We are pleased to announce that Stewart McDonald has joined our board.
Stewart was elected as the SNP MP for Glasgow South in 2015. After two years serving on the Transport Select Committee, he was appointed the party’s defence spokesman (2017 – 2023) and member of the Foreign Affairs Committee (2019 – 2023). Stewart is the Vice-Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Ukraine, and in 2019 was awarded the Presidential Order of Merit by President Zelensky.
He said:
It’s a privilege to be asked to join the board of the John Smith Centre and I am super excited to get stuck in and work with all of those involved to help the centre achieve its mission of a more resilient and better standard of public life.
John Smith was one of Scotland’s finest public servants, and the work of the centre is a fitting tribute to a man who lived and breathed the very definition of public service.
As public service changes and adapts to the challenges and opportunities of the modern world, the work of the centre is of great importance, and I hope I’m able to contribute something meaningful to its place in Scottish public life.
Stewart is also a founding member of the Interparliamentary Alliance on China and takes a keen interest in China policy.
In 2022 Stewart was named ‘Best Scot at Westminster’ at The Herald’s Politician of the year awards, and again by Holyrood Magazine in the same year.
Away from defence, security and foreign policy, Stewart has also campaigned against unpaid work trials and has previously introduced legislation to ban the practice.
Stewart writes a weekly column on current and political affairs every Saturday in The Scotsman newspaper.