John Nicolson (politician)

For other people named John Nicolson, see John Nicolson (disambiguation).
John Nicolson
MP
Member of Parliament
for East Dunbartonshire
Assumed office
7 May 2015
Preceded by Jo Swinson
Majority 2,167 (3.9%)
Personal details
Born John MacKenzie Nicolson
(1961-06-23) 23 June 1961
Glasgow, Scotland
Political party Scottish National Party
Alma mater University of Glasgow

John MacKenzie Nicolson[1] (born 23 June 1961[2]) is a Scottish National Party (SNP) politician and former Scottish television presenter. He is a Member of Parliament (MP) for East Dunbartonshire, elected in the 2015 general election on 7 May 2015. He is the SNP spokesperson on Culture, Media and Sport in the House of Commons and a member of the House of Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee.[3][4]

Early life

Born in Glasgow, Nicolson was educated at Hutchesons' Grammar School and at the University of Glasgow, graduating in 1984 with an MA (Hons.) in English literature and Politics. He was awarded a Kennedy Scholarship for post graduate study in the United States, and was Harkness Fellow in American Government at the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard.

As a student he first captured press attention by winning, in the same year, both the Observer Mace (now the John Smith Memorial Mace), and the World Universities Debating Championship at Princeton, New Jersey. He returned to the Glasgow University Union in 2012 to debate against other former World Universities' Championship winners.[5]

He was recruited from Harvard by Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan (Democrat, New York) to work as a speech writer on Capitol Hill.[6]

Broadcasting career

BBC

As a student, Nicolson appeared on BBC Scotland's Mr Speaker Sir. In 1987 he joined the BBC.[7] His network broadcasting career began with the BBC youth DEF II programme Open to Question in 1988. In 1992 he made the documentary 'A Question of Consent' for BBC 'Public Eye'.[8]

After moving to London he reported for a variety of BBC programmes including On the Record, Panorama,[7] Assignment, The Late Show, and several live general election, European election, and budget programmes.

He was a reporter on Newsnight[7] for three years, presented Watchdog Healthcheck on BBC1 and was one of the main studio presenters on the BBC's Breakfast News during the period that the show overtook its commercial rival GMTV for the first time. He was the studio presenter for the BBC on 11 September 2001 as the Twin Towers collapsed, anchoring live on BBC News 24 and BBC One – a broadcast which won the BBC production team a Foreign Press Association award for best breaking news coverage.[9]

ITV

After more than ten years at the BBC, Nicolson moved to ITV News Channel where he presented Live with John Nicolson, a three-hour morning news magazine until 2005.

Other media work

Nicolson occasionally guest reported for a travel show called Holiday, presented his own radio show with Jane Moore on LBC 97.3 until 2003 and appeared as a panellist on Radio 4's long running comedy show The News Quiz. He appeared as himself in The Trial of Tony Blair in 2007. He has also contributed to the Cumulus Media Networks radio programme The John Batchelor Show.

He has written about architecture and design, as well as politics and travel.

Political career

Nicolson joined the Scottish National Party aged 16.[6] He became an MP after winning election in the East Dunbartonshire constituency in the 2015 general election.[6]

In 2016, Nicolson put forward a proposal for an "Alan Turing law" which would retroactively pardon gay men who had been convicted of offenses under historical laws which outlawed homosexual acts. He has placed his proposal before Parliament as a Private Member's Bill.[10][11] Although no MPs were opposed to the bill, it was filibustered when the Conservative government Justice minister Sam Gyimah spoke for around 25 minutes, continuing until the deadline for a vote on the proposals.[12]

Personal life

In 1999, when he was a presenter on BBC Breakfast alongside Sophie Raworth, Nicolson came out in various publications as gay. At the time he said: "If my being open about my sexuality shows kids that people like Dale Winton aren't the only role models, then it must be quite good." He has said that the decision was prompted after he was wrongly credited with having a long-term girlfriend in a newspaper interview, and was fed up with viewers believing him to be straight.[13]

References

  1. ↑ "List of Members returned to Parliament at the General Election 2015 Scotland". The Edinburgh Gazette. 15 May 2015. Retrieved 3 June 2015.
  2. ↑ Birth certificate of John MacKenzie Nicolson, 23 June 1961, Glasgow District 4373/02 3849 – National Records of Scotland
  3. ↑ "SNP confirms group roles". Snp.org. SNP. 20 May 2015. Retrieved 18 July 2015.
  4. ↑ "Culture, Media and Sport Committee – membership". House of Commons. 8 July 2015. Retrieved 18 July 2015.
  5. ↑ "Glasgow University Union debates independence". STV News. 22 November 2011. Retrieved 14 May 2012.
  6. 1 2 3 "Election 2015: Who are the 56 new SNP MPs?". BBC News. BBC. 8 May 2015. Retrieved 10 May 2015.
  7. 1 2 3 Cantacuzino, Maria (26 September 1999). "How we met: Krishnan Guru-Murthy & John Nicolson". The Independent. Retrieved 10 May 2015.
  8. ↑ "Public Eye | A Question of Consent". BBC. 29 May 1992. Retrieved 14 May 2012.
  9. ↑ Nicolson, John (9 September 2011). "9/11 anniversary: 'Suddenly there was mayhem. One of the towers was on fire'". The Guardian. Guardian News and Media. Retrieved 6 October 2016.
  10. ↑ Littauer, Dan (24 September 2016). "Scots MP introduces Turing Law to quash anti-gay convictions". kaleidoscot.com. Retrieved 24 September 2016.
  11. ↑ Devlin, Kate (29 June 2016). "SNP MP launches bid to pardon those charged under homophobic laws no longer on statute book". Herald Scotland. Retrieved 2016-09-24.
  12. ↑ Worley, Will (21 October 2016). "Turing Bill filibustered by Tory minster amid row over how to pardon people convicted under scrapped anti-gay laws". The Independent. Retrieved 22 October 2016.
  13. ↑ http://www.thefreelibrary.com/I+came+out+so+kids+would+have+a+better+gay+role+model+than+Dale...-a060329276
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Jo Swinson		 Member of Parliament
for East Dunbartonshire
2015–present 		Incumbent
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