Alister Jack

Alister William Jack (born 7 July 1963) is a Scottish politician currently serving as Secretary of State for Scotland since 2019. A member of the Scottish Conservative Party, he has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Dumfries and Galloway since 2017.[3][4][5]

The Right Honourable

Alister Jack

MP
Jack in 2017
Secretary of State for Scotland
Assumed office
24 July 2019
Prime MinisterBoris Johnson
Preceded byDavid Mundell
Lord Commissioner of the Treasury
In office
23 April 2019 – 24 July 2019
Prime MinisterTheresa May
Preceded byCraig Whittaker
Succeeded byColin Clark
Member of Parliament
for Dumfries and Galloway
Assumed office
8 June 2017
Preceded byRichard Arkless
Majority1,805 (3.5%)
Personal details
Born
Alister William Jack

(1963-07-07) 7 July 1963[1]
Dumfries, Dumfriesshire, Scotland[2]
Political partyConservative
Spouse(s)Ann Hodgson
Children3
EducationGlenalmond College

Early life

Jack was born on 7 July 1963 in Dumfries, Dumfriesshire, in Scotland to David and Jean Jack (who was Lord Lieutenant of Dumfries between 2006 and 2016). He was raised in Dalbeattie and Kippford. He was educated at Dalbeattie Primary School, at Crawfordton House – a private prep school near Moniaive, Dumfriesshire – and then at Glenalmond College, at that time an all-boys independent boarding school.[6]

Business career

Alister Jack is a businessman, having founded tent-hire and self-storage companies, the latter building his fortune of £20 million. He currently owns a farm of 1,200 acres in Courance, near Lockerbie.[7][8][9] He formerly chaired the River Annan Fishery Board and Trust, Fisheries Management Scotland and Galloway Woodlands.[10][11]

Political career

In the 1997 general election, Jack stood in Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale, but came third, being defeated by the Liberal Democrat future Secretary of State for Scotland Michael Moore.

Jack was elected to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom in the 2017 general election. He stood in the rural Scottish constituency of Dumfries and Galloway and defeated incumbent Scottish National Party MP Richard Arkless. Jack was one of the 13 Scottish Conservative MPs elected to the UK Parliament; the highest number since Margaret Thatcher's landslide victory in 1983.

He was a member of the Treasury Select Committee in the 57th Parliament.[4] He signed a letter to the Prime Minister, Theresa May, on 16 February 2018, making suggestions about the way the United Kingdom should leave the European Union.[12]

Jack was appointed Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) to the Leader of the House of Lords on 31 August 2018,[13] a position he held until he was appointed an Assistant Government Whip on 20 February 2019.[14] On 23 April 2019 he was appointed Lord Commissioner of the Treasury, a role in the Government Whips Office.[15]

He was appointed as Secretary of State for Scotland by Boris Johnson on 24 July 2019.[16] Jack was the first MP of the 2017 intake to join the Cabinet.[17]

Jack retained his seat at the 2019 general election with an increased share of the vote but with a reduced majority.[18][19]

Personal life

Jack is married to Ann (née Hodgson)[6] and has three grown-up children.[11] On 28 March 2020 he developed COVID-19 symptoms and became the third Cabinet minister to begin self-isolating.[20]

Electoral history

2019 general election
2019 general election: Dumfries and Galloway[21][22]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Alister Jack 22,678 44.1 +0.8
SNP Richard Arkless 20,873 40.6 +8.2
Labour Ted Thompson 4,745 9.2 -11.7
Liberal Democrats McNabb Laurie 3,133 6.1 +3.7
Majority 1,805 3.5 -7.6
Turnout 51,429 68.7 -0.9
Conservative hold Swing -3.7

2017 general election
2017 general election: Dumfries and Galloway[23]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Alister Jack[24] 22,344 43.3 13.4
SNP Richard Arkless 16,701 32.4 9.0
Labour Daniel Goodare[25] 10,775 20.9 3.8
Liberal Democrats Joan Mitchell 1,241 2.4 0.7
Independent Yen Hongmei Jin[26] 538 1.0 N/A
Majority 5,643 10.9 N/A
Turnout 51,644 69.6 5.7
Conservatives gain from SNP Swing 11.2

