, having previously represented the

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popu ...

region from 2007–2011. He is currently the Convenor of the Cross Party Group on

Nuclear Disarmament Nuclear may refer to: Physics Relating to the nucleus of the atom: *Nuclear engineering *Nuclear physics *Nuclear power *Nuclear reactor *Nuclear weapon *Nuclear medicine *Radiation therapy *Nuclear warfare Mathematics * Nuclear space * Nuclea ...

and Deputy Convenor of the Cross Party Group on Human Trafficking. He previously served as Chief Whip from 2012–2018 and as Senior Deputy Whip from 2007–2012. Outside of Holyrood, Kidd also serves as Co-President of the international organisation Parliamentarians for Nuclear Non Proliferation and Disarmament (PNND). He has represented PNND at the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoni ...

, including delivering PNND's address to the 10th NPT Review Conference in August 2022. In 2016 Kidd was named, in his capacity as Co-President, in a nomination of PNND for the

Nobel Peace Prize The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Swedish industrialist, inventor and armaments (military weapons and equipment) manufacturer Alfred Nobel, along with the prizes in Chemistry, Physics, Physiolo ...

. He was singled out for his dedicated work campaigning against nuclear weapons.

Early life

He was a clerk at the Clydebank District Council, before enrolling as a mature student. Before entering politics, Mr Kidd also worked as a clerk at the Western Infirmary and Glasgow Dental Hospital for many years.

Political career

Kidd was the SNP candidate at the 1987 general election for

Glasgow Hillhead Glasgow Hillhead was a parliamentary constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1918 until 1997. It elected one Member of Parliament (MP) using the first-past-the-post voting system. Boundari ...

but finished in fourth place with 2,713 votes, losing to

George Galloway George Galloway (born 16 August 1954) is a British politician, broadcaster, and writer who is currently leader of the Workers Party of Britain, serving since 2019. Between 1987 and 2010, and then between 2012 and 2015, Galloway was a Member o ...

of the Labour Party. Shortly afterwards, he left the SNP to become a founding member of the Scottish Socialist Party (unrelated to the current party of that name). He stood for the SSP at the 1989 Glasgow Central by-election, but later re-joined the SNP. He stood again for the SNP at Cunninghame South at the 2001 general election but finished in second place with 5,194 votes to

Brian Donohoe Sir Brian Harold Donohoe (born 10 September 1948) is a former Scottish Labour politician and former trade union official, who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Central Ayrshire from 2005 until losing his seat in 2015. Prior to constituenc ...

of the Labour Party. At the

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 ...

and

2007 Scottish Parliament election The 2007 Scottish Parliament election was held on Thursday 3 May 2007 to elect members to the Scottish Parliament. It was the third general election to the devolved Scottish Parliament since it was created in 1999. Local elections in Scotland fe ...

s, he was the SNP candidate for Glasgow Anniesland, finishing in second place on both occasions. In 2007, he was elected as an MSP for the Glasgow region. The following day, he was also elected as a

Councillor A councillor is an elected representative for a local government council in some countries. Canada Due to the control that the provinces have over their municipal governments, terms that councillors serve vary from province to province. Unl ...

for the Drumchapel/Anniesland ward of

Glasgow City Council Glasgow City Council is the local government authority for the City of Glasgow, Scotland. It was created in 1996 under the Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994, largely with the boundaries of the post-1975 City of Glasgow district of th ...

. In 2009, he decided to concentrate on his Holyrood role and stood down as a Glasgow City councillor. In

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrates ...

, he was elected as MSP for Glasgow Anniesland, defeating the Labour candidate by only seven votes. In the 2016 election, Kidd retained the seat, this time with a majority of 6,153 votes. He Kidd won the seat for Anniesland again in 2021, this time winning 17,501 seats ahead of second-placed Scottish Labour candidate Eva Murray's 10,932. He is a past Convenor of the SNP's Glasgow Regional Association.

References

External links

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profile
at SNP website {{DEFAULTSORT:Kidd, Bill 1956 births Living people Scottish trade unionists Scottish National Party MSPs 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 Members of the Scottish Parliament for Glasgow constituencies