Ian Blackford

Biography:

Ian Blackford was successfully elected MP for Ross, Skye & Lochaber on May 7th 2015 with 20119 votes, taking 48.1% of the vote.

Prior to his public commitment, Ian worked as an analyst with NatWest Securities, and when the company was brought by BT Alex. Brown, he became the managing director. After 20 years of work in the financial industry, he left to do independent consultancy work, forming an investor relations company called First Seer in 2002. In 2005, Blackford joined the Dutch baking products company CSM as an investor relations manager, and in 2006 he was appointed non-executive chairman of the Edinburgh-based telecommunications firm Commsworld.

Ian has been the chairman of the Glendale Trust, an organisation responsible for a community-owned estate on Skye, which made an approach to Highland Council to bring a historic pier under community control.

In 1997 he unsuccessfuly ran as a candidate in the Paisley 1997 by-election and then for the Ayr seat in the 1997 general election, where he was not elected. Ian had been treasurer of the SNP and during this time he began to be viewed as a critic of the leader Alex Salmond. Blackford was removed from the post in 2000, after he had tried to impose financial controls to tackle the party’s overdraft.

Ian was educated at the Royal High School in Edinburgh.

Constituency: Ross, Skye & Lochaber

Constituency Address: Ian Blackford MP Office 4 Thorfin House Bridgend Business Park Dingwall IV15 9SL

Constituency Tel: 01349 866397

Date of Birth: 14 May 1961

Email: ian.blackford.mp@parliament.uk

Party: SNP

Personal Website: http://ianblackford.com/

Westminster Address: House of Commons, London, SW1A 0AA

Westminster Tel: 020 7219 5292

Twitter: twitter.com/IBlackfordSkye

Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/IanBlackford.SNP?fref=ts