Philippa Whitford

Last updated

Hans Pieper
​
(m. 1987)​
Philippa Whitford
Official portrait of Dr Philippa Whitford MP crop 2.jpg
SNP Scotland Spokesperson in the House of Commons
In office
10 December 2022 –4 September 2023
Children1
Alma mater University of Glasgow
Website whitford.scot

Philippa Whitford (born 24 December 1958) is a Scottish National Party (SNP) politician and a breast surgeon. Originally from Northern Ireland, she was first elected as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Central Ayrshire in May 2015 and was re-elected in 2017 and 2019. [1] Whitford stood down at the 2024 general election. She previously served as the SNP Spokesperson for Scotland from December 2022 to September 2023. [2] [3] [4]

Contents

She served as the SNP Health spokesperson in the House of Commons from 2015 to 2021.

Early life and education

Whitford was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland to Elizabeth and Philip Whitford. [5] The family moved to Scotland when she was aged ten. [6] She was educated at Wood Green: St Angela's Providence Convent Secondary School in London and Douglas Academy in Milngavie, before studying at the University of Glasgow, where she graduated with medical degrees. She was the first woman in her family to gain admission to university. [6]

Career

Surgical career

Whitford worked as a consultant breast surgeon at Crosshouse Hospital for more than 18 years. [5]

Just after the First Gulf War and during the First Palestinian Intifada at the age of thirty, Whitford served for a year and a half as a medical volunteer in a United Nations hospital in the Gaza Strip. [7] She spent the 2016 parliamentary recess travelling to the West Bank to operate on four women suffering from breast cancer, and visited Gaza to advise local hospitals on how to improve healthcare. [8]

Political career

Whitford joined the Scottish National Party in 2012. She became involved with the campaign preceding the 2014 Scottish independence referendum. She advocated independence as a way of protecting NHS Scotland from the same kind of "creeping privatisation agenda undermining services in England". [9] An online video of her claiming the NHS in England would be privatised within five years and in Scotland within ten went viral at this time. [10]

"In five years, England will not have an NHS and in 10 years, if we vote no, neither will we," she said. [9]

House of Commons

Whitford was selected to contest Central Ayrshire for the SNP at the 2015 general election. She polled 26,999 votes – 53.2% of the vote – defeating the incumbent Labour MP, Brian Donohoe, by 13,589 votes. [11] She made her maiden speech in the House of Commons on 2 June 2015. [12]

She was a member of the Joint Committee on the Draft Domestic Abuse Bill, but left the committee on 11 March 2019 to be replaced by Liz Saville Roberts. [13]

In August 2020 after the SNP's rules on candidate selection were changed, meaning MPs seeking election to Holyrood would have to resign their seat at Westminster, Whitford tweeted "For ALL [SNP] MPs – now trapped at Westminster with no straightforward way to put themselves forward for Scotland's own Parliament. No one ever mentioned this before any of us stood for Westminster." [14] [15] The tweet provoked an angry response from political opponents, with Labour's Monica Lennon responding that, "Representing your community is a privilege and responsibility like no other... If SNP MPs feel 'trapped' they should release themselves and let others serve." [16]

In March 2021 Whitford compared Scotland's position as part of the United Kingdom to a woman "locked" in a room and who had had her cheque book "taken away". The remarks were condemned as "appalling" by Scottish Labour's Deputy leader Jackie Baillie who said: "There is a constant challenge to ensure that domestic abuse is taken seriously and for the gravity of such offences to be properly recognised, so no one, let alone an MP, should ever trivialise the matter by making such throw away comments which will have deeply offended people." [17]

After Westminster blocked the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill in January 2023, using section 35 for the first time since the Scotland Act 1998 was passed, Whitford remarked that its veto was an "unprecedented attack" on the Scottish Parliament which showed the "hollow reality" of devolution in the United Kingdom". [18]

She announced in July 2023 that she would stand down at the 2024 general election. [19]

Personal life

Whitford has been married to Hans Pieper, a German citizen who works as a general practitioner, since 1987; the couple have a son together. [6] [20]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Angus Robertson</span> Scottish politician (born 1969)

Angus Struan Carolus Robertson is a Scottish politician serving as the Cabinet Secretary for the Constitution, External Affairs and Culture since 2021. Formerly Depute Leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP) from 2016 to 2018, he has served as the Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for Edinburgh Central since 2021. Robertson previously served as a Westminster MP for Moray from 2001 to 2017, where he served from 2007 to 2017 as the Leader of the SNP in the House of Commons.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tricia Marwick</span> Scottish Independent politician (born 1953)

Patricia Marwick is a Scottish politician who served as Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament from 2011 to 2016. She was a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) from 1999 to 2016. Elected as a member of the Scottish National Party (SNP), she suspended her membership in 2011 upon her election as presiding officer, following the tradition of the presiding officer being nonpartisan.

