David Duguid (politician)
David James Duguid[1] (born 8 October 1970)[2] is a Scottish Conservative politician who was the Member of Parliament (MP)[3] for Banff and Buchan[4] from June 2017 to May 2024.[5] Duguid's victory ended thirty years of Scottish National Party control of the seat.
David Duguid
Constituency abolished
8 October 1970
Turriff, Aberdeenshire, Scotland
Duguid served as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Scotland from September to October 2022.[6] He previously served in this role from June 2020 to September 2021.[7]
Background[edit]
He was educated at Banff Academy[8] and Robert Gordon University, where he studied chemistry. Before entering politics, Duguid worked as an engineer for BP and as a project manager for Hitachi Consulting.
Political career[edit]
Duguid was first elected in 2017, beating the incumbent, Eilidh Whiteford by over 2,000 votes.[9] His win saw the largest overturned majority of the election night in the UK. He was re-elected with an increased majority and over 50% of the vote in the December 2019 election.[10]
In June 2020, Duguid accepted a position as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Scotland and a Government whip, succeeding Douglas Ross.
Duguid left the government in September 2021 and was appointed Fisheries Envoy.[11][12]
Duguid and Alister Jack were the only two Scottish Conservative MPs (out of six) who voted in support of Boris Johnson in the June 2022 confidence vote.[13] Duguid later resigned as Trade Envoy on 6 July 2022.
He was made a Scotland Office Minister under Liz Truss, whose campaign for leadership of the Tory party he had supported, but was removed from this post after her resignation after a few weeks.[14]
Duguid has been accused of concealing a conflict of interest by repeatedly opposing a windfall tax on fossil fuel companies when his wife is a significant shareholder in BP.[15]
Following boundary changes, Duguid intended to contest the successor seat of Aberdeenshire North and Moray East at the 2024 United Kingdom general election.[16] In May 2024, as the election campaign began, he announced that he had been hospitalised for some weeks to recover from a severe spinal illness, but intended to continue as the Conservative candidate.[17] However, although he still wished to stand and felt he was recovering sufficiently, he announced on 5 June 2024 that he had been deselected by Conservative Campaign Headquarters on medical grounds nonetheless and would not be allowed to contest the seat.[18]