Fiona Grace McLeod (born 3 December 1957) is a Scottish politician who served as acting Minister for Children and Young People from 2014 to 2015. A member of the

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), she was

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 Strathkelvin and Bearsden constituency from

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 celebrate ...

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

, having previously represented the West of Scotland region from

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shootin ...

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 des ...

Background

She was born on 3 December 1957 in

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 popul ...

, Scotland. She studied

History History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the History of writing#Inventions of writing, invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbr ...

University of Glasgow , image = UofG Coat of Arms.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms Flag , latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis , motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita , ...

, before gaining a

Postgraduate Diploma A postgraduate diploma (PgD, PgDip, PGDip, PG Dip., PGD, Dipl. PG, PDE) is a postgraduate qualification awarded after a university degree, which supplements the original degree and awards them with a graduate diploma. Countries that award postg ...

Librarianship Library science (often termed library studies, bibliothecography, and library economy) is an interdisciplinary or multidisciplinary field that applies the practices, perspectives, and tools of management, information technology, education, and ...

University of Strathclyde The University of Strathclyde ( gd, Oilthigh Shrath Chluaidh) is a public research university located in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded in 1796 as the Andersonian Institute, it is Glasgow's second-oldest university, having received its royal chart ...

. She worked as a librarian at Glasgow North College of Nursing and the Marie Curie Huntershill Hospice. She was appointed to

Ofcom The Office of Communications, commonly known as Ofcom, is the government-approved regulatory and competition authority for the broadcasting, telecommunications and postal industries of the United Kingdom. Ofcom has wide-ranging powers acros ...

's Scottish Advisory Committee from 2004 to 2006, and was a founding member of Westerton Junior Youth Club.

Scottish Parliament

In the 1999 election she stood as a constituency candidate in Strathkelvin and Bearsden, where she was runner-up to

Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

candidate

Sam Galbraith Samuel Laird Galbraith (18 October 1945 – 18 August 2014) was a Scottish politician and neurosurgeon who served as Minister for Environment, Sport and Culture from 2000 to 2001 and Minister for Children and Education from 1999 to 2000. Galbra ...

. She had been placed fourth on the SNP's West of Scotland list, and was elected as a MSP through this route. She served as Deputy Party Spokesperson on the Environment. Galbraith resigned his seat in 2001 but McLeod did not stand in the subsequent by-election as this would have meant resigning her seat. However she did contest the seat in the 2003 election but finished fourth, behind

Jean Turner Jean McGivern Turner (born 23 December 1939) is a Scottish medical doctor and former Independent politician. She was the Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the Strathkelvin and Bearsden constituency from 2003 until 2007. Early life an ...

(an independent), Brian Fitzpatrick (who had won the by-election) and

Jo Swinson Joanne Kate Swinson (born 5 February 1980) is a former British Liberal Democrat politician who was Leader of the Liberal Democrats from 22 July to 13 December 2019. She was the first woman and the youngest person to hold the position, as well a ...

(who would later become MP for part of the seat). She also only placed 7th on the SNP list for West of Scotland and so also lost her top-up place in parliament. In the 2011 Scottish Parliament general election she won the constituency of Strathkelvin and Bearsden following the SNP landslide victory, defeating David Whitton on a swing of 7.7%. She served as acting Minister for Children and Young People, from 18 December 2014 until 31 August 2015, during Aileen Campbell MSP's maternity leave. This was the first time that a Minister of the Scottish Government had taken maternity leave. In May 2015, Mcleod announced that she would not be standing for re-election to Parliament the following year.

After Parliament

In 2004, she became one of the first members of

's Advisory Committee for Scotland. In November 2016 she was announced as a member of the

Commission on Parliamentary Reform The Commission on Parliamentary Reform was an independent group, established in October 2016 by Ken Macintosh, the Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament. It is chaired by John McCormick and published its report, with recommendations, on ...

, having been nominated to represent the SNP. In August 2017, the

Scottish Book Trust Scottish Book Trust is a national charity based in Edinburgh, Scotland promoting literature, reading and writing in Scotland. Scottish Book Trust works with and for a range of audiences, including babies and parents (through the Bookbug programme ...

appointed her as a member of its Board of Trustees.

Personal life

McLeod is married with one son.

References

External links

* *
Strathkelvin & Bearsden SNPFiona McLeod MSP
on TheyWorkForYou.com {{DEFAULTSORT:McLeod, Fiona 1957 births Living people Politicians from Glasgow Alumni of the University of Glasgow Alumni of the University of Strathclyde Scottish librarians Scottish National Party MSPs Female members of the Scottish Parliament Members of the Scottish Parliament 1999–2003 Members of the Scottish Parliament 2011–2016 20th-century Scottish women politicians British women librarians