Richard Leonard

Richard Leonard (born January 1962) is a British politician who served as Leader of the Scottish Labour Party from 2017 to 2021.

Leonard was born in January 1962 in Westow, East Riding of Yorkshire and raised in the market town of Malton, North Yorkshire.

He is the son of Derek, a tailor and member of the Tailor and Garment Workers Union, and Janet, who looked after him and his two sisters.

From the age of 11, he was educated at the independent, fee-paying Pocklington School in the East Riding of Yorkshire, having received a local education authority scholarship.

As a young boy, his first job was picking potatoes in Autumn.

He was inspired politically in his youth by Arguments for Socialism written by Tony Benn, a leftist Labour Member of Parliament and former cabinet minister.

He was further influenced by Farewell to the Working Class and Critique of Economic Reason by Austrian philosopher André Gorz, as well as the works of early socialist novelist William Morris.

Leonard studied Politics and Economics at the University of Stirling, where he was a member of the Labour club and president of the Students' Association.

He was a contemporary of future First Minister of Scotland Jack McConnell and they shared a flat together for a time following graduation.

While a student, he had a summer job weeding wheat fields in Suffolk, East Anglia, after his family moved south to help his father find work.

After university, he went on to spend five years working as an aide to Alex Falconer, Member of the European Parliament for Mid Scotland and Fife.

He then spent a further five years as head of economics and assistant secretary for the Scottish Trades Union Congress.

He then worked for 20 years as a GMB Scotland industrial organiser, a role in which he represented women, apprentices and young people on low pay.

He moved to Scotland in the 1980s to study Politics and Economics at the University of Stirling.

Following his graduation, he worked as an aide to Labour politician Alex Falconer before working as a trade unionist for the Scottish Trades Union Congress and GMB Scotland.

Throughout Leonard's working life, he was active in the Scottish Labour Party, including serving as election agent for Anne McGuire in Stirling at the 1997 general election where they unseated Secretary of State for Scotland Michael Forsyth by 6,411 votes.

From 2002 to 2003, he served as Chair of the Scottish Labour Party when he was active in opposing the Iraq War.

Leonard served as Chair of the Scottish Labour Party from 2002 to 2003 but opposed the 2003 invasion of Iraq, marching against the war and describing the bombing of Baghdad as "awful".

After unsuccessfully contesting Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley in 2011, he was elected at the 2016 Scottish Parliament election on the Central Scotland regional list.

Leonard stood as the Labour candidate for Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley at the 2011 Scottish Parliament election but lost to the Scottish National Party's Adam Ingram.

He has been a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP), as one of the additional members for the Central Scotland region, since 2016.

He ideologically identifies as a socialist, democrat and internationalist.

Born and raised in Yorkshire, Leonard won a scholarship to be educated at Pocklington School.

At the 2016 Scottish Parliament election, he contested Airdrie and Shotts.

The SNP's Alex Neil held the seat but Leonard was elected as a Member of the Scottish Parliament as one of seven additional members for the Central Scotland region.

Shortly after his election as an MSP, he was given a junior role on the Scottish Labour frontbench as Shadow Economy Minister by leader Kezia Dugdale.

He supported Jeremy Corbyn in the 2016 UK Labour Party leadership election.

Leonard defeated Anas Sarwar to win the 2017 Scottish Labour leadership election, succeeding Kezia Dugdale, and he later took on the role of Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Jobs and Fair Work.

The 2017 Scottish Labour Party leadership election was triggered by the sudden resignation of Kezia Dugdale in August.

During the campaign to decide her successor, BBC News described Leonard as more left-wing than his rival, Anas Sarwar.

Leonard received celebrity endorsement from cult comic book scribe Mark Millar, known for Kick-Ass and Kingsman, who said he was "the most exciting thing to happen up here in decades".

On 18 November 2017, it was announced he had been elected as Leader of the Scottish Labour Party, receiving 56.7% of the vote on a 62.3% turnout.

Only a few hours after the leadership election result was declared, Kezia Dugdale announced she was set to join reality TV game show I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!. This would mean she would be in Australia for several weeks while the Scottish Parliament was still in session.

Leonard said he would discuss with Labour MSPs whether she would be suspended for failing to notify the party.

It was decided she would not be suspended but, instead, sent a written warning from Scottish Labour Parliamentary Business Manager James Kelly.

When she returned from Australia, she met with Leonard and other colleagues and released a statement expressing regret at her announcement overshadowing Leonard's victory.

After replacing Jackie Baillie in a 2018 frontbench reshuffle, Baillie was elected as his new deputy leader in 2020.

A supporter of Jeremy Corbyn, Leonard was credited for shifting Scottish Labour leftwards but criticised for poor results in the 2019 European Parliament election and 2019 general election.

He faced a motion of no confidence in his leadership put forward by members of the political right of the party but the motion failed to gain enough support.

He remained as leader until standing down in January 2021 prior to the 2021 Scottish Parliament election.