STEPHEN Gethins made a political comeback as he won the new Arbroath and Broughty Ferry seat for the SNP.
It was a tight contest with Gethins taking the constituency by fewer than 900 votes over Labour’s Cheryl-Ann Cruickshank.
But the former North East Fife MP is no stranger to close-calls.
Who is Stephen Gethins?
Gethins, 48, was one of the 56 SNP MPs elected to Westminster in a landslide victory in Scotland which came off the back of the independence referendum.
He represented North East Fife – a traditional heartland of the LibDems – for four years after managing to hold on to the seat in the snap election of 2017.
But he would have been wiping his brow somewhat after several recounts concluded he won the seat on that occasion by a mere two votes. It was the joint-third smallest majority in British political history.
Though the SNP managed to regain ground after a dip in fortunes in 2017, Gethins lost out to the LibDems’s Wendy Chamberlain in 2019.
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After losing his seat as an MP, Gethins entered into the world of academia as he became a professor of international relations at the University of St Andrews before announcing last year his bid to make Westminster return.
Prior to his time as politician, Gethins was appointed as a special adviser to Alex Salmond and subsequently Nicola Sturgeon.
What are his interests?
During his time at Westminster Gethins was the SNP’s Europe and international affairs spokesperson under Ian Blackford.
While continuing to have a deep interest in both of those subjects, he has vowed to place a particular focus on the impacts of Brexit on Scotland during his time back at Westminster.
He told The National last November he had “unfinished business” in making a strong case for Scottish independence through the prism of Brexit.
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“I fought really hard around Brexit and I still think Brexit is the key to unlocking independence,” he said at the time.
“I think it’s one of the most significant issues for Scotland and the UK because it is a structural and unnecessary impediment to business, wealth, innovation and opportunities for young people, and there seems to be a sort of received wisdom in Westminster – even with the Labour Party coming in – that this is just something we should put up with.”
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