Jack McConnell

As a strong proponent of Scottish devolution, McConnell helped push for reform. Between 1989 and 1998 he was a member of the Scottish Constitutional Convention, where he was playing an important role in the creation of the Scotland Act, which created a Scottish Parliament for the first time.

As General Secretary, he managed the Labour Party's successful YES YES devolution referendum campaign in 1997. Following the successful devolution campaign and the creation of a Scottish Parliament, McConnell was elected as an MSP, for Motherwell and Wishaw, in the first Scottish Parliament in May 1999.

He was appointed immediately by Donald Dewar, the then First Minister, to the post of Minister of Finance. As Finance Minister one of his primary jobs was to establish the budgeting procedures for the new Scottish government, which included consulting the public on budget priorities. As Minister responsible for External Relations he established Concordats with the UK Government and opened Scotland House in Brussels.

McConnell was elected an MSP in the first Scottish Parliament elections in 1999. He was appointed Minister for Finance in the new Scottish Executive by then First Minister Donald Dewar. One of his first moves as Finance Minister was to establish the budgeting procedures for the new Scottish Executive, including publishing a consultation document asking the public and MSPs how the budget should be spent. His department also passed the Public Finance and Accountability (Scotland) Act 2000 through Parliament, which set out the finance and auditing procedures of the Executive.[4]

On 11 October 2000, Donald Dewar died of a brain haemorrhage. After the Labour leadership intervened to stop the Enterprise Minister Henry McLeish being appointed Dewar's successor without a vote, McConnell stood in the leadership contest. The election was held on Saturday 21 October, only 72 hours after Dewar's funeral, and the surprise result saw McConnell defeated with 36 votes to Henry McLeish's 44 votes.

McLeish appointed him Minister for Education, Europe and External Affairs.[5] Some analysts considered this post to be a "poisoned chalice", as he would be required to resolve both a crisis in the Scottish Qualifications Authority over exam marking, and pay disputes with the teaching unions.[6]

In August 2000, prior to Jack McConnell's appointment as Education Minister, Scotland's national exams system was plunged into chaos when 5,000 students got the wrong exam results. Immediately following his appointment as Education Minister Jack McConnell appointed a new board for the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) and introduced significant changes to the way the agency worked. The marking of the 2001 exams was a success. He introduced a new pay and conditions package for Scottish teachers and the largest ever investment in schools buildings. He also established the Scottish government's first external relations and European strategy.

First Minister McConnell with President of Russia, Vladimir Putin

After the death of Donald Dewar whilst he was First Minister of Scotland in October 2000, McConnell ran for First Minister, but was narrowly defeated by Henry McLeish who became the second First Minister of Scotland. In the office of First Minister, McLeish then appointed McConnell to the post of Minister of Education, Europe and External Affairs.

This was viewed as a particularly tricky post due to thousands of students getting the wrong exam results and pay disputes with teachers' trade unions in the preceding year. He negotiated a new pay and conditions package for Scottish teachers and invested heavily in improving school infrastructure.

He reformed the Scottish Qualifications Authority and appointed a new board, and the following year there was no problem with exam results. In terms of European and External Affairs, he created the first External Relations and European Affairs strategy on how to influence and implement EU policies and promote Scotland abroad.

Henry McLeish resigned as First Minister on 8 November 2001 over the Officegate Scandal, regarding the sub let of his constituency office. In the resulting search for a leader, McConnell was seen by many political analysts as the likely successor.[7]

McConnell quickly emerged as the only candidate, and was elected First Minister by the Parliament on 22 November 2001 and formally appointed into office by Queen Elizabeth II on 27 November 2001. As a result of his becoming First Minister, he was appointed to the Privy Council.[8][9]

After his official appointment on 27 November 2001, McConnell formed his new government, axing four Ministers from Henry McLeish's government: Angus MacKay, Sarah Boyack, Tom McCabe and Jackie Baillie, and demoting Susan Deacon (she later resigned rather than accept the new post offered to her).[10]

In February 2002, Scotland joined forces with the Republic of Ireland in a bid to host the 2008 European Football Championship.[11] McConnell was initially unconvinced that it was worth spending around £100 million on the tournament, but he later put his support behind the joint bid with the Irish. Although the bid lost out to Austria/Switzerland, McConnell later supported other attempts to land major supporting events including London's successful bid for the 2012 Olympic Games[12] and Glasgow's bid for the 2014 Commonwealth Games.[13] In December 2002, McConnell launched his government's campaign against sectarianism.[14]

Jack McConnell welcomes President of the United States George W. Bush and Laura Bush to Scotland for the 31st G8 summit on 6 July 2005 at Glasgow Prestwick International Airport.

McConnell was re elected MSP for Motherwell and Wishaw at the Scottish Parliament elections. The Labour Party won 50 seats, the largest number, and formed another coalition government with the Liberal Democrats which won 17 seats. On 15 May, McConnell was re appointed First Minister of Scotland and on the same day the Scottish government published A Partnership for a Better Scotland which set out the government's priorities for the four-year term ahead.

• The Fresh Talent Initiative, launched in February 2004, to encourage economic migration to Scotland and help tackle the country's declining and ageing population.
• Global campaign to promote Scotland as a place to live, work, study and visit was established on 1 July 2004
• Project Scotland a national volunteering scheme for young people was set up on 11 May 2004.
• Scotland became the first part of the United Kingdom to implement a ban on smoking in public places on 26 March 2006.
• Scotland and Malawi signed a Co-operation Agreement on 3 November 2005.

The Scottish Parliament general election of 3 May 2007 saw McConnell re elected as the MSP for Motherwell and Wishaw with a majority of 5,938 votes, representing 48% of the vote with a turnout of 50.3%. The Labour Party was defeated by the SNP with the SNP winning 47 seats to Labour's 46, leaving the SNP short of an overall majority in the Parliament.[15] McConnell left office as First Minister on 16 May 2007, when the Scottish Parliament elected Alex Salmond as his successor.[16]

McConnell was widely predicted to take the position of British High Commissioner to Malawi when it became vacant in 2009, having taken an interest in the development of the country during his time as First Minister. In August 2007, he was appointed an adviser to the Clinton Hunter Development Initiative in Malawi and Rwanda, and in October 2008, he was appointed by Gordon Brown as the Prime Minister's Special Representative on Conflict Resolution Mechanisms, a position which ceased following the 2010 General election.

He is a UK Ambassador for Action for Children; a Fellow of the 48 Group Club, which promotes relationships between the United Kingdom and China and an Ambassador for Pump Aid. On 8 March 2012, Optical Express announced the appointment of Lord McConnell of Glenscorrodale joining the Board as non executive director.[23] He was a non executive director at DCM (Optical Holdings) from 2011 to 2015.[24] As of 30 November 2018 McConnell holds the position of Chancellor at the University of Stirling.[25]