The Baroness Davidson of Lundin Links | |||||||||||||||||
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 Official portrait, 2016 | |||||||||||||||||
| Leader of the Opposition in Scotland | |||||||||||||||||
| In office 11 August 2020 – 5 May 2021[a] | |||||||||||||||||
| Monarch | Elizabeth II | ||||||||||||||||
| First Minister | Nicola Sturgeon | ||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Jackson Carlaw | ||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Douglas Ross | ||||||||||||||||
| In office 6 May 2016 – 29 August 2019[b] | |||||||||||||||||
| Monarch | Elizabeth II | ||||||||||||||||
| First Minister | Nicola Sturgeon | ||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Kezia Dugdale | ||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Jackson Carlaw | ||||||||||||||||
| Leader of the Scottish Conservative Party | |||||||||||||||||
| In office 4 November 2011 – 29 August 2019 | |||||||||||||||||
| Deputy |
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| UK party leader | |||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Annabel Goldie | ||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Jackson Carlaw | ||||||||||||||||
| Member of the House of Lords | |||||||||||||||||
Lord Temporal | |||||||||||||||||
| Life peerage 20 July 2021 | |||||||||||||||||
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| Personal details | |||||||||||||||||
| Born | Ruth Elizabeth Davidson 10 November 1978 Edinburgh, Scotland | ||||||||||||||||
| Political party | Scottish Conservatives | ||||||||||||||||
| Domestic partner | Jen Wilson | ||||||||||||||||
| Children | 1 | ||||||||||||||||
| Alma mater | |||||||||||||||||
| Military service | |||||||||||||||||
| Allegiance | United Kingdom | ||||||||||||||||
| Branch/service | Territorial Army | ||||||||||||||||
| Years of service | 2003–2006 | ||||||||||||||||
| Rank | Signaller | ||||||||||||||||
| Unit | 32 Signal Regiment | ||||||||||||||||
Ruth Elizabeth Davidson, Baroness Davidson of Lundin Links, PC (born 10 November 1978), is a Scottish politician who served as Leader of the Scottish Conservative Party from 2011 to 2019 and Leader of the Scottish Conservative Party in the Scottish Parliament from 2020 to 2021. She served as a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for Glasgow from 2011 to 2016 and for Edinburgh Central from 2016 to 2021. She has been a member of the House of Lords since 2021. Davidson is co-host of Sky News podcast Electoral Dysfunction alongside Beth Rigby and Baroness Harman.
Born in Edinburgh, Davidson was raised in Selkirk and later attended Buckhaven High School in Fife. After graduating from the University of Edinburgh, she worked as a BBC journalist and served in the Territorial Army as a signaller. After leaving the BBC in 2009 to study at the University of Glasgow, she joined the Conservative Party. At the 2011 Scottish Parliament election, Davidson was elected on the Glasgow regional list. Following party leader Annabel Goldie's resignation in May 2011, Davidson stood in the subsequent leadership election.
She won the contest and was declared party leader on 4 November 2011. In 2016, the Conservatives replaced the Labour Party as the second-largest party in the Scottish Parliament. Davidson resigned the leadership in August 2019, shortly after Boris Johnson became Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. She was succeeded by Jackson Carlaw who was replaced by Douglas Ross. After leading the party in Holyrood for several months, Davidson stood down at the 2021 Scottish Parliament election. In 2021, she was appointed a life peer in the House of Lords.
Davidson was generally considered a fairly successful leader, especially in 2016 and 2017. Ideologically, she is considered a centrist. She supported Scotland remaining part of the United Kingdom in the 2014 Scottish independence referendum. In the years after 2014, she continued to appeal to "No" voters in the referendum on that basis along with opposition to a second vote. She supported the UK remaining in the European Union in the 2016 EU membership referendum.
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