Presiding Officer
Which position did George Reid (Scottish politician) hold from May 2003 to Apr 2007?
George Reid ( Scottish politician ) Sir George Reid ( born 4 June 1939 ) is a Scottish politician who served as Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament from 2003 to 2007 . A member of Scottish National Party ( SNP ) , he was Member of Parliament ( MP ) for Clackmannan and East Stirlingshire from February 1974 to 1979 , a Member of the Scottish Parliament ( MSP ) for the Mid Scotland and Fife region from 1999 to 2003 and member for the Ochil constituency from 2003 to 2007 . Early life and work . George Reid was born in 1939 at Tullibody , near Alloa , Clackmannanshire , Scotland , and educated at Dollar Academy and the University of St Andrews , Fife , Scotland , where he was awarded an MA degree with First-class honours in History in 1962 . He then continued with further studies in Switzerland and Union College in the United States , obtaining a diploma in international relations . He worked as a broadcast journalist and television producer for the BBC , Granada Television and Scottish Television , and as a print journalist for several newspapers . In this time he produced over 200 television documentaries , including Emmy winner Contract 736 , about the construction of the RMS Queen Elizabeth 2 . Westminster Parliament . Reid was elected as the Scottish National Party ( SNP ) Member of Parliament for Clackmannan and East Stirlingshire in the February 1974 general election , with a majority of 3,610 . He more than doubled his majority to 7,341 in the October 1974 general election , but then lost by a narrow 984 votes in the 1979 general election . During his time at Westminster he served as a member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and that of the Western European Union . Red Cross . After leaving Westminster he briefly returned to journalism . For BBC Scotland , he presented Agenda , which was produced by Kirsty Wark . He was producer of the famous reportage by Michael Buerk of the Ethiopian famine of 1984 that inspired the Band Aid and Live Aid charity campaigns , which led him to be headhunted by the International Red Cross and Red Crescent . He was part of an international disaster team that responded to the 1988 Armenian earthquake . He was Director of Public Affairs of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent for 12 years , based in Geneva , Switzerland , but working worldwide in conflict and disaster zones . Scottish Parliament . In 1995 Reid re-entered Scottish politics by delivering the annual Donaldson Lecture at the SNP conference , drawing on his knowledge of continental European politics to argue a case for why a party like the SNP could be expected to prosper if a Scottish Parliament was established . Labour Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland George Robertsons contrary claim that devolution would kill the SNP stone dead was dismissed by Reid by saying Ho , ho , ho . He stood in the Ochil constituency , which covered approximately the same area as his old seat , at Westminster in the UK general election 1997 , coming in second . When the new Labour administration moved forward with proposals for a Scottish Parliament , Reid first served on the pre-establishment Consultative Steering Group , and then was elected in the first election in 1999 to represent Mid Scotland and Fife . At the opening of the Parliament Reid was defeated 82 votes to 44 by Sir David Steel ( a Liberal Democrat , the last-ever leader of the British Liberal Party ) for the position of Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament and was instead elected a Deputy Presiding Officer . At the 2003 Scottish Parliament election Reid succeeded in winning the Ochil constituency first past the post . He was then elected by his fellow MSPs to succeed David Steel as Presiding Officer . As the Presiding Officer is expected to be strictly nonpartisan , he voluntarily suspended his SNP membership for the duration of his tenure . As the Presiding Officer has a role in advising the monarch , Reid was appointed a member of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom in 2004 . He oversaw the completion of the new Scottish Parliament building at Holyrood and the move from the Mound to Holyrood in 2004 . At the official opening of the new building that year , he made a keynote speech in which he paid tribute to the construction as an architectural achievement , and urged parliamentarians to listen to the building to inspire them in their future endeavours . As Presiding Officer he also led the creation of a Scottish Futures Forum , to promote cross-party strategic thinking . He was appointed President of the Royal Commonwealth Society Scotland , and became Patron of the Scottish Disability Equality Forum . After Presiding Officer . Reid chose not to seek re-election at the end of the 2007 Parliamentary term . As an independent figure with experience of a devolved parliament , he was chosen to lead a review of the administration of the troubled Northern Ireland Assembly . Reid also joined the European Unions Caucasus-Caspian diplomatic commission . On 19 April 2007 he was made a Freeman of the County of Clackmannanshire . He had his portrait taken by photographer Harry Benson the same year . In May 2008 , Reid was appointed as the Lord High Commissioner to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland for the duration of the General Assemblys sitting that year . He was then appointed Lord High Commissioner to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in January 2008 , to serve as the Queens personal representative to the Church of Scotland . This position is second only to the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh in the ceremonial Order of Precedence . In 2006 he was appointed by the University of Glasgow as an Honorary Professor in the School of Law . Between 2008 and 2011 he was an independent adviser on the Scottish Ministerial Code . In September 2009 , Reid was appointed by the National Trust for Scotland to lead a wide-ranging internal governance review . Reid produced a report , making a range of recommendations that were accepted by the Trust . In 2009 , he was appointed as Her Majestys Lord Lieutenant of Clackmannanshire . He was an Electoral Commissioner from 2010 to 2014 . In 2013 he underwent major surgery for bladder cancer . He resigned all his positions , then made a good recovery . Awards and honours . After relief efforts for the 1988 Armenian earthquake Reid was recognised with the Gold Medal of the Supreme Soviet of Armenia and the Pirogov Gold Medal of the USSR . During his time as Presiding Officer he won the Herald newspapers Scottish Politician of the Year award in 2003 and 2005 , becoming the first person to have won the award on two occasions , followed by a lifetime achievement award in 2013 . Reid was made a Free man of Clackmannanshire in 2007 . He received also several honorary doctorates , i.e . an LLD degree from the University of St Andrews in 2005 , a DUniv degree from Queen Margaret University in 2006 , the degree of Dr.h.c . from the University of Edinburgh in 2007 , and a DUniv degree from the University of Stirling in 2008 . Reid was knighted in the 2012 Birthday Honours for services to Scottish politics and public life . In 2015 , he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh ( FRSE ) . Personal life . Reid is married with two children . External links . - Scottish Futures Forum