For the British philosopher, see Andrew Bowie (philosopher).
Andrew Bowie
OfficeShadow Secretary of State for Scotland
LeaderKemi Badenoch
Term start5 November 2024
Predecessor

John Lamont

Andrew Bowie
Office 3Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Nuclear and Renewables[a]
Term start 37 February 2023
Term end 35 July 2024
Prime minister 3Rishi Sunak
Predecessor 3Office established
Successor 3Michael Shanks
Office 4Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Exports
Term start 428 October 2022
Term end 47 February 2023
Prime minister 4Rishi Sunak
Predecessor 4Marcus Fysh
Successor 4The Lord Offord of Garvel
Office 5Vice Chairman of the Conservative Party
1blankname 5Leader
1namedata 5Boris Johnson
2blankname 5Chair
2namedata 5James Cleverly
Ben Elliot
