Ian Duncan, Baron Duncan of Springbank

The Right Honourable
The Lord Duncan of Springbank
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Scotland
Assumed office
15 June 2017
Prime Minister Theresa May
Sec. of State David Mundell
Preceded by The Lord Dunlop
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
Assumed office
27 October 2017
Prime Minister Theresa May
Sec. of State James Brokenshire
Karen Bradley
Preceded by The Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Wales
In office
17 June 2017 – 27 October 2017
Prime Minister Theresa May
Sec. of State Alun Cairns
Preceded by The Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
Succeeded by The Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
Member of the European Parliament
for Scotland
In office
1 July 2014 – 22 June 2017
Preceded by Struan Stevenson
Succeeded by The Baroness Mobarik
Member of the House of Lords
Lord Temporal
Assumed office
14 July 2017
Life Peerage
Personal details
Born Scotland, United Kingdom
Nationality British
Political party Scottish Conservative
Residence Edinburgh, Scotland
Alma mater University of St Andrews
University of Bristol
Profession Policy developer

Ian James Duncan, Baron Duncan of Springbank (born 1973) is a Conservative politician, currently serving as Parliamentary Under Secretary of State in both the Scotland Office and the Northern Ireland Office. He served in the European Parliament (2014 - 2017).

Early life

Duncan was born in 1973 and raised in Alyth, Perthshire, where he attended Alyth High School. He achieved a degree in geology from the University of St Andrews, before earning a PhD degree in paleontology from the University of Bristol.[1]

Career before politics

During the late 1990s, Duncan served as a policy analyst for BP's political affairs team where he worked on the company's strategy for emerging economic prospects in post-communist eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union.[2]

In 1999 Duncan became the Deputy Chief Executive, and Secretary for the Scottish Fishermen's Federation, where he developed policy and worked closely with the European Union, namely lobbying for the development of a regional management model which was later adopted by the European Commission.

From 2004-2005 he acted as the Head of Policy & Communication for the Scottish Refugee Council, a charity which offers advice to those taking asylum within Scotland.[3]

Duncan served as Head of the EU Office for the Scottish Parliament in Brussels from 2005 and 2011. Thereafter he was appointed Clerk to the Parliament's European Committee and EU Advisor to the Parliament. He resigned from his position in 2013 to pursue candidacy for the upcoming European elections with the Scottish Conservatives, following Struan Stevenson's announcement that he would not seek re-election.

Political career

Member of the European Parliament

As a candidate for the Scottish Conservatives at the 2014 European elections,[1] Duncan campaigned on a platform of delivering reform in the European Union as well as an in-out referendum within three years.[4]

Duncan sat on three committees of the European Parliament - the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy, the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety and the Committee on Fisheries.[5] He was the European Parliament's Rapporteur on post 2020 reforms to the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme.

From 2014 Duncan served as the Chief Whip of the UK Conservative Delegation. He was also a Vice-Chair of the Wine, Sprits and Quality Foodstuffs intergroup in the European Parliament.[6]

In 2017, Duncan was ranked as the 10th most influential MEP on environmental policy in the European Parliament.[7] and the 6th most influential on energy policy.[8] EurActiv ranked Duncan as the 15th most influential politician on energy union in Europe in 2016.[9]

Duncan resigned from being an MEP in 2017.[10] He was replaced by The Baroness Mobarik.[11]

UK Parliament candidate

Duncan was selected by the Scottish Conservatives as their candidate for Perth and North Perthshire in the 2017 UK General Election. He lost to incumbent Pete Wishart (SNP) by 21 votes.[12]

UK Government Minister

The Prime Minister's Office announced in June 2017 that Duncan would be granted a life peerage and thus become a member of the House of Lords, in order to take up his appointment as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Scotland and for Wales.[13] On 14 July, he was created Baron Duncan of Springbank, of Springbank in the County of Perth.[14]

Following a reshuffle Duncan was appointed a Minister in the Northern Ireland Office and demitted office in the Wales Office.[15] He retains his position in the Scotland Office.

Personal life

Outside politics Duncan maintains a keen interest in public speaking and is the Honorary President of English Speaking Union Scotland, previously serving as Chairman ( 2014 - 2017) and Speech & Debates Officer.[16] He also retains links to academia and is a Fellow of the Geological Society.[17]

In 2014 Duncan was appointed to the board of advisers of the Schwarzenegger Institute at the University of Southern California, established by former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.[18]

He is a patron of LGBT+ Conservatives[19] and is openly gay.

References

  1. 1 2 "Scottish Conservative Euro candidate elected to Brussels". Scottish Conservatives. 26 May 2014. Retrieved 26 May 2014.
  2. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 27 February 2015. Retrieved 24 November 2016.
  3. ↑ icebomb.co.uk, Marc -. "MEP - Scottish Conservatives".
  4. ↑ "European election: Final push for Scottish votes". BBC News. 21 May 2014. Retrieved 26 May 2014.
  5. ↑ "Ian DUNCAN - Parliamentary activities - MEPs - European Parliament". www.europarl.europa.eu.
  6. ↑ http://www.europarl.europa.eu/pdf/intergroupes/VIII_LEG_27_Wine_spirits.pdf
  7. ↑ "Tints of Green: Who Influences Environmental Policy in the European Parliament and How? - VoteWatch". VoteWatch.
  8. ↑ "Who are the most influential MEPs on energy policy?". VoteWatch. 2016-12-07. Retrieved 2018-01-07.
  9. ↑ https://gallery.mailchimp.com/ad5b8042d1cf03cc05b3bfcb0/files/EA_EURACTORY_11022016_V04_WEB.pdf
  10. ↑ Scottish MEP made a Lord to take Scotland Office job. BBC NEWS. Published 20 June 2017. Retrieved 1 May 2018.
  11. ↑ Baroness to become new Scottish Conservative MEP. BBC NEWS. Published 6 September 2017. Retrieved 1 May 2018.
  12. ↑ "Pete Wishart retains seat by narrow margin after fighting off Tory onslaught - The Courier".
  13. ↑ "Full list of new ministerial and government appointments: June 2017 - GOV.UK". www.gov.uk.
  14. ↑ "No. 61998". The London Gazette. 19 July 2017. p. 13722.
  15. ↑ www.gov.uk/government/ministers. Missing or empty |title= (help); Missing or empty |url= (help)
  16. ↑ "Home - ESU Scotland". Home - ESU Scotland.
  17. ↑ "The Geological Society of London - Fellowship Directory results". www.geolsoc.org.uk.
  18. ↑ "Scottish Tory MEP joins Schwarzenegger think tank". 22 September 2016 – via www.bbc.com.
  19. ↑ "People - LGBT+ Conservatives". www.lgbtconservatives.org.uk.
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