# Lesley Brennan

> Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Lesley_Brennan
> Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Lesley_Brennan.md
> Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lesley_Brennan
> Source revision: 1347286589
> License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)

Scottish politician (born 1972)

Not to be confused with [Lesley Brannan](/source/Lesley_Brannan).

Lesley Brennan Brennan in 2016 Member of the Scottish Parliament for North East Scotland (1 of 7 Regional MSPs) In office 13 January 2016 – 24 March 2016 Preceded by Richard Baker Personal details Born March 1972 (age 54) Party Scottish Labour Party Other political affiliations Campaign for Socialism

**Lesley Brennan** (born March 1972) is a Scottish politician who served as [chief of staff](/source/Chief_of_staff) to [Richard Leonard](/source/Richard_Leonard_(Scottish_politician)), during his tenure as [Leader of the Scottish Labour Party](/source/Scottish_Labour#Leader_of_the_Scottish_Labour_Party), from 2017 to 2021. She was formerly a [Member of the Scottish Parliament](/source/Member_of_the_Scottish_Parliament) (MSP) for the [North East Scotland](/source/North_East_Scotland_(Scottish_Parliament_electoral_region)) region for 70 days in early 2016 and a councillor in Dundee from 2012 to 2016. She has also worked as an economist and as a parliamentary assistant.

## Early life

Brennan was educated at [Lawside Academy](/source/Lawside_Academy) in Dundee. She graduated from [Abertay University](/source/Abertay_University) in 1999 with a first-class honours degree in economics, then studied at the [University of Edinburgh](/source/University_of_Edinburgh) where she gained a master's degree in economics in 2001.[1]

## Political career

Brennan was elected to the East End ward of [Dundee City Council](/source/Dundee_City_Council) in [2012](/source/2012_Dundee_City_Council_election). In October 2013, she was selected by Scottish Labour to contest [Dundee East](/source/Dundee_East_(UK_Parliament_constituency)) at the [2015 United Kingdom general election](/source/2015_United_Kingdom_general_election). However, she lost to the incumbent [Stewart Hosie](/source/Stewart_Hosie).[2][3]

When [Richard Baker](/source/Richard_Baker_(Scottish_politician)) resigned from the [Scottish Parliament](/source/Scottish_Parliament) in January 2016, Labour nominated Brennan as his replacement as she had been next on their [North East Scotland](/source/North_East_Scotland_(Scottish_Parliament_electoral_region)) regional list.[4] Brennan was sworn in on 13 January 2016,[5] and served until the Parliament's dissolution two months later in March. She stood at the [2016 Scottish Parliament election](/source/2016_Scottish_Parliament_election) where Labour had placed her third on their regional list for North East Scotland, but she was not re-elected.[6] As a former MSP who had not been re-elected, she received a resettlement package of more than £30,000.[7] In October 2016, she announced that she would not seek re-election when her term as councillor finished in [2017](/source/2017_Dundee_City_Council_election).[7]

From 2016 to 2017, Brennan served as parliamentary assistant to [Neil Findlay](/source/Neil_Findlay).[8] She was selected by Labour to contest Dundee East again at the [2017 general election](/source/2017_United_Kingdom_general_election).[9] She received 2,000 more votes than in 2015 but finished in third place behind Hosie and the Conservative candidate.[3] A member of [Campaign for Socialism](/source/Campaign_for_Socialism), she was appointed in November 2017 by Scottish Labour leader [Richard Leonard](/source/Richard_Leonard) to serve as his [chief of staff](/source/Chief_of_staff).[10]

