Leader Paddy Ashdown Party Liberal Democrats Political party Liberal Democrat Education Heriot-Watt University | Nationality British Role Politician Preceded by Jim Wallace Name Archy Baron | |
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Preceded by Constituency Established Born 22 April 1946 (age 78) ( 1946-04-22 ) Spouse Rosemary Chester (m. 1972) | ||
Alma mater Heriot-Watt University Succeeded by Paul Tyler, Baron Tyler | ||
Archibald Johnstone Kirkwood, Baron Kirkwood of Kirkhope, PC (born 22 April 1946) is a Liberal Democrat politician in the United Kingdom.
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Education
Lord Kirkwood was educated at Cranhill School in Cranhill, Glasgow and studied Pharmacy at Heriot-Watt University, gaining a BSc in 1971. He became a solicitor in Hawick and Notary public.
Parliamentary career
Lord Kirkwood was Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament for Roxburgh and Berwickshire from 1983 until 2005.
In 1986 he with two other MPs Simon Hughes MP and Michael Meadowcroft MP and the National League of Young Liberals and other parts of the party produced the booklet Across the Divide Liberal Values on Defence and Disarmament. This was the rally call that defeated the party leadership in the debate over the issue of an independent nuclear deterrent.
A Chair of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Work and Pensions, Lord Kirkwood of Kirkhope, is listed in the House of Lords Register of Interests (Session 2006-2007) as the Chairman of the Unum Customer Advisory Panel for which he received payment from Unum. He received additional payments for other work for Unum.
Lord Kirkwood visited the USA for two conferences on welfare to work (29 October - 5 November 2005). The accommodation was paid for by the Rockefeller Foundation (New York), the Brico Fund (Milwaukee) and the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management.
In May 2006, Unum (then UnumProvident) provided a memorandum to the Parliamentary Select Committee on Work and Pensions which included in clause 24. "At UnumProvident we have a non-medical, enabling model of rehabilitation and we are working with our partners at the UnumProvident Centre for Psychosocial and Disability Research at Cardiff University to better understand what places people at risk of long-term or chronic illness."
Personal life
Lord Kirkwood was made a Knight Bachelor in the New Year Honours of 2003, which was conferred on him by Her Majesty The Queen at the Palace of Holyroodhouse on 3 July 2003.
On 13 May 2005 it was announced that he would be created a life peer, and on 10 June 2005 he was created Baron Kirkwood of Kirkhope, of Kirkhope in the Scottish Borders.
He married Rosemary Chester on 30 December 1972. They have a son and daughter.