James Kelly (Scottish politician)

Kelly grew up in the Halfway area of Cambuslang, and was educated at the co-educational, Roman Catholic Trinity High School, Rutherglen.[2] He studied at Glasgow College of Technology and went on to work in computing and finance. A chartered accountant, he worked as a business analyst in East Kilbride.[3] He served as the election agent for the former Rutherglen and Hamilton West MP Tommy McAvoy at the 1997, 2001 and 2005 general elections. He was also chair of the Rutherglen and Hamilton West Constituency Labour Party.[4]

Kelly was elected as MSP for Rutherglen in 2007 Scottish Parliament election.[5] Upon entering the Scottish Parliament, he served on the Finance Committee and as a Labour Whip.[6] From 2008 to 2011, he was a member of the Justice Committee and Shadow Minister for Community Safety.[7]

Kelly in 2011

Kelly was re-elected at the 2011 Scottish Parliament election.[8] Following the election of Johann Lamont as Leader of the Scottish Labour Party in the 2011 leadership election, he was appointed Chief Whip in Holyrood. He was subsequently made Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Infrastructure, Investment and Cities in a reshuffle in June 2013.[9]

After the election of Jim Murphy as Leader of the Scottish Labour Party, Kelly was appointed to succeed Paul Martin as Labour's Parliamentary Business Manager.[10]

Under Kezia Dugdale's leadership, he remained parliamentary business manager.[11] In December 2014, he was named as the party's election coordinator for the 2016 Scottish Parliament election.[12][13]

In December 2015, Kelly was ejected from the parliamentary debating chamber by presiding officer Tricia Marwick when he refused to sit down after attempting to make a point of order during a trade union bill debate.[14][15]

Kelly sought selection for the Glasgow regional list prior to the 2016 Scottish Parliament election.[16] While Kelly lost his Holyrood constituency seat to the SNP's Clare Haughey in 2016, he was elected as a list MSP for the Glasgow region.[17][18][19] Haughey's majority of 3,743 made it a target seat for Labour in the future. The equivalent Westminster seat Rutherglen and Hamilton West was won back by Labour's Gerard Killen in the 2017 UK general election, despite being one of the biggest swings towards the SNP two years prior.[20][21] He was the party's campaign manager for the 2017 general election.[22]

When Kezia Dugdale resigned as Scottish Labour leader, Kelly's name was touted as a potential successor.[23] In December 2017, Richard Leonard appointed Kelly as his Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Finance and the Constitution.[24][25] In October 2018, following a reshuffle of the Scottish Labour frontbench in Holyrood, Kelly continued to hold the finance portfolio while Neil Findlay took forward the constitutional brief.[26]

He serves as the Convener of the Cross-Party Group in the Scottish Parliament on Co-operatives and was the deputy Convener of the Cross-Party Group on Sport.

Kelly nominated Anas Sarwar in the 2021 Scottish Labour leadership election.[27]

Kelly currently lives in Cambuslang with his wife, Alexa, and their two daughters.[38] He has spoken about his interests in sport, namely football, tennis and running.[39]

• James Kelly MSP profile, scottish.parliament.uk; accessed 15 May 2016.