Editing Graham Watson

{{short description|British politician (born 1956)}}
{{other people}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2017}}
{{Use British English|date=May 2017}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| image               = GrahamWatsonMEPHead and Shoulders.jpg
| office              = President of the [[Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party]]
| term_start          = 25 November 2011
| term_end            = 21 November 2015
| predecessor         = [[Annemie Neyts-Uyttebroeck]]
| successor           = [[Hans van Baalen]]
| office1             = Leader of the [[Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Group]]
| term_start1         = 25 May 2004
| term_end1           = 1 July 2009
| predecessor1        = ''Office established''
| successor1          = [[Guy Verhofstadt]]
| constituency_MP3    = [[South West England (European Parliament constituency)|South West England]]
| parliament3         = European
| term_start3         = 19 July 1994
| term_end3           = 30 June 2014
| predecessor3        = ''Constituency established''
| birth_date          = {{birth date and age|1956|3|23|df=y}}
| birth_place         = [[Rothesay, Bute|Rothesay]], [[Scotland]], [[United Kingdom|UK]]
| death_date          = 
| death_place         = 
| party               = [[Liberal Democrats (UK)|Liberal Democrats]] (1988–present)<br>[[European Liberal Democrats|LDE]] (2024–present)
| spouse              = Rita Giannini
| children            = 2
| alma_mater          = [[Heriot-Watt University]]
| website             = 
| otherparty          = [[Liberal Party (UK)|Liberal]] (1972–1988)<br>[[National League of Young Liberals|NLYL]] (1972–1988)
| citizenship         = United Kingdom • Italy
| caption             = Graham Watson in 2010
}}
'''Sir Graham Robert Watson''' (born 23 March 1956) is a British [[Liberal Democrats (UK)|Liberal Democrat]] politician who served as a [[Member of the European Parliament]] (MEP) for [[South West England (European Parliament constituency)|South West England]] from 1994 to 2014. Watson was the chairman of the Parliament's committee on citizens rights, justice and home affairs (1999–2002). He then served for seven and a half years as leader of the Liberal Group in the European Parliament, first as leader of the [[European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party Group]] (2002–2004) and then as leader of the new [[Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Group]] (2004–2009).<ref name="GW Bio">{{cite web|title=Biography: Graham Watson MEP |publisher=Graham Watson MEP website |url=http://www.grahamwatsonmep.org.uk/pages/biography.html |access-date=2007-10-07 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071009213727/http://www.grahamwatsonmep.org.uk/pages/biography.html |archive-date=2007-10-09 }}</ref> From 2011 until 2015, he was the president of the [[Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party]]. From 2015 to 2020, he was a UK member on the [[European Economic and Social Committee]]. He is currently an adjunct Professor at the University of Toronto's Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy.

Sir Graham, who holds Italian citizenship through marriage, was chosen as head of list for the 2024 European Parliament election in North East [[Italy]] by the centrist coalition '[[United States of Europe (electoral list)|United States of Europe]]' (electoral list). He was not elected since the coalition failed to reach the threshold of votes required nationwide to elect MEPs.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-04-20 |title=Bonino capolista per Stati Uniti d'Europa nel Nord ovest - Notizie - Ansa.it |url=https://www.ansa.it/sito/notizie/politica/2024/04/20/bonino-capolista-per-stati-uniti-deuropa-nel-nord-ovest_592aa31e-56db-4e0b-b696-6a5f5c3d1ab5.html |access-date=2024-04-20 |website=Agenzia ANSA |language=it}}</ref>

==Early life==
Graham Watson was born in [[Rothesay, Argyll and Bute|Rothesay]] on the [[Isle of Bute]] ([[Scotland]], [[United Kingdom]]), the eldest of six children. His father was an [[Officer (armed forces)|officer]] in the [[Royal Navy]] and his mother a [[teacher]]. Watson was educated at the [[City of Bath Boys' School]] following his father’s posting to the Admiralty in [[Bath, Somerset|Bath]]. He returned to Scotland to attend [[Heriot-Watt University]] in [[Edinburgh]] where he [[Graduation|graduated]] in 1979 with a [[Bachelor of Arts]] in [[modern language]]s.<ref name="GW Bio"/> While at university he spent one semester studying at the [[University of Geneva]] and one at [[Leipzig University|Karl Marx University]] in [[Leipzig]] in the [[German Democratic Republic]]. At the latter he was spied on by a fellow British student working for the [[East Germany|East German]] ''[[Stasi]]'' (State Security Police): the story of this is told in the book ''[[The Stasi Files]]'' by (Free Press, 2004) and has been the subject of documentary film productions by the [[BBC]] and [[Channel 4|Channel Four]]. On graduating from university in 1979, Watson worked first as a freelance interpreter and translator and then (1980–83) as an administrator at [[University of West of Scotland|Paisley College of Technology]]. He now speaks four European languages.

