A University of the West of Scotland (UWS) graduate has joined the likes of former Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Scotland’s first female Lord Advocate Dame Elish Angiolini, by receiving the Lifetime Achievement award at the Herald Scottish Politician of the Year Awards on Thursday 23 November.
John Francis McFall, Lord McFall of Alcluith, graduated from Paisley College (now UWS Paisley Campus) with a BSc in Chemistry and has gone on to have a 36 year career at Westminster, most recently elected as Lord Speaker of the House of Lords in 2021.
Prior to his political career, he was a maths and chemistry teacher and deputy headteacher for 13 years in the West of Scotland.
Before entering the Lords in 2010, Lord McFall was a Labour MP between 1987 and 2010, first for Dumbarton and later for West Dunbartonshire. During his time as an MP, he served as a Minister in the Northern Ireland Office and as a Government Whip.
Lord McFall of Alcluith was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from UWS in 2012 and was elected by Lords members in 2021 to a five-year term as the fourth Lord Speaker.
The Lifetime Achievement award is not given every year, only to someone who has made an outstanding contribution to public life. This year the judges wanted to recognise another Scot whose “ceaseless drive and energy” have not only taken them to high places but “improved the lives of countless others”.
Top image courtesy of UK Parliament.
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“with a BSc in Chemistry and has went on to have a 36 year career at Westminster”
Has gone on, surely?
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