<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">Central Ayrshire (UK Parliament constituency)</span> Parliamentary constituency in the United Kingdom, 2005 onwards

Central Ayrshire is a constituency of the British House of Commons, located in the south-west of Scotland within the North Ayrshire and South Ayrshire council areas. It elects one Member of Parliament (MP) at least once every five years using the first-past-the-post system of voting.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Thomson (politician)</span> Scottish SNP politician, MP for Gordon

Richard Gordon Thomson is a Scottish politician. He is a member of the Scottish National Party (SNP) and was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Gordon from 2019 until the seat's abolition in 2024. He was also previously the leader of the SNP group on Aberdeenshire Council. He was the SNP Spokesperson for Business and Trade from 2022, and SNP Spokesperson for Wales and Northern Ireland until 2024.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ian Murray (Scottish politician)</span> British politician (born 1976)

Ian Murray is a Scottish politician who has served as Secretary of State for Scotland since July 2024. A member of the Labour Party, he has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Edinburgh South since 2010. He previously served as Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland from 2015 to 2016 and again from 2020 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 served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Kilmarnock and Loudoun from 2015 until 2024. Brown previously served as the SNP spokesperson on Energy Security and Net Zero (2022–2023), Energy and Climate Change (2020–2022), Transport (2017–2020) and Infrastructure and Energy (2017–2018) 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">Alison Thewliss</span> Scottish politician

Alison Emily Thewliss is a Scottish National Party (SNP) politician. She was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Glasgow Central from the May 2015 general election until 2024.

<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">Brendan O'Hara</span> Scottish politician (born 1963)

Brendan O'Hara is a Scottish National Party (SNP) politician. He serves as Member of Parliament (MP) for the constituency of Argyll, Bute and South Lochaber since the 2024 election, having previously represented the Argyll and Bute constituency from 2015 to 2024. He has been the SNP spokesperson for Foreign Affairs since September 2023. He served as the SNP Digital, Culture, Media and Sport spokesperson from 2017 to 2018, the SNP Defence spokesperson from 2015 to 2017, SNP International Development spokesperson from 2022 to 2023, and SNP Chief Whip in 2023.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joanna Cherry</span> Scottish SNP politician and lawyer

Joanna Catherine Cherry is a Scottish politician and lawyer who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Edinburgh South West from 2015 until 2024. A member of the Scottish National Party (SNP), she was the party's Shadow Home Secretary and Shadow Secretary of State for Justice in the House of Commons from 2015 to 2021.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Deidre Brock</span> Australian-born Scottish National Party politician

Deidre Leanne Brock is an Australian-born Scottish National Party (SNP) politician who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Edinburgh North and Leith from 2015 to 2024. She is the first SNP representative to hold the seat at either a Westminster or Scottish Parliament level. Brock was the SNP House of Commons Business Spokesperson from December 2022 to July 2024.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Patricia Gibson</span> Scottish SNP politician

Patricia Gibson is a Scottish National Party (SNP) politician who served as SNP Attorney General Spokesperson since September 2023. She served as the SNP Shadow Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government from 2021 to 2022. She was the Member of Parliament (MP) for North Ayrshire and Arran 2015–2024.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stuart McDonald (Scottish politician)</span> Scottish politician and Member of Parliament

Stuart Campbell McDonald is a Scottish National Party (SNP) politician. He has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for the Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch East constituency since 2015. A member of the House of Commons Home Affairs Select Committee, he previously served as the SNP Spokesperson for Justice and Immigration from 2022 to 2023. He served as the SNP Shadow Home Secretary from 2021 to 2022. He was the SNP Spokesperson on Immigration, Asylum and Border Control from 2015 to 2021.

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

Tommy Sheppard is a Scottish National Party (SNP) politician who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Edinburgh East from 2015 until the seat's abolition in 2024. He has been SNP Spokesperson for Scotland since 2023. He is a former SNP spokesperson for the Cabinet Office and a former SNP Shadow Leader of the House of Commons. He is also known for founding The Stand Comedy Clubs in Edinburgh and Glasgow.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Amy Callaghan</span> Scottish politician, MP for East Dunbartonshire

Amy Callaghan is a Scottish National Party (SNP) politician who served as the member of parliament (MP) for East Dunbartonshire from 2019 until 2024 when the seat was abolished and she came second in the newly established seat of Mid Dunbartonshire. She unseated the then Liberal Democrat leader, Jo Swinson, with a narrow majority of 149 votes or 0.3%, overturning her majority of 5,339 votes two years earlier. She was SNP Health spokesperson since and sat on the Health and Social Care Select Committee during her time in Parliament.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stephen Flynn</span> Scottish politician (born 1988)

Stephen Mark Flynn is a Scottish politician who has served as the leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP) in the House of Commons since December 2022. He has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Aberdeen South since 2019.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anum Qaisar</span> Scottish SNP politician

