Lesley Brennan (born March 1972) is a Scottish politician who served as

chief of staff The title chief of staff (or head of staff) identifies the leader of a complex organization such as the armed forces, institution, or body of persons and it also may identify a principal staff officer (PSO), who is the coordinator of the supporti ...

Richard Leonard Richard Leonard (born January 1962) is a British politician who served as Leader of the Scottish Labour Party from 2017 to 2021. He has been a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP), as one of the additional members for the Central Scotland r ...

, during his tenure as

Leader of the Scottish Labour Party The office of Leader of the Scottish Labour Party was established when the Scottish Parliament was formed in 1999 and prior to its inaugural election. Until the Murphy and Boyack review in 2011, the office was Leader of the Labour Party in the ...

, from 2017 to 2021. She was formerly 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 North East Scotland region for 70 days in early 2016 and a councillor in Dundee from 2012 to 2016. She has also worked as an economist and as a parliamentary assistant.

Early life

Brennan was educated at

Lawside Academy Lawside Academy was a Roman Catholic secondary school in Dundee, Scotland. It was the northernmost state Catholic school in Europe. Lawside closed in June 2008, 101 years after it opened. The school's successor is St Paul's Academy. History Law ...

in Dundee. She graduated from

Abertay University , mottoeng = "Blessed is the one who finds wisdom." , established = 1994 – granted University Status 1888 – Dundee Institute of Technology , type = Public , chancellor = Alice Brown , principal = Liz Bacon , head_label = Chair of C ...

in 1999 with a first-class honours degree in economics, then studied at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...

where she gained a master's degree in economics in 2001.

Political career

Brennan was elected to the East End ward of

Dundee City Council Dundee City Council is the local government authority for the City of Dundee. It was created in 1996 under the Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994. History Dundee City became a single-tier council in 1996, under the Local Government e ...

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

. In October 2013, she was selected by Scottish Labour to contest Dundee East at the

2015 United Kingdom general election The 2015 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday, 7 May 2015 to elect 650 members to the House of Commons. It was the first and only general election held at the end of a Parliament under the Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011. Loca ...

. However, she lost to the incumbent

Stewart Hosie Stewart Hosie PC (born 3 January 1963) is a Scottish National Party (SNP) politician serving as Member of Parliament (MP) for Dundee East since 2005. He has served as the SNP Treasury Spokesperson since December 2022. He served as the SNP Sh ...

. When Richard Baker resigned from the

Scottish Parliament The Scottish Parliament ( gd, Pàrlamaid na h-Alba ; sco, Scots Pairlament) is the devolved, unicameral legislature of Scotland. Located in the Holyrood area of the capital city, Edinburgh, it is frequently referred to by the metonym Holyro ...

in January 2016, Labour nominated Brennan as his replacement as she had been next on their North East Scotland regional list. Brennan was sworn in on 13 January 2016, and served until the Parliament's dissolution two months later in March. She stood at the

2016 Scottish Parliament election The 2016 Scottish parliament election was held on Thursday, 5 May 2016 to elect 129 members to the Scottish Parliament. It was the fifth election held since the devolved parliament was established in 1999. It was the first parliamentary electi ...

where Labour had placed her third on their regional list for North East Scotland, but she was not re-elected. As a former MSP who had not been re-elected, she received a resettlement package of more than £30,000. In October 2016, she announced that she would not seek re-election when her term as councillor finished in

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 ser ...

. From 2016 to 2017, Brennan served as parliamentary assistant to

Neil Findlay Neil Findlay (born 6 March 1969) is a Scottish politician who was a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for Lothian from 2011 to 2021. A member of Scottish Labour, he was previously a councillor in West Lothian from 2003 to 2012. Early l ...

. She was selected by Labour to contest Dundee East again at the 2017 general election. She received 2,000 more votes than in 2015 but finished in third place behind Hosie and the Conservative candidate. A member of Campaign for Socialism, she was appointed in November 2017 by Scottish Labour leader

to serve as his

References

External links

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LinkedIn
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brennan, Lesley 1972 births Living people Place of birth missing (living people) Politicians from Dundee Labour MSPs Members of the Scottish Parliament 2011–2016 Scottish Labour councillors Councillors in Dundee Alumni of Abertay University Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Women councillors in Scotland Female members of the Scottish Parliament