Owen Thompson
Owen George Thompson (born 17 March 1978) is a Scottish National Party (SNP) politician. He was elected in 2015 as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Midlothian, but was defeated at the next general election in 2017. He regained the seat at the 2019 general election. Early life. Thompson is the son of the late Robert Thompson and Margaret Thompson. He was brought up in Loanhead after moving there when he was seven. Thompson studied Accounting and Finance at Edinburgh Napier University. Political career. Thompson had previously been the leader of Midlothian Council. He was first elected to  the council at the Loanhead by-election in 2005. At the age of 27, he was Scotland's youngest councillor at the time. He was then re-elected in the 2007 council election and again in the 2012 council election. He became deputy leader of the council in 2012, and leader in November 2013, succeeding his party colleague Bob Constable. He remained on the council until 2015. In December 2014, the Bonnyrigg, Loanhead and District SNP branch nominated Thompson to be the party's official candidate at the 2015 general election. He was elected as the MP for Midlothian with  24,453 votes, a 50.6% share of the votes cast. He was sworn into office at Westminster on 20 May 2015, and on that same day was given a position in the SNP Whips' Office under SNP Chief Whip Mike Weir. Thompson narrowly lost his seat at the 2017 general election to Danielle Rowley of the Labour Party by 885 votes, receiving 34.4% of the overall vote share, compared to 36.4% for Rowley. However, two years later, at the 2019 election, he regained the seat, taking a 41.5% vote share and a majority of 5,705 (11.8%). Personal life. Thompson lists his  recreations as football and computer games.