George Leslie (politician)

George Leslie
Depute Leader of the Scottish National Party
In office 1969–1971
Leader	William Wolfe
Preceded by	William Wolfe
Succeeded by	Douglas Henderson
Personal details
Born	21 November 1936 Glasgow, Scotland
Political party	Scottish National Party
Alma mater	University of Glasgow
Profession	Veterinary surgeon

George Andrew Leslie (born 21 November 1936) is a Scottish nationalist politician.

Leslie studied at Hillhead High School and Glasgow University before becoming a vet.^[1] He joined the Scottish National Party (SNP) in the early 1960s, and was selected to stand for the party at the Glasgow Pollok by-election, 1967. During the by-election one observer described his speeches as being in the style of Jimmy Maxton.^[2] His campaign also featured the singing of both traditional and topical Scottish songs.^[3] Although the party had never previously contested the seat, Leslie took 28% of the vote. The Labour Party share of the vote dropped considerably, enabling the Conservative Party to win - their last by-election gain of the century in Scotland. Leslie's campaign marked the start of a year of successes for the SNP, including becoming the largest party in local government in Stirling, and victory in the Hamilton by-election.^[4]

Leslie was soon elected to the Glasgow Corporation,^[1] and, in 1969, became the SNP's Senior Vice-Chairman.^[5] Later, he served as a Strathclyde Regional councillor for East Kilbride, and he stood as the SNP candidate for Glasgow at the European Parliament election in 1979, taking 16.4% of the vote.^[1]

During the early 1980s, Leslie was the SNP's Vice-Chairman for Policy.^[1] He was the party's candidate in the high-profile Glasgow Hillhead by-election in 1982 but, despite campaigning hard, he was only able to take fourth place,^[6] with 11.3% of the votes cast.^[7] He stood again in Hillhead at the 1983 general election, but fell to only 5.4% of the vote,^[8] He stood in Strathclyde East at the 1984 European election, taking second place with 17.6% of the vote,^[1] then in Kilmarnock and Loudoun in the 1987 general election, taking third place but 18.2%.^[9] Standing again in Strathclyde East at the 1989 European election, he increased his share to 25.2%,^[10] and finally at the 1992 general election he took 15.6% and fourth place in Glasgow Pollok.^[8]

On 28 February 2010, Leslie formally launched a campaign to contest Kilmarnock and Loudoun at the 2010 general election.^[11] However, he finished in second place, 12,378 votes behind the Labour Party candidate Cathy Jamieson.

Leslie currently remains an active member of the SNP in the Kilmarnock & Loudoun area.

References

1. Guide to the European elections, 1984, BBC Political Research Unit, p.200
2. Christopher Harvey, Scotland and nationalism, p.170
3. Chris Cook and John Ramsden, By-elections in British politics, p.185
4. Christopher Harvie and Peter Jones, The road to home rule: images of Scotland's cause, p.84
5. Billy Wolfe, Scotland lives, p.138
6. Tom Gallagher, Nationalism in the nineties, p.59
7. Results of byelections in the 1979-83 Parliament
8. British Parliamentary Election results 1983-97: Scottish Burghs
9. British Parliamentary Election results 1983-97: Scottish Counties
10. United Kingdom European Parliamentary Election results 1979-99: Scotland
11. SNP 2010 UK General Election Candidates: George Leslie