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Fergus Mutch

Fergus MacRae Mutch (born 8 April 1989) is a Scottish National Party (SNP) candidate for the West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine constituency in the 2019 General Election.

Early life and education

Mutch was born in Aberdeen, and grew up in historic Old Aberdeen beside the city’s University.

In 1994 his family moved to Jakarta, Indonesia where Mutch began his primary school education at the British International School. After returning from Indonesia he attended St Peter’s RC School and Robert Gordon’s College.

Mutch learnt to play the bagpipes with the Bucksburn and District Pipe Band, and enjoyed success on the solo piping circuit competing at Scotland’s Highland Games. Mutch founded the Jim Jam Ceilidh Band in 2009. He also plays the piano.

He played rugby for Robert Gordon’s College reaching the 2006 Scottish Schools Cup Final at Murrayfield Stadium and also played for the club Aberdeen Wanderers RFC and at district level for North East Scotland.

Mutch studied law at the University of Glasgow, undertaking an ERASMUS exchange in his third year at the University of Copenhagen. He then studied for a masters in legal and political theory at University College London. Mutch joined the Scottish National Party while studying in Glasgow.

Political career:

Following university, Mutch was employed as a parliamentary assistant to the then First Minister Alex Salmond in his Inverurie constituency office. He then managed Salmond’s office, and ran the the 2015 election campaign in Gordon. In November 2015, he was appointed the SNP’s Head of Communications and Research in the Scottish Parliament.

Mutch placed second on the SNP’s North East Scotland regional list for the 2016 Scottish Parliament election, behind Christian Allard. However the SNP’s success in constituency seats meant that no SNP MSPs were returned from the list in the region.

In October 2019 he was selected as the SNP candidate for the UK General Election to be held on 12th December 2019.