Ian Blackford was first elected as the Scottish National Party MP for Ross, Skye & Lochaber in 2015, being reelected in 2019 with a majority of 9,443.
The constituency of Ross, Skye, and Lochaber holds the honour of being the geographically largest constituency in the UK. Found in the north west of Scotland it contains a large swathe of the Scottish Islands, and includes Ben Nevis, the UK’s highest mountain, and the Isle of Skye.
The major towns in this seat are Fort William, Portree, Dingwall, Mallaig, and Ullapool. The seat was formerly a strong Liberal Democrat voting area, represented for thirty years by the former Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy. Since 2015 it has become one of the SNPs safest seats at Westminster.
Ian Blackford served as Leader of the Scottish Nationalists at Westminster between 2017 and 2022. He stood down in December 2022. Blackford was ejected from the Commons by Speaker Bercow during Prime Minister’s Questions in 2018, leading to a walkout by all his SNP colleagues.
Blackford joined the SNP at the age of 16, and was formerly Treasurer of the SNP. He was considered something of a critic of Alex Salmond at the time.
Born in 1961, Blackford was educated at the Royal High School in Edinburgh.
Prior to being elected to Parliament, Blackford worked in the city. He led Deutsche Bank’s equity operations in both the Netherlands and Scotland.
He later set up his own investor relations company called First Seer in 2002.
According to the Registers Interests he currently serves as the Chairman of Golden Charter Trust Ltd, a trust established to hold, invest and administer the funds received from those who purchase funeral plans sold by Golden Charter Limited.
Blackford moved to the Isle of Skye in 2004, buying a croft.
Blackford enjoys football and supports Hibernian, where he was once a season ticket holder. He also admits to have previously travelled the world watching the Scottish national team, as part of what is labelled the ‘Tartan Army’.
Ian Blackford is Vice Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Christians in Parliament.
Email: ian.blackford.mp@parliament.uk
Personal Website: http://ianblackford.com/
Twitter: twitter.com/IBlackfordSkye
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/IanBlackford