Watson began his political activity in the [[Scottish Young Liberals]] in 1976. As international officer of the [[Scottish Young Liberals]] he became involved in the [[International Federation of Liberal Youth]], becoming a vice-president (1977) then General Secretary (1979) of the organization.<ref name="EP Bio">{{cite web|title=MEP Profile: Graham Watson|publisher=[[Europa (web portal)|European Parliament]]|url=http://www.europarl.europa.eu/members/expert/groupAndCountry/view.do?partNumber=1&group=1550&country=GB&language=EN&id=2155|access-date=2007-10-07}}</ref> He was a founder of the [[European Youth Forum|European Communities' Youth Forum]].<ref name="GW Bio"/> He served as a council member of the [[European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party]] between 1983 and 1993.<ref name="EP Bio"/> Between 1983 and 1987 he also served as head of the private office of then leader of the [[Liberal Party (UK)|British Liberal Party]], Sir [[David Steel]].<ref name="GW Bio"/>

In 1988 he began work for the bank [[HSBC]] in [[London]] and [[Hong Kong]]. His time there encompassed three months with the [[European Bank for Reconstruction and Development]] and gave him an interest in the [[Far East]]. He has travelled widely in the region and speaks some [[Mandarin Chinese]].<ref name="GW Bio"/>

==European Parliament==

In the [[1994 European Parliament election in the United Kingdom|1994 European Parliamentary election]] he was elected for [[Somerset and North Devon (European Parliament constituency)|Somerset and North Devon]] with a majority of over 22,500. Watson<ref name="GW Bio"/> was the first Liberal Democrat returned from a British constituency to serve in the [[European Parliament]]. Accompanied by [[Robin Teverson, Baron Teverson|Robin Teverson]], elected later the same night, he sat with the [[European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party (European Parliament group)|Group of the European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party]] (ELDR).<ref name="GW Bio"/> During this term, Watson served on two committees; the [[Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs]] [[Committee on Industry, Research and Energy|and Industrial Policy]] and the [[Committee on Budgets]],<ref name="GW Bio"/> and acted as [[Whip (politics)|whip]] for the ELDR group until 1996.<ref name="EP Bio"/>

===Second term===
In 1999 the introduction of the list system (a form of [[proportional representation]]) in [[Great Britain]] for European elections meant Watson's constituency was abolished in favour of a larger multi-member constituency encompassing [[South West England]]. The [[South West England (European Parliament constituency)|South West constituency]] would later also include [[Gibraltar]], from 2004. Watson was re-elected in this constituency as the sole Liberal Democrat member at the [[1999 European Parliament election in the United Kingdom|1999 European Parliamentary election]]. His party had gained 171,398 votes, 15.7% of the total.<ref name="GW 99 Results">{{cite web|title=European Election Results For South West England |publisher=Graham Watson MEP website |url=http://www.grahamwatsonmep.org.uk/results/669.html |access-date=2007-10-07 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071012092640/http://www.grahamwatsonmep.org.uk/results/669.html |archive-date=2007-10-12 }}</ref> During this term he led the ten British Liberal Democrats in the parliament<ref name="EP Bio" /> and between 1999 and 2002 he held the [[Chair (official)|chair]] of the [[Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs|Committee on Citizens' Freedoms and Rights, Justice and Home Affairs]].<ref name="GW Bio" /> In that position he steered through Parliament freedom of information provisions and the legislation providing for a European Arrest Warrant. In 2002 he was elected to lead the EU-wide ELDR Group, succeeding Irishman Pat Cox MEP.

