Brian Monteith

Brian Monteith, born on January 8, 1958 is a Scottish politician, and former Public Relations professional, who was a Member of the Scottish Parliament from 1999 until 2007. Educated at Portobello High School and Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, he worked in public relations before his election to the Scottish Parliament as a Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party member for the Mid Scotland and Fife region at the 1999 election]. He is a former adviser to Sir Michael Forsyth.

Career

Monteith, 40, went to Portobello High School and then studied architecture at Heriot Watt, though he admits he was not in all the top classes at school and he did not complete his university course. The patchiness of his academic life was probably down to his extra -curricular interests. The most obvious was his political work as vice -president of his student union and later chairman of the colourful Federation of Conservative Students (after Forsyth). He was a contemporary of Jack McConnell (Labour, at Stirling University) and Charles Kennedy (Liberal Democrat, at Glasgow University). He also organised a successful campaign to take Heriot Watt out of the NUS.

...Monteith left university for London as a researcher for the right-wing Centre for Policy Studies, where he worked with John Redwood, among others. It was Forsyth who took him into public relations and he returned to Scotland to take up an eclectic client list which included projects for Labour and Liberal Democrat local authorities. He is a non-smoker who represents the Freedom Organisation for the Right to Enjoy Smoking Tobacco in Scotland and says there was always something he found in all those projects to believe in - in this case, the right of choice. Monteith now describes PR as having been a diversion from politics -"my real vocation in life" - which also interfered with that calling in 1992 when he won the Tory nomination to take on the late John Smith in Monklands East, but felt compelled to resign it after his PR agency failed.

Monteith began his career in public relations in 1983, working for London lobbying firm Michael Forsyth Associates, founded by the last government's Scottish secretary, Michael Forsyth.

Once known as "the Blue Trot"

The influence of the FCS is most conspicuous in Scotland, where Brian Monteith, former national federation chairman, runs Leith Communications, a public relations company, with Stephen Morrison, once an FCS national committee member. Monteith was Scots YC chairman last year, and Morrison, also an Edinburgh councillor, is his successor. The pair work commercially for numerous constituency associations, and organised the successful anti-devolution campaign at the last Scottish Tory conference. Their agency - whose clients include the South African consul in Edinburgh - has reached a shortlist of four for a lucrative Scottish Office contract to popularise government policy north of the border. The political adviser to Malcolm Rifkind, the Scottish Secretary, is Graham Carter, another former FCS activist who stays in close touch with Morrison and Monteith.

Devolution

He was the leader of the unsuccessful Think Twice "No-No" campaign in the 1997 devolution referendum that led to the creation of the Scottish Parliament. After his election, Monteith developed a reputation as a Thatcherite right winger within the Conservative group. He argued in favour of giving more financial powers to the Scottish Parliament and wanted to move his party in a different direction ideologically and strategically. In July, 2005 he resigned as his party's Finance Spokesperson, saying that he wanted the freedom to discuss policy matters that "cut across other policy portfolios".

He then subsequently resigned from the party altogether and became an independent when it came to light that he had been briefing the media against the Scottish Conservative leader, David McLetchie and his ongoing problems surrounding coverage of alleged erroneous expenses claims from the public purse.

In 2006 he announced he would not stand again as an MSP, saying he "would rather return to commerce than be a one-man band swimming against the treacly tide of collectivism in the Scottish Parliament".

Monteith works with numerous charities and is the Honorary President of English-Speaking Union Scotland. He is actively pursuing a return to public relations and has had two stints working for the Botswanan government. Monteith writes regularly for many newspapers including an opinion column for the Edinburgh Evening News.

Furthermore, he is also well known for being a supporter of Hibernian FC.

PR background

I SAT in on a selection panel choosing candidates to fight in the 2003 elections for the Scottish parliament. What a rum lot - both the candidates and the selectors. Most of these apprentice politicians serve in the lower ranks of Scotland's professions. I predicted I would be reading the biographies of a few youthful lawyers and accountants, but the biggest contingency was folk from marketing and PR. It seems Brian Monteith MSP is a sort of inspiration for them all. 48,000 pounds a year plus perks, all for very little effort. You need not even be encumbered by constituents.

Affiliations

• Forth Public Relations Executive director in 1995