## References

1. **[^](#cite_ref-ET_9Oct2013_1-0)** ["Battle lines drawn for Dundee seat in next general election"](https://www.eveningtelegraph.co.uk/2013/10/09/battle-lines-drawn-for-dundee-seat-in-next-general-election/). *[Evening Telegraph](/source/Evening_Telegraph_(Dundee))*. 9 October 2013. Retrieved 23 June 2016.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** Tuft, Ben (8 March 2015). ["Labour candidate Lesley Brennan declines Tony Blair's £1,000 donation to campaign"](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/generalelection/labour-candidate-declines-tony-blairs-1000-donation-to-her-campaign-10094122.html). *[The Independent](/source/The_Independent)*. [Archived](https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220614/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/generalelection/labour-candidate-declines-tony-blairs-1000-donation-to-her-campaign-10094122.html) from the original on 14 June 2022. Retrieved 23 June 2016.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-:0_3-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-:0_3-1) ["Dundee East parliamentary constituency - Election 2019"](https://www.bbc.com/news/politics/constituencies/S14000015). *BBC News*. Retrieved 2 May 2020.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** ["Labour MSP Richard Baker quits Holyrood for charity role"](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-35281435). *BBC News*. 11 January 2016.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** ["New Scottish Labour MSP Lesley Brennan sworn in at Holyrood"](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-35296310). *BBC News*. 13 January 2016.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-Courier_10May2016_6-0)** McPherson, Gareth (10 May 2016). ["Dundee councillor in line for a £30,000 bonus after 10 weeks as MSP"](https://www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/news/politics/scottish-politics/169748/dundee-councillor-line-30000-bonus-10-weeks-msp/). *[The Courier](/source/The_Courier_(Dundee))*. Retrieved 23 June 2016.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-Courier_24Oct2016_7-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-Courier_24Oct2016_7-1) Malik, Paul (24 October 2016). ["Former MSP Lesley Brennan to resign as councillor"](https://www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/news/local/dundee/303879/former-msp-lesley-brennan-resign-councillor/). *The Courier*. Retrieved 12 May 2017.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-8)** ["Lesley Brennan"](https://uk.linkedin.com/in/lesleybrennan). *LinkedIn*.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-Courier_29Apr2017_9-0)** Morkis, Stefan (29 April 2017). ["Lesley Brennan selected as Labour candidate for Dundee East"](https://www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/news/local/dundee/303879/former-msp-lesley-brennan-resign-councillor/). *The Courier*. Retrieved 12 May 2017.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-10)** ["Interview: Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard"](https://www.scotsman.com/news/politics/interview-scottish-labour-leader-richard-leonard-1-4700180). *www.scotsman.com*. Retrieved 12 October 2019.

## External links

- Scottish Parliament profiles of MSPs: [Lesley Brennan](https://www.parliament.scot/msps/current-and-previous-msps/lesley-brennan)

- [LinkedIn](https://uk.linkedin.com/in/lesleybrennan)

v t e Former Labour Party MSPs By date first representing Scottish Labour in the Scottish Parliament 1999 Wendy Alexander Scott Barrie Sarah Boyack Rhona Brankin Bill Butler Malcolm Chisholm Cathie Craigie Margaret Curran Susan Deacon Donald Dewar Helen Eadie Patricia Ferguson Sam Galbraith Karen Gillon Trish Godman Rhoda Grant Iain Gray Hugh Henry John Home Robertson Janis Hughes Gordon Jackson Sylvia Jackson Cathy Jamieson Margaret Jamieson Andy Kerr Johann Lamont Marilyn Livingstone Jack McConnell Lewis Macdonald Angus MacKay Kate Maclean Ken Macintosh Maureen Macmillan Paul Martin John McAllion Frank McAveety Tom McCabe Baron McConnell of Glenscorrodale Henry McLeish Michael McMahon Duncan McNeil Des McNulty Alasdair Morrison Bristow Muldoon Mary Mulligan Elaine Murray Irene Oldfather Peter Peacock Cathy Peattie Richard Simpson Elaine Smith Elaine Thomson Mike Watson Ian Welsh Karen Whitefield Allan Wilson 2001 Brian Fitzpatrick 2003 Richard Baker Marlyn Glen Christine May 2005 Charlie Gordon 2007 Baron Foulkes of Cumnock James Kelly John Park David Stewart David Whitton 2011 Claudia Beamish Kezia Dugdale Mary Fee Neil Findlay Hanzala Malik Jenny Marra Margaret McCulloch Margaret McDougall Siobhan McMahon Anne McTaggart Graeme Pearson John Pentland Drew Smith 2012 Jayne Baxter 2013 Cara Hilton 2014 Alex Rowley 2016 Lesley Brennan Monica Lennon Richard Leonard Colin Smyth 2021 Foysol Choudhury Pam Duncan-Glancy Paul O'Kane Mercedes Villalba Martin Whitfield 2025 Davy Russell

---
Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Lesley Brennan](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lesley_Brennan) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lesley_Brennan?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.