===Third term===

Watson was re-elected once more at the [[2004 European Parliament election in the United Kingdom|2004 European Parliamentary election]] with his party winning 265,619 votes (18.3%).<ref name="GW 04 Results">{{cite web|title=European Election Results For South West England |publisher=Graham Watson MEP website |url=http://www.grahamwatsonmep.org.uk/results/681.html |access-date=2007-10-07 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071009213327/http://www.grahamwatsonmep.org.uk/results/681.html |archive-date=2007-10-09 }}</ref>

Following the election, Watson was re-elected to lead the ELDR Group and took it into an alliance with Romano Prodi’s newly-formed [[European Democratic Party]] to form the [[Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe]]. The ALDE group replaced the ELDR group (though ELDR and EDP existed for a while as separate parties outside the Parliament). Watson was elected leader of the new ALDE group, which was the largest group ever established in the Parliament outside of the [[European People's Party]] and [[Party of European Socialists]].<ref name="GW ALDE elect">{{cite web|title=The Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe is born |date=2004-07-14 |publisher=Graham Watson MEP website |url=http://www.grahamwatsonmep.org/news/000017/the_alliance_of_liberals_and_democrats_for_europe_is_born.html |access-date=2007-10-07 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071205090940/http://www.grahamwatsonmep.org/news/000017/the_alliance_of_liberals_and_democrats_for_europe_is_born.html |archive-date=2007-12-05 }}</ref>

===Fourth term===
Watson was elected to a fourth term as an MEP for the South West in the European Parliament elections of June 2009,<ref>
{{cite web
|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/8088644.stm
|title=Labour loses hold in South West
|publisher=BBC News
|date= 8 June 2009
|access-date=2009-06-09
}}
</ref> with the Liberal Democrats winning 266,253 votes (17.07%).<ref name=europarlresult2009>
{{cite web
 |url         = http://www.europarl.org.uk/section/european-elections/results-2009-european-elections-uk
 |title       = Results of 2009 European elections in the UK
 |publisher   = UK Office of the European Parliament
 |date        = 8 June 2009
 |access-date  = 2009-06-09
 |url-status     = dead
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20090607204700/http://www.europarl.org.uk/section/european-elections/results-2009-european-elections-uk
 |archive-date = 7 June 2009
 |df          = dmy-all
}}
</ref> Following the election, Watson stood down from the leadership of the ALDE Group, having served in that role for longer than any of his predecessors. He sat on the European Parliament's foreign affairs committee and served as Chairman of Parliament's Delegation for relations with India. He also chaired a global network of legislators campaigning for a switch from fossil fuels to renewable energy known as The Climate Parliament, of which he had been a founder member in the late 1990s. 

==2014 European elections==
Watson lost his seat at the European Parliament in the [[2014 European Parliament election in the United Kingdom|elections of May 2014]], despite his party having polled 10.7% of the vote, the largest vote share of the UK Liberal Democrat party in the 2014 EP election. He established a global advocacy practice, Bagehot Limited, which he ran until reaching retirement age in 2021.

In 2015 Watson was appointed by the UK Government to sit on the European Economic and Social Committee, an advisory body with a five-year mandate. He sat on the Transport and Energy section and on the Foreign Affairs section and from 2015 to 2017 was chairman of the EESC's China Contact Group.

==Other activities and family==
Watson lived in [[Langport]], [[Somerset]], from 1994 to 2017. He now lives in Edinburgh and in Brussels.<ref name="GW Bio"/> His wife is from [[Italy]]<ref name="GW Rita elect">{{cite web|title=Graham's blog entry 31 August 2007 |date=2007-08-31 |publisher=Graham Watson MEP website |url=http://www.grahamwatsonmep.org/articles/000059/grahams_blog_entry_31_august_2007.html |access-date=2007-10-07 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071005221758/http://www.grahamwatsonmep.org/articles/000059/grahams_blog_entry_31_august_2007.html |archive-date=5 October 2007 }}</ref> and their children, one daughter and one son,<ref name="GW photos">{{cite web|title=Photo Gallery |date=2007-08-31 |publisher=Graham Watson MEP website |url=http://www.grahamwatsonmep.org.uk/photos/ |access-date=2007-10-07 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071009213827/http://www.grahamwatsonmep.org.uk/photos/ |archive-date=2007-10-09 }}</ref> were born in 1992 and 1995 respectively.<ref name="GW Bio"/>

Watson was [[Knight Bachelor|knighted]] in the [[2011 Birthday Honours]] for political and public service. He is also the recipient of honours from the Republic of China (Taiwan), Georgia and Gibraltar.

From 2018 to 2023 Watson served as Chairman of the Advisory Board of the European Centre for Populism Studies. In 2021 he was elected to the Board of the [[European Cyclists' Federation]] and in November 2022 was elected Chairman of the [[World Cycling Alliance]].

