Constituency : Orkney and Shetland 2001-?
The 2001 election was widely expected to see Liberal Democrat losses due to a drop in tactical voting and doubts about Charles Kennedy's energy levels. Instead, they lost just two seats by narrow margins and gained eight . The election also saw a number of successful handovers which meant the number of new MPs was greater than those figures would suggest.
Alistair took over from Jim Wallace at Orkney and Shetland.
Alistair was born on Islay. He was educated at Islay High School and Aberdeen University. He worked as a hotel manager in the eighties but later qualified as a solicitor. He stood at Paisley South in 1987, maintaining the Liberals' second place. He is an elder in the Church of Scotland.
Alistair took over as home affairs spokesman following the disgrace of Mark Oaten then became Northern Ireland and Scotland spokesman. He briefly resigned in order to support a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty.
In 2009, Alistair supported a campaign against a book Chucking It All: How Downsizing to a Windswept Scottish Island Did Absolutely Nothing To Improve My Life by Max Scratchmann about downsizing from Manchester to Orkney. Alistair complained that several criticised residents were "clearly identifiable" and the book was "hurtful and vindictive". The publisher cancelled publication.
When the coalition government was formed, Alistair became Deputy Chief Whip and Comptroller of the Household. In 2013, he was promoted to the Cabinet as Secretary of State for Scotland to take charge of the campaign against Scottish independence. He was ultimately successful in defeating the nationalists.
Prior to the 2015 election, a leaked memo from his office suggested that Nicola Sturgeon preferred to see David Cameron rather than Ed Milliband as prime minister which turned out to be false. Alistair denied he had knowledge of it. He was narrowly re-elected in 2015, the only Liberal Democrat survivor in Scotland. A subsequent Cabinet Office enquiry disproved his denial and the SNP challenged the election result claiming his lies had affected the result. This claim was eventually rejected but he was left with a hefty bill for costs, some of which were met by the Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust.
Alistair was temporary leader in the Commons following Nick Clegg's resignation but did not stand in the leadership election. He then became spokesperson for home affairs.After the 2017 election at which he built up another comfortable majority as the SNP tide receded, he became chief whip. In 2019, he also became spokesman for the environment, food and rural affairs. He has ruled himself out of the leadership contest to succeed Vince Cable.
He is now 53.
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