 | 'McAveety eating humble pie over a pork pie and nearly getting his ministerial chips was a great story. But under normal circumstances, a leadership contest in the party of opposition might have been expected to set more pulses racing in the Lawnmarket. But this is not a normal political contest.' Iain MacWhirter in the Sunday Herald 27 th June 2004. |  |
Profile: Fergus Ewing
AT 46, Fergus Ewing carries the heavy mantle of the entire Ewing dynasty. He recently received a ringing endorsement as a future leader of the party, but it came from his mother, Winnie, so may not have been entirely unbiased.
What is undoubtedly true is that he has a lawyer's forensic talent for detail and was a brilliant critic during the Holyrood saga. He now realises that allowing himself to be portrayed Ð he believes misrepresented Ð as a right-winger in a left-wing party was damaging to his leadership prospects. For that and other personal reasons, he decided yesterday to rule himself out of the leadership contest, and concentrate instead on the prize of depute convener.
The son of Mrs Ewing, the SNP president and veteran of Westminster, Brussels and Holyrood, he is the brother of Annabelle Ewing, MP for Perth, and is married to Margaret Ewing, MSP for Moray.
He won Inverness East Nairn and Lochaber, the second-largest constituency in Scotland, in the inaugural 1999 Holyrood election, an SNP gain from Labour by only 441 votes, and built that into a 1046 majority last year.
He asked the most written questions, mainly on environmental topics, in the parliament's first term. As well as campaigning on foot-and-mouth in 2001, he was vocal on the impact of high fuel prices in the Highlands.
Educated at Loretto School in Edinburgh, and Glasgow University, where he joined the Scottish Nationalist Association, Mr Ewing later developed his law practice as an expert on small business.
A former member of the Lomond mountain rescue team, he is a keen hillwalker and runner, completing marathons in New York and Loch Ness, and plays the piano.
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