MP looks back on 20 years
Perth and North Perthshire MP Pete Wishartlast week marked 20 years since first being elected as a Member of Parliament.
Mr Wishart was first elected at the general election on June 7, 2001, to what was then the North Tayside seat.
This seat was later redrawn following a revision of political boundaries, and Mr Wishart became the MP for Perth and North Perthshire at the 2005 general election. He has held elected office continuously since that time.
Mr Wishart is one of only three people to be elected as the MP for North Tayside and the only elected MP to have represented the seat of Perth and North Perthshire.
Pete was the first SNP MP to ever be elected as the chair of a House of Commons select committee back in 2015, when he was elected as chair of the Scottish affairs committee – a role he performs to this day.
Speaking on the anniversary (June 7) Mr Wishart said:“It has been an immense privilege to have been elected an MP for 20 years now.
“Back in 2001 I never thought I would still be serving the people of Perthshire after all this time.
“When I was elected in 2001 it was at the time of the second‘new Labour’landslide and our politics has changed immeasurably in that time.
“I certainly don’t think I could have predicted we would have left the EU and that Boris Johnson would be Prime Minister.
“Back in 2001, with five SNP MPs, it was hard to think that at one stage we would be electing over 50 MPs to Westminster and would be well on our way to holding a second independence referendum.
“As an SNP MP, I am in the strange position of continuing to do everything possible to achieve independence, which will ironically put me out of a job.
“Nevertheless, for as long as I am lucky enough to still be returned by the people of Perth and North Perthshire, I will continue to stand up for them and fight their corner.”