Biography

John Barrett has been a member of the Westminster Parliament since 2001 and Shadow Minister of State for Scotland since December 2005. He has been reselected to stand here at the next general election.

Born February 11, 1954, John Barrett was educated at Forrester High School, Telford College and Napier College, all in Edinburgh.

He was elected councillor for South East Corstorphine ward in the Edinbugh West constituency in 1995 and in 1997 was General Election agent in that constituency for the campaign in which, at his fifth attempt, Donald Gorrie won the seat with an 8.5 swing from the Conservatives and a decisive majority of 7,253. In 2001, when Donald Gorrie chose to stand down as Westminster parliamentary candidate to concentrate on the Scottish Parliament at Holyrood, John Barrett, who had contested Linlithgow in the Scottish Parliamentary elections in May 1999, was chosen to succeed him. John was elected with a share of vote only fractionally less than that which Donald Gorrie had achieved.

A member of the Scottish Liberal Democrat Party executive since 2001, John was appointed as a party parliamentary spokesman on international development in 2003 and in December 2005 was promoted to be Shadow Minister of State for Scotland.

In addition to his political career, John has been a company director and a director of the Ediburgh International Film Festival. His wife Carol is a well-known wildlife artist, and the couple have one daughter.