Iain Macwhirter

Iain Macwhirter (born 24 September 1952)[1][2] is a Scottish political journalist. He is a political commentator for several newspapers, an author and documentary film and radio presenter and a former Rector of Edinburgh University. He has worked at both the UK Parliament and Scottish Parliament, presenting the BBC2 programmes Westminster Live, Scrutiny and, from 1999, the BBC TV programme Holyrood Live from the Scottish Parliament.

Iain MacWhirter
Lord Rector of the University of Edinburgh
In office
13 February 2009 – 10 January 2012
Preceded byMark Ballard
Succeeded byPeter McColl
Majority2,640
Personal details
Born (1952-09-24) 24 September 1952
ResidenceEdinburgh
EducationGeorge Heriot's School
Alma materUniversity of Edinburgh
OccupationJournalist

In 2013, he published Road to Referendum, which accompanied a three-part television series of the same name on STV and ITV.[3] Following the Scottish independence referendum, he published Disunited Kingdom: How Westminster Won A Referendum But Lost Scotland,[4] a retrospective on his experiences as a journalist documenting the campaign. In 2015, his book Tsunami, about the SNP's victory in the 2015 general election, was published by Freight Books.[5]

Education

Macwhirter was educated at George Heriot's School, a grant-aided independent school in Edinburgh, Scotland, followed by the University of Edinburgh, where he graduated with an honours degree in politics.[2]

Life and career

In his Road to Referendum Macwhirter recounts rejecting his parents' nationalism in the 1970s. He worked for the BBC for almost 20 years, first as a researcher and then as a current affairs reporter, before becoming Scottish political correspondent in 1987.[2] From 1989, he was a member of the Westminster press contingent, as part of Westminster Live. In 1999, he presented Politics Scotland and Holyrood Live until both were axed in 2007 and 2009 respectively.

Current journalism

Macwhirter writes weekly columns for The Herald, The Scotsman and Scotland on Sunday, all morning papers. He returned to Scotland to help launch the Sunday Herald in 1999, and has presented the Scottish Parliament magazine programme Holyrood Live. He also writes for Public Finance and other publications.

Macwhirter's columns were suspended by The Herald in September 2022, after allegations he posted an offensive tweet about members of Liz Truss's cabinet.[6]

Rector of The University of Edinburgh

Macwhirter announced that he was running for Rector of the University of Edinburgh on 12 January 2009,[7] and was backed by George Galloway following the latter's withdrawal as a candidate for the post.[8] He was elected Rector on 13 February 2009, winning by 4,822 votes to 2,182 (69% to 31%).[9] succeeding the former Green MSP Mark Ballard.

See also

Bibliography
  • "Iain Macwhirter | writer and broadcaster". Iainmacwhirter.wordpress.com. 13 March 1999. Retrieved 14 March 2017.
  • Iain Macwhirter. "Full profile | Global". The Guardian. Retrieved 14 March 2017.
  • "Writers". Newstatesman.com. 9 March 2017. Retrieved 14 March 2017.

References
  1. "Iain MACWHIRTER - Personal Appointments". Companies House. Retrieved 13 August 2021.
  2. "MACWHIRTER, Iain". Who's Who. Vol. 2023 (online ed.). A & C Black. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  3. "Road to Referendum" Archived 12 February 2015 at archive.today, Cargo Publishing
  4. "Disunited Kingdom: How Westminster Won A Referendum But Lost Scotland". Archived 19 December 2014 at the Wayback Machine, Cargo Publishing
  5. "Tsunami by Iain Macwhirter - Freight Books". Freightbooks.co.uk. Retrieved 28 January 2016.
  6. The Herald [@heraldscotland] (7 September 2022). "We are aware of an offensive tweet by one of our freelance contributors, Iain Macwhirter..." (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  7. Macwhirter, Iain (12 January 2009). "Pity the students of Generation Crunch". The Herald. Archived from the original on 24 May 2009.
  8. "Galloway backs Macwhirter in rector race", The Scotsman, 7 February 2009. Retrieved 9 July 2023.
  9. "Iain Macwhirter chosen as Edinburgh's 50th Rector" (Press release). University of Edinburgh. 14 April 2016. Retrieved 28 November 2021.
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