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Donald Dewar Politician

Donald Campbell Dewar (21 August 1937 – 11 October 2000) was a Scottish politician, strident advocate of Scottish devolution, and the inaugural holder of the post of First Minister of Scotland.Dewar joined politics after his election as a Labour Party Member of Parliament (MP) in Scotland from 1966, when he entered the House of Commons in the general election of 1966 as the Labour MP for Aberdeen South. He lost this seat in 1970, but was re-elected in a 1978 by-election to the Glasgow Garscadden constituency, and retained the seat with ease in the subsequent five elections. He served in Tony Blair's cabinet as Secretary of State for Scotland from 1997 to 1999, in which role he campaigned in favour of the successful 1997 referendum on Scottish devolution. Dewar was then appointed as party leader of the Scottish Labour Party, which he led into the first ever Scottish parliamentary election. He was elected in 1999 as both an MSP for Glasgow Anniesland and as First Minister of Scotland at the head of a Labour–Liberal Democrat coalition.Dewar was born in Glasgow and studied law at the University of Glasgow; after graduating, he worked as a solicitor in Glasgow before entering politics. In 1983, Dewar was promoted to the shadow frontbench as the Shadow Scottish Secretary, and in that position was a supporter of Scottish devolution. When elections were held for the newly created Scottish Parliament in 1999, as leader of the Scottish Labour Party and through a coalition with the Liberal Democrats, Dewar became the inaugural holder of the post of First Minister of Scotland.In 2000, Dewar died of a brain hemorrhage and was succeeded as First Minister of Scotland and Scottish Labour leader by Henry McLeish.

Personal facts

Birth date	August 21, 1937
Birth place	Glasgow
Religion	Atheism
Date of death	October 11, 2000
Place of death	Edinburgh
Education	University of Glasgow
Profession	Solicitor

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