1997 general election
General election 1997: Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale[27]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Democrats Michael Moore 12,178 31.2 -3.8
Labour Keith Geddes 10,689 27.4 +11.0
Conservative Alister Jack 8,623 22.1 -8.6
SNP Ian Goldie 6,671 17.1 -0.1
Referendum Christopher Mowbray 406 1.0 N/A
Liberal John Hein 387 1.0 +0.4
Natural Law Duncan Paterson 47 0.1 N/A
Majority 1,489 3.8 -3.4
Turnout 39,001 76.3 -1.7
Liberal Democrats hold Swing

References
  1. "Members' Names Data Platform query". UK Parliament. Retrieved 24 April 2019.
  2. "Jack, Alister William". Who's Who. ukwhoswho.com. 2018 (February 2018 online ed.). A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc. Retrieved 13 February 2018. (subscription or UK public library membership required)
  3. "No. 27885". The Edinburgh Gazette. 19 June 2017. p. 1076.
  4. "Mr Alister Jack MP". UK Parliament. Retrieved 2 August 2017.
  5. 9 June 2017 at 2:49am. "BLOG: The voters of Scotland have spoken | Border - ITV News". Itv.com. Retrieved 9 June 2017.
  6. "Jack, Alister William". Who's Who. ukwhoswho.com. 2019 (1 December 2018 online ed.). A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc. Retrieved 24 July 2019. (subscription or UK public library membership required)
  7. "Profiles of the new Scottish MPs". Holyrood Magazine. 21 June 2017.
  8. "'You can sleep when you're dead' Alister Jack". The Scotsman.
  9. "Conservatives select local farmer to fight Galloway seat". The Galloway Gazette. Retrieved 2 August 2017.
  10. "Fisheries Management Scotland". Retrieved 23 April 2019.
  11. "Who are Scotland's new MPs?". BBC News. 9 June 2017.
  12. editor, Anushka Asthana Political (20 February 2018). "Tory MPs' hard Brexit letter to May described as ransom note". The Guardian.CS1 maint: extra text: authors list (link)
  13. "New role for local MP". Retrieved 15 September 2018.
  14. "Alister Jack MP - GOV.UK". www.gov.uk. Retrieved 22 February 2019.
  15. "Alister Jack MP - GOV.UK". www.gov.uk. Retrieved 23 April 2019.
  16. 10DowningStreet (24 July 2019). "Alister Jack has been appointed Secretary of State for Scotland". Twitter.
  17. "Boris Johnson's cabinet: Who's in and who's out". inews.co.uk. Retrieved 7 October 2019.
  18. "Dumfries & Galloway parliamentary constituency - Election 2019". Retrieved 13 December 2019.
  19. Gillespie, Stuart; McFarlane, Stuart (13 December 2019). "Jack re-elected Dumfries and Galloway MP". Daily Record. Retrieved 13 December 2019.
  20. Walawalkar, Aaron (28 March 2020). "Alister Jack is third UK cabinet member to self-isolate during Covid-19 outbreak". The Guardian. Retrieved 28 March 2020.
  21. "UK Parliamentary General Election - December 2019" (PDF). Dumfries and Galloway Council. Dumfries and Galloway Council. Retrieved 14 November 2019.
  22. "Dumfries & Galloway parliamentary constituency - Election 2019". Retrieved 13 December 2019.
  23. "Dumfries and Galloway - 2017 Election Results - General Elections Online". electionresults.parliament.uk. Archived from the original on 11 February 2018. Retrieved 13 December 2019.
  24. "Conservatives select local farmer to fight Galloway seat". www.gallowaygazette.co.uk.
  25. "Scottish Labour chief named in new wave of parliamentary candidates - LabourList". 28 April 2017.
  26. "South of Scotland constituency candidate lists revealed". 12 May 2017 – via www.bbc.co.uk.
  27. "Election Data 1997". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 28 June 2017.
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Richard Arkless		 Member of Parliament
for Dumfries and Galloway
2017–present		 Incumbent
Political offices
Preceded by
David Mundell		 Secretary of State for Scotland
2019–present		 Incumbent
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