Brendan O'Hara (born 27 April 1963) is a
Scottish National Party
The Scottish National Party (SNP; ) is a Scottish nationalist and social democratic party. The party holds 61 of the 129 seats in the Scottish Parliament, and holds 9 out of the 57 Scottish seats in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, ...
(SNP) politician. He serves as
Member of Parliament (MP) for the constituency of
Argyll, Bute and South Lochaber since the
2024 election, having previously represented the
Argyll and Bute
Argyll and Bute (; , ) is one of 32 unitary authority, unitary council areas of Scotland, council areas in Scotland and a lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area. The current lord-lieutenant for Argyll and Bute is Jane Margaret MacLeod ...
constituency from 2015 to 2024.
He was the SNP spokesperson for Foreign Affairs from 2023 to 2024. He served as the SNP Digital, Culture, Media and Sport spokesperson from 2017 to 2018, the SNP Defence spokesperson from 2015 to 2017, SNP International Development spokesperson from 2022 to 2023, and SNP Chief Whip in 2023.
Early life and education
Born in
Glasgow
Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...
, O'Hara was educated at
St Andrew's Secondary in
Carntyne
Carntyne (; ) is a suburban district in the Scottish city of Glasgow. It is situated north of the River Clyde, and in the east end of the city. it has formed the core of the East Centre (ward), East Centre ward under Glasgow City Council, which ...
and attended
Strathclyde University, from where he graduated with a 2:1 in Economic History and Modern History.
Director and producer
He has had a successful career as a TV producer. He wrote, produced and directed the ''Road To Referendum'' documentary series, which was broadcast on
STV in 2013 and was subsequently nominated for a
BAFTA Scotland award in the
Current Affairs category. He has worked for
STV,
Sky Sports
Sky Sports is a group of British broadcasting of sports events, subscription sports channels operated by the satellite television, satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television ...
and the
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...
. His credits include ''Comedy Connections'' and ''Movie Connections'' (BBC1), ''The Football Years'' (STV), and ''Scotland's Greatest Album'' (STV). O'Hara also worked on
David Hayman
David Hayman (born 9 February 1948) is a Scottish film, television and stage actor and director from Glasgow. His acting credits include '' Sid and Nancy'' (1986), '' Hope and Glory'' (1987), '' Rob Roy'' (1995), '' The Jackal'' (1997), '' Tri ...
's second series, following in the footsteps of
Tom Weir
Thomas Weir Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, MBE (29 December 1914 – 6 July 2006) was a Scottish climber, author and broadcaster. He was best known for his long-running television series ''Weir's Way''.
Early life a ...
.
Political career
O'Hara was an unsuccessful SNP candidate on two occasions. He contested
Glasgow Springburn at the
1987 UK general election, receiving 3,554 votes (a 10.2% share). He also stood in
Glasgow Central at the
1992 UK general election and gained 6,322 votes (a 20.8% share).
In 2015, he received 22,959 votes (44.3% share) in Argyll & Bute, and unseated the sitting
Liberal Democrat MP Alan Reid by 8,473 votes. On 20 May 2015, he was appointed the party's spokesman for defence. He was the first of the 2015 intake to make his
maiden speech
A maiden speech is the first speech given by a newly elected or appointed member of a legislature or parliament.
Traditions surrounding maiden speeches vary from country to country. In many Westminster system governments, there is a convention th ...
.
At the
2017 snap general election he successfully retained his seat; however, with a reduced majority of 1,328 votes to the Conservative party. At the 2019 general election he retained his seat with a majority of 4,110.
He was elected to the new seat in 2024.
References
External links
Profile on
SNP website
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:OHara, Brendan
Alumni of the University of Strathclyde
1963 births
Living people
Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Scottish constituencies
Politicians from Glasgow
Scottish National Party MPs
Scottish people of Irish descent
Scottish television producers
UK MPs 2015–2017
UK MPs 2017–2019
UK MPs 2019–2024
UK MPs 2024–present