Anum Qaisar, previously Anum Qaisar-Javed is a Scottish National Party (SNP) politician who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Airdrie and Shotts from 2021 to 2024, when she lost the seat to Kenneth Stevenson of the Labour Party. She was also the SNP Spokesperson for Levelling Up from 2023 to 2024.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2024 United Kingdom general election in Scotland</span>

The 2024 general election was held on 4 July 2024. 57 Scottish Westminster seats were contested. The election saw a resurgence of Labour within Scotland, with the party winning 37 seats, an increase of 36 from the previous election and becoming the largest party in Scotland for the first time since 2010. The Liberal Democrats also saw gains, increasing their Scottish representation in Parliament from two seats to six. The Scottish National Party, the dominant party in Scotland since 2007, saw a collapse of support in which they lost 39 seats, bringing their total from 48 seats won at the previous election to nine. This was their worst Westminster election result since 2010. The Conservative Party lost one seat, taking their total down to five. Turnout dropped to 59%, eclipsed for the first time by a preceding Scottish Parliament election (63.5%). This was a reduction in turnout of 8.4% from 2019 and in a few constituencies the turnout was down 10%.

References

  1. ↑ "Election 2015: Ayrshire Central, Parliamentary constituency". BBC News . Retrieved 8 May 2015.
  2. ↑ SNP, the (10 December 2022). "The real opposition: meet your new SNP Westminster Frontbench". Scottish National Party. Retrieved 11 December 2022.
  3. ↑ "Philippa Whitford – Parliamentary Career" . Retrieved 11 December 2022.
  4. ↑ "SNP announces frontbench reshuffle at Westminster". BBC News. 4 September 2023. Retrieved 10 September 2023.
  5. 1 2 "Whitford, Dr Philippa". Whitford, Dr Philippa, (Born 24 Dec. 1958), MP (SNP) Central Ayrshire, since 2015. Who's Who. 2015. doi:10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.u283863. ISBN   978-0-19-954088-4 . Retrieved 27 January 2019.
  6. 1 2 3 Brown, Annie (10 July 2014). "Independence referendum: Top surgeon becomes viral hit after making impassioned plea to vote Yes to save the NHS". Daily Record . Trinity Mirror . Retrieved 9 May 2015.
  7. ↑ Jefferson, Rodney (25 March 2015). "The Scottish Streets Where a U.K. Election Will Be Won or Lost". Bloomberg News . Retrieved 9 May 2015.
  8. ↑ Dyke, Joe (8 April 2016). "British MP performs cancer surgery for Palestinian women". The Times of Israel . Retrieved 8 April 2016.
  9. 1 2 Clarke, Sandy (5 February 2015). "Consultant breast surgeon Dr Philippa Whitford is selected as SNP candidate to battle for the Central Ayrshire seat in May's General Election". Daily Record . Trinity Mirror . Retrieved 8 May 2015.
  10. ↑ "Scotland's new MPs". Bailiwick Express. 12 May 2015. Retrieved 16 May 2015.
  11. ↑ "Election 2015: Ayrshire Central". BBC News . 8 May 2015. Retrieved 23 December 2015.
  12. ↑ Dr Philippa Whitford (2 June 2015). "Health and Social Care". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard) . United Kingdom: House of Commons. col. 477–479.
  13. ↑ "New appointments this week in UK politics, the civil service and public affairs". PoliticsHome. 11 March 2019. Retrieved 14 March 2019.
  14. ↑ Paterson, Kirsteen (3 August 2020). "Edinburgh Central battle continues as Philippa Whitford hits out at rule change". The National.
  15. ↑ Whitford, Philippa [@dr_philippaw] (2 August 2020). "For ALL @theSNP MPs – now trapped at Westminster with no straightforward way to put themselves forward for Scotland's own Parliament. No one ever mentioned this before any of us stood for Westminster" (Tweet). Retrieved 9 August 2021– via Twitter.
  16. ↑ Lennon, Monica [@MonicaLennon7] (2 August 2020). "Representing your community is a privilege and responsibility like no other... If SNP MPs feel 'trapped' they should release themselves and let others serve" (Tweet). Retrieved 9 August 2021– via Twitter.
  17. ↑ Thom, Ryan (15 March 2021). "Ayrshire MP defends 'unhappy marriage' comparison in case for Independence". Daily Record.
  18. ↑ Duffy, Judith (17 January 2023). "Alister Jack challenged by MPs over gender reform section 35 order". The National. Retrieved 19 January 2023.
  19. ↑ "Philippa Whitford: Eighth SNP MP to quit at next election". BBC News. 18 July 2023. Retrieved 18 July 2023.
  20. ↑ "Whitford, Dr Philippa, (born 24 Dec. 1958), MP (SNP) Central Ayrshire, since 2015". Who's Who. 2015. doi:10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.283863.
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Member of Parliament
for Central Ayrshire
2015–2024 		Succeeded by
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.