Leader of the Scottish National Party

The leader of the Scottish National Party is the highest position within Scotland's Scottish National Party (SNP). The incumbent is John Swinney, who was elected unopposed in the 2024 leadership election on 6 May 2024, succeeding Humza Yousaf as party leader.

Scotland has had a devolved government since 1999. When the SNP is Scotland's major governing party, as it currently is, its leader has also been the First Minister of Scotland.

History

The post was officially created on 7 April 1934 with the foundation of the SNP. The role was titled Chairman of the Scottish National Party from 1934 until 1969, with the first chairman, Alexander MacEwen, appointed to the office in 1934. In 1969 the title of chairman was replaced with that of National Convener, with William Wolfe the first person elected as National Convener. The post gained its current title of Leader at the SNP spring conference on 24 April 2004.

While Gordon Wilson had the longest uninterrupted spell as leader, lasting just over eleven years from 1979 to 1990, Alex Salmond has been the party's longest-serving leader overall, serving twenty years and two months across two spells as leader.

Other party leadership

Keith Brown is the depute leader of the party; however, he is not the Deputy First Minister of Scotland.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Stephen Flynn is the Leader of the party's House of Commons delegation, with Mhairi Black as deputy leader.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Leaders of the Scottish National Party (1934–present)

Leader Template:Small	Portrait	Political office	Took office	Left office
[[Alexander MacEwen|Template:Small Alexander MacEwen]] Template:Small	File:Mcewan.jpg	Provost of Inverness (1925–1931) Template:Small<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	7 April 1934	1936
[[Andrew Dewar Gibb|Template:Small Andrew Dewar Gibb]] KC Template:Small	File:Male portrait placeholder cropped.jpg	Template:Small	1936	1940
William Power Template:Small	File:Male portrait placeholder cropped.jpg	Template:Small	1940	30 May 1942
Douglas Young Template:Small	File:Douglas Young, circa 1945.jpg	Template:Small	30 May 1942	9 June 1945
[[Bruce Watson (politician)|Template:Small Bruce Watson]] Template:Small	File:Male portrait placeholder cropped.jpg		9 June 1945	May 1947
[[Robert McIntyre (politician)|Template:Small Robert McIntyre]] Template:Small	File:Male portrait placeholder cropped.jpg	MP for Motherwell (1945) Template:Small	May 1947	June 1956
James Halliday Template:Small	File:Male portrait placeholder cropped.jpg	Template:Small	June 1956	5 June 1960
Arthur Donaldson Template:Small	File:Arthur Donaldson, circa 1945.jpg	Councillor for Angus (1946–1955) Template:Small	5 June 1960	1 June 1969
William Wolfe Template:Small	File:Male portrait placeholder cropped.jpg	Template:Small	1 June 1969	15 September 1979
Gordon Wilson Template:Small	File:Gordon Wilson.jpg	MP for Dundee East (1974–1987)	15 September 1979	22 September 1990
Alex Salmond Template:Small	File:Alex Salmond, First Minister of Scotland (cropped).jpg	MP for Banff and Buchan (1987–2010) Template:Small	22 September 1990	26 September 2000
John Swinney Template:Small	File:John Swinney in 1999.jpg	MSP for North Tayside (1999–2011) Template:Small	26 September 2000	3 September 2004
Template:Small Alex Salmond Template:Small	File:Alex Salmond, First Minister of Scotland (cropped).jpg	First Minister (2007–2014) Template:Small	3 September 2004	14 November 2014
Template:Small Nicola Sturgeon Template:Small	File:First Minister Nicola Sturgeon official portrait (cropped).jpg	First Minister (2014–2023) Template:Small	14 November 2014	27 March 2023
Template:Small Humza Yousaf Template:Small	File:First Minister of Scotland Humza Yousaf (cropped 4).jpg	First Minister (2023–2024)	27 March 2023	6 May 2024
Template:Small John Swinney Template:Small	File:John Swinney - First Minister (53720492021) (cropped).jpg	First Minister (2024–present) Template:Small	6 May 2024	Incumbent

Timeline

<timeline> DateFormat = dd/mm/yyyy ImageSize = width:1000 height:auto barincrement:14 Period = from:01/01/1934 till:31/12/{{#expr:{{#time:Y}}+1}} TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal AlignBars = late PlotArea = top:10 bottom:50 right:130 left:20 ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:4 start:01/01/1934 ScaleMinor = unit:year increment:1 start:01/01/1935

Define $today = {{#time:d/m/Y}}

Colors =

    id:leader   value:rgb(0.961, 0.914, 0.42)

BarData =

 bar:MacEwen
 bar:Dewar-Gibb
 bar:Power
 bar:Young
 bar:Watson
 bar:McIntyre
 bar:Halliday
 bar:Donaldson
 bar:Wolfe
 bar:Wilson
 bar:Salmond
 bar:Swinney
 bar:Sturgeon
 bar:Yousaf

PlotData =

 width:5 align:left fontsize:S shift:(5,-4) anchor:till

bar:MacEwen
 from: 07/04/1934 till: 01/01/1936 color:leader text:"Alexander MacEwen"
bar:Dewar-Gibb
 from: 01/01/1936 till: 01/01/1940 color:leader text:"Andrew Dewar Gibb"
bar:Power
 from: 01/01/1940 till: 30/05/1942 color:leader text:"William Power"
bar:Young
 from: 30/05/1942 till: 09/06/1945 color:leader text:"Douglas Young"
bar:Watson
 from: 09/06/1945 till: 01/05/1947 color:leader text:"Bruce Watson"
bar:McIntyre
 from: 01/05/1947 till: 01/06/1956 color:leader text:"Robert McIntyre"
bar:Halliday
 from: 01/06/1956 till: 05/06/1960 color:leader text:"James Halliday"
bar:Donaldson
 from: 05/06/1960 till: 01/06/1969 color:leader text:"Arthur Donaldson"
bar:Wolfe
 from: 01/06/1969 till: 15/09/1979 color:leader text:"William Wolfe"
bar:Wilson
 from: 15/09/1979 till: 22/09/1990 color:leader text:"Gordon Wilson"
bar:Salmond
 from: 22/09/1990 till: 26/09/2000 color:leader
 from: 03/09/2004 till: 14/11/2014 color:leader text:"Alex Salmond"
bar:Swinney
 from: 26/09/2000 till: 03/09/2004 color:leader text:
 from: 06/05/2024 till: $today     color:leader text:"John Swinney"
bar:Sturgeon
 from: 14/11/2014 till: 27/03/2023 color:leader text:"Nicola Sturgeon"
bar:Yousaf
 from: 27/03/2023 till: 06/05/2024 color:leader text:"Humza Yousaf"

</timeline>

References

<references />Template:Scottish National Party