Watson is a supporter of the [[Campaign for the Establishment of a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly]], an organisation which advocates democratic reform of the United Nations.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://en.unpacampaign.org/statements/page/5/|title=Statements|work=Campaign for a UN Parliamentary Assembly|access-date=2017-09-28|language=en-US}}</ref>

==Bibliography==
* Watson, Graham, Andrew Burgess (2014). ''Continental Drift''. Bagehot Publishing. {{ISBN|978-0-9931125-0-8}}
* Watson, Graham, Andrew Burgess (2012). ''Letters from Europe''. Bagehot Publishing.| {{ISBN|978-0-9545745-8-1}}
* {{cite book| last = Watson | first = Graham | title = Building a Liberal Europe: The ALDE Project | publisher = John Harper Publishing | year = 2010 | isbn = 978-0-9564508-1-4 }}
* {{cite book| last = Watson | first = Graham |author2=Christine Gilmore  | title = The Power of Speech | publisher = Bagehot Publishing | year = 2006 | isbn = 978-0-9545745-4-3 }}
* {{cite book|last=Watson|first=Graham|author2=Simon Titley|title=Liberalism – Something to Shout About|publisher=Bagehot Publishing|year=2006|isbn=978-0-9545745-3-6}}
* {{cite book| last = Watson | first = Graham |author2=Katharine Durrant  | title = Liberal Democracy & Globalisation | publisher = Bagehot Publishing | year = 2005 | isbn = 978-0-9545745-2-9 }}
* {{cite book| last = Watson | first = Graham |author2=Sarah Kent  | title = EU've Got Mail!: Liberal Letters from the European Parliament | publisher = Bagehot Publishing | year = 2004 | isbn = 978-0-9545745-1-2 }}
* {{cite book | last = Watson | first = Graham | author2 = Sarah Kent | title = Liberal Language: Speeches and Essays | publisher = Bagehot Publishing | date = 1989–2003 | isbn = 978-0-9545745-0-5 | url-access = registration | url = https://archive.org/details/liberallanguages0000wats }}
* {{cite book| last = Watson | first = Graham |author2=Howard Mollet  | title = 2020 Vision | year = 2001 }}
* {{cite book| last = Watson | first = Graham |author2=Joanna Hazelwood  | title = To the Power of Ten: UK Liberal Democrats in the European Parliament | publisher = Centre for Reform | year = 2000 | isbn = 978-1-902622-17-0 }}
* {{cite book| last = Watson | first = Graham | title = The Liberals in the North-South dialogue | year = 1980 }}

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==External links==
{{commons category}}

* The [https://archives.eui.eu/en/fonds/238786?item=ADLE.A.A-01.11 private papers] of Graham Watson are deposited at the [https://www.eui.eu/en/academic-units/historical-archives-of-the-european-union Historical Archives of the European Union in] Florence.

*[http://www.grahamwatsonmep.org.uk/ Graham Watson MEP], official site
*[https://archive.today/20070314010102/http://www.europarl.eu.int/members/expert/groupAndCountry/view.do?partNumber=1&group=1550&country=GB&language=EN&id=2155 MEP Profile of Graham Watson], European Parliament
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20070428191205/http://www.alde.eu/index.php?id=watson Biographical details: Graham Watson MEP], ALDE
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20090106234432/http://www.libdems.org.uk/people/graham-watson Graham Watson Profile], UK Liberal Democrats

{{s-start}}
{{s-ppo}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Pat Cox]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=Leader of the [[European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party (European Parliament group)|European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party]] in the [[European Parliament]]|years=2002–2004}}
{{s-non|reason=Position abolished}}
|-
{{s-new|office}}
{{s-ttl|title=Leader of the [[Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Group|Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe]] in the [[European Parliament]]|years=2004–2009}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Guy Verhofstadt]]}}
|-
{{s-bef|before=[[Annemie Neyts-Uyttebroeck]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=President of the [[Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party]]|years=2011–2015}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Hans van Baalen]]}}
{{s-end}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Watson, Graham}}
[[Category:1956 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Alumni of Heriot-Watt University]]
[[Category:British republicans]]
[[Category:HSBC people]]
[[Category:Knights Bachelor]]
[[Category:Liberal Democrats (UK) MEPs]]
[[Category:MEPs for England 1994–1999]]
[[Category:MEPs for England 1999–2004]]
[[Category:MEPs for England 2004–2009]]
[[Category:MEPs for England 2009–2014]]
[[Category:People educated at City of Bath Boys' School]]
[[Category:People from Langport]]
[[Category:People from Rothesay, Bute]]