Donald Dewar

Who was Donald Dewar?

Donald Campbell Dewar was a Scottish politician, strident advocate of Scottish devolution, and the inaugural holder of the post of First Minister of Scotland.

Dewar joined politics after his election as a Labour Party Member of Parliament in Scotland from 1966, when he entered the House of Commons in the general election of 1966 as the Labour MP for Aberdeen South. He lost this seat in 1970, but was re-elected in a 1978 by-election to the Glasgow Garscadden constituency, and retained the seat with ease in the subsequent five elections. He served in Tony Blair's cabinet as Secretary of State for Scotland from 1997 to 1999, in which role he campaigned in favour of the successful 1997 referendum on Scottish devolution. Dewar was then appointed as party leader of the Scottish Labour Party, which he led into the first ever Scottish parliamentary election. He was elected in 1999 as both an MSP for Glasgow Anniesland and as First Minister of Scotland at the head of a Labour–Liberal Democrat coalition.

Dewar was born in Glasgow and studied law at the University of Glasgow; after graduating, he worked as a solicitor in Glasgow before entering politics.