Stephen Flynn (Scottish politician)

Last updated

Flynn speaking during Prime Minister's Questions, 7 February 2024 Prime Minister's Questions, 7 February 2024 05.jpg
Flynn speaking during Prime Minister's Questions, 7 February 2024

Following Ian Blackford's announcement to stand down as the SNP Westminster Group Leader, Flynn succeeded him as leader following an election by fellow Scottish National Party MPs winning a 26-17 majority over the other candidate Alison Thewliss. [15] [16] [17] [18]

In February 2024, Flynn was highly critical of the role of the speaker of the House of Commons Lindsay Hoyle during a parliamentary debate on a Gaza ceasefire motion. [19] Flynn stated that "he and his party has been treated with utter contempt and would need "significant convincing" that the Speaker's position was "not now intolerable". [20]

The SNP motion was criticised by, amongst others, Shadow Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, David Lammy MP, who stated that "The SNP motion appears one sided. For any ceasefire to work, it must, by necessity, be observed by both sides, or it is not a ceasefire...Israelis have the right to the assurance that the horror of 7 October cannot happen again." [21]

His appointment to His Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council was announced on 28 March 2024 as part of the 2024 Special Honours, thereby granting him the title The Right Honourable for life. [22]

Personal life

Flynn is married to Lynn Flynn with two children. [23]

Flynn has suffered from a serious condition called avascular necrosis since his teens and underwent a hip replacement for it in 2020. [24] In 2023, he told The News Agents "I was disabled" before the operation, and had walked with a crutch for eighteen years, which led to him reading more as a child. [25]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lindsay Hoyle</span> Speaker of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom since 2019

Sir Lindsay Harvey Hoyle is a British politician who has served as Speaker of the House of Commons since 2019 and as Member of Parliament (MP) for Chorley since 1997. Before his election as speaker, he was a member of the Labour Party.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leader of the Scottish National Party</span> Head of the Scottish National Party

The leader of the Scottish National Party is the highest position within Scotland's Scottish National Party (SNP). The incumbent is John Swinney, who was elected unopposed in the 2024 leadership election on 6 May 2024, succeeding Humza Yousaf as party leader.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stewart Hosie</span> Scottish National Party politician

Stewart Hosie is a Scottish National Party (SNP) politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Dundee East from 2005 to 2024. He served as the SNP Treasury Spokesperson from 2022 to 2023, and previously from 2015 to 2017. He served as the SNP Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Shadow Minister for the Cabinet Office since 2021. He served as Deputy Leader of the SNP to Nicola Sturgeon from November 2014 to October 2016. He was also the SNP Deputy Westminster Leader and the SNP Treasury Spokesperson from May 2015, until he was succeeded in both positions by Kirsty Blackman in June 2017.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Glasgow East (UK Parliament constituency)</span> Parliamentary constituency in the United Kingdom

Glasgow East is a constituency of the House of Commons of the UK Parliament, located in the city of Glasgow, Scotland. It elects one Member of Parliament at least once every five years using the first-past-the-post system of voting. It is currently represented by David Linden of the Scottish National Party (SNP) who has been the MP since 2017.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Politics of Dundee</span> Place

Politics in the Dundee Citycouncil area are evident in the deliberations and decisions of Dundee City Council, in elections to the council, and in elections to the Scottish Parliament (Holyrood) and the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom (Westminster).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ian Blackford</span> Scottish politician (born 1961)

Ian Blackford is a Scottish politician who served as Leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP) in the House of Commons from 2017 to 2022. He served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Ross, Skye and Lochaber from 2015 to 2024.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alan Brown (Scottish politician)</span> Scottish National Party politician

Alan Brown is a Scottish National Party (SNP) politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Kilmarnock and Loudoun since 2015. Brown was previously the SNP Energy Security and Net Zero spokesperson in the House of Commons.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kirsty Blackman</span> Scottish politician (born 1986)

Kirsty Blackman is a Scottish National Party (SNP) politician serving as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Aberdeen North since 2015.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Martin Docherty-Hughes</span> Scottish SNP politician

Martin John Docherty-Hughes is a Scottish National Party politician. He has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for West Dunbartonshire since 2015. He has served as SNP Defence Spokesperson since 2023.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alison Thewliss</span> Scottish politician

Alison Emily Thewliss is a Scottish National Party (SNP) politician. She has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Glasgow Central since the May 2015 general election.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Patrick Grady</span> Scottish politician (born 1980)

Patrick John Grady is a Scottish politician. He was elected at the 2015 UK general election as the Scottish National Party Member of Parliament (MP) for Glasgow North. He was re-elected in 2017 and in 2019. In 2024, he was defeated in preselection for his constituency and stood down.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kirsten Oswald</span> Scottish National Party politician

Kirsten Frances Oswald is a Scottish National Party (SNP) politician first elected as the Member of the UK Parliament (MP) for East Renfrewshire in 2015; she was unseated at the 2017 snap election but subsequently re-elected at the 2019 election. She served as the deputy leader of the SNP parliamentary party from 2020 to 2022, as well as Chairman and Business Convener of the Scottish National Party from 2018 to 2023.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Owen Thompson</span> Scottish politician (born 1978)

Owen George Thompson is a Scottish National Party politician currently serving as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Midlothian. He was elected in 2015, defeated at the 2017 general election, and regained the seat at the 2019 general election.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stephen Gethins</span> Scottish SNP politician

