Fergus Ewing

Fergus Stewart Ewing (born 23 September 1957) is a Scottish National Party (SNP) politician who served as the Scottish Government's Cabinet Secretary for Rural Economy and Tourism from 2016 to 2021, having previously held two junior ministerial posts. He has been a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) since 1999, representing Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber until 2011, and then its successor seat Inverness and Nairn.

Background
Ewing is the son of the veteran Scottish nationalist Winnie Ewing, who served as a Member of Parliament (MP) in the House of Commons, as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP), and an MSP. His father was an SNP local councillor. He has long been active in the Scottish National Party.

Educated at Loretto School, in Musselburgh, he read Law at the University of Glasgow where he was a member of the Glasgow University Scottish Nationalist Association. At the age of 18, he was employed as his mother's secretary in the European Parliament.

He married Margaret Ewing (then Margaret Bain) in 1983; she was the former MP for East Dunbartonshire (1974-79), and was elected to represent Moray in 1987. She held that seat until she stepped down in 2001, and represented the same area in the Scottish Parliament from 1999 until her death from breast cancer in March 2006. His sister, Annabelle Ewing, was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Perth until the 2005 general election and has been the MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife since 2011.

He is now in a relationship with Dr. Fiona Pearsall with whom he had a daughter in 2008.

Member of the Scottish Parliament
Ewing unsuccessfully contested Inverness, Nairn and Lochaber in the 1992 Westminster general election, and Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber in 1997. He was elected to represent Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber in the Scottish Parliament in 1999 and he held on to the seat in 2003 and 2007.

He and his mother, Winnie Ewing both abstained from the vote to abolish Section 28 via the Ethical Standards in Public Life etc. (Scotland) Act 2000; he also opposed an outright ban on fox hunting. After the SNP's victory at the 2007 Scottish Parliament Election, Ewing was appointed as the Minister for Community Safety. After the SNP victory at the 2011 Scottish Parliament Election, he was appointed as the Minister for Energy, Enterprise and Tourism, succeeding Jim Mather who stood down as an MSP. In February 2014 he voted against the legalisation of same-sex marriage in Scotland. In November 2014 the portfolio became Business Energy & Tourism.

In 2019 civil servants complained to senior managers that Ewing had bullied them. Speaking to journalists Ewing said: "I completely reject all claims against me. A process is underway and that is entirely right and proper when such allegations are made. That process is at an early stage. I will make no further comment while that process is ongoing." The previous year Ewing apologised to an official for his "forthright" manner, after a bullying complaint was lodged against him.

After the 2021 election Ewing was replaced as a minister by Mairi Gougeon and became a backbencher. In a public letter to First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, Ewing revealed: "In our discussion yesterday, you indicated that you will form a slimmed down cabinet. Obviously, you have had to make some tough decisions and we agreed that this meant I should now step out of Government."

In 2022 Ewing backed new oil and gas exploration and drilling projects in the North Sea, claiming that "we need all oil and gas production we can get in the short and the medium term", and that "the transition period away from hydrocarbons will last decades." Hence, he condemned the Scottish Greens, the SNP's government partners, whose policies he described as "somewhat extreme". On 20 April 2023, after a particularly robust intervention from Ewing on the subject of gas extraction, he was reminded officially about treating fellow members with respect by the Presiding Officer, which happened to be his sister, Annabelle Ewing. First Minister Humza Yousaf then quipped that he suspected it was not the first time she had had to tell her brother off.

Ewing voted against Green minister Lorna Slater in a no-confidence vote on 20 June 2023, making him the only SNP MSP to do so. It was reported the next day in the Herald and Scotsman that Ewing was set to lose the whip for this. Later that day, his mother, died age 93, hailed as a "SNP political icon". Yousaf said publicly that Ewing would not lose the whip, despite his repeated public criticism of the party, but it was announced on 14 September that SNP MSPs would vote on disciplinary action against him. The SNP members voted to suspend him from the SNP Group for one week, but on 1 October he announced he would appeal the suspension. On 27 February Fergus Ewing lost the appeal and was suspended from the SNP.