Stephen Patrick Gethins is a Scottish National Party (SNP) politician and academic. He served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for North East Fife from the 2015 general election, until he lost his seat at the 2019 general election to Wendy Chamberlain of the Liberal Democrats. Subsequently, he was appointed Professor of Practice in International Relations at the University of St Andrews.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frontbench Team of Ian Blackford</span> Political party spokesperson group

The Frontbench Team of Ian Blackford was the team of Scottish National Party Spokespersons in the House of Commons from 2017 to 2022.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paula Barker</span> British Labour politician

Paula Barker is a British politician who has served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Liverpool Wavertree since 2019. A member of the Labour Party, she served as the Shadow Minister for Devolution and the English Regions from September 2023 to November 2023.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Neale Hanvey</span> Scottish politician (born 1964)

James Neale Hanvey is a Scottish politician serving as the Leader of the Alba Party in the House of Commons since 2021, and the Member of Parliament (MP) for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath since 2019.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2022 SNP Westminster leadership election</span>

The 2022 Scottish National Party (SNP) Westminster leadership election was held to choose the leader of the SNP in the House of Commons, following the resignation of Ian Blackford on 1 December 2022. Stephen Flynn and Alison Thewliss were the two MPs who ran in the election. Flynn was elected by 26 votes to 17.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frontbench Team of Stephen Flynn</span> Political party spokesperson group

The Frontbench Team of Stephen Flynn is the team of Scottish National Party Spokespersons in the House of Commons since 2022. The frontbench was appointed on 10 December 2022.

The 2024 United Kingdom general election is scheduled to be held on 4 July 2024. The election includes Scotland, with all 57 Scottish seats to be contested.

References

  1. "Members Sworn". Hansard.parliament.uk. 20 December 2019. Retrieved 28 January 2020.
  2. Brunskill, Ian (19 March 2020). The Times guide to the House of Commons 2019 : the definitive record of Britain's historic 2019 General Election. p. 76. ISBN   978-0-00-839258-1. OCLC   1129682574.
  3. "General Election 2019: Aberdeen South Parliamentary constituency". BBC News. Retrieved 13 December 2019.
  4. PA Media (5 December 2022). "Stephen Flynn announces candidacy for SNP leadership". The Guardian.
  5. "Stephen Flynn elected as new SNP leader at Westminster". BBC News. 6 December 2022. Retrieved 6 December 2022.
  6. "Getting to know you: Stephen Flynn". Holyrood. 2 December 2020. Retrieved 5 December 2022.
  7. Beattie, Kieran (16 March 2016). "Aberdeen's SNP council group announce new leader" . Retrieved 16 November 2023.
  8. Rhodes, Mandy (19 December 2022). "Stephen Flynn: 'There was an expectation I would have to be in a wheelchair'". Holyrood. Retrieved 16 November 2023.
  9. Ewen, David (15 March 2013). "Aberdeen SNP group announces new leader". Evening Express. Retrieved 13 December 2019.
  10. "General Election 2019". Aberdeen City Council. Retrieved 16 November 2019.
  11. "Aberdeen South parliamentary constituency - Election 2019" . Retrieved 15 December 2019.
  12. "Commons Briefing Paper 8749. General Election 2019: results and analysis" (PDF). London: House of Commons Library. 28 January 2020. Archived (PDF) from the original on 18 November 2021. Retrieved 19 January 2022.
  13. Campsie, Alison (12 December 2019). "General Election 2019: SNP steal Ross Thomson's old Aberdeen South seat from Tories". The Scotsman . Retrieved 14 December 2019.
  14. 1 2 "Stephen Flynn". UK Parliament . Retrieved 5 December 2022.
  15. "Ian Blackford to stand down as SNP leader at Westminster". BBC News. 1 December 2022. Retrieved 8 December 2022.
  16. Sim, Philip (6 December 2022). "Stephen Flynn elected as new SNP leader at Westminster". BBC News. Retrieved 8 December 2022.
  17. "Blackford denies being pushed out by SNP MPs". BBC News. 4 December 2022. Retrieved 11 December 2022.
  18. "Ian Blackford: Why has SNP Westminster chief stepped down?". BBC News . 1 December 2022. Retrieved 8 December 2022.
  19. "Gaza ceasefire vote: SNP MPs walk out in protest at Speaker". The Herald. 21 February 2024.
  20. Flynn, Stephen (23 February 2024). "Starmer used every trick in the book to stop MPs voting on SNP ceasefire motion". Daily Record. Retrieved 28 February 2024.
  21. "Hansard. Ceasefire in Gaza debate". 21 February 2024.
  22. "Privy Council appointment: March 2024" (PDF). GOV.UK. 28 March 2024. Retrieved 28 March 2024.
  23. Merson, Adele (1 December 2022). "Who is Stephen Flynn? The Aberdeen MP who is now SNP Westminster leader". The Press and Journal. Retrieved 1 February 2023.
  24. Scott, Kevin (6 December 2022). "Stephen Flynn: Who is the SNP's new Westminster leader?". STV . Retrieved 7 December 2022.
  25. Lewis Goodall (7 July 2023). "The News Agents: Zuckerberg v Musk: it's war" (Podcast). Global. Event occurs at 27:40. Retrieved 28 March 2024.
Stephen Flynn
Official portrait of Stephen Flynn, 2022 (cropped).jpg
Official portrait, 2022
Leader of the Scottish National Party
in the House of Commons
Assumed office
6 December 2022
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Member of Parliament
for Aberdeen South

2019–present
Incumbent
Party political offices
Preceded by Leader of the Scottish National Party in the House of Commons
2022–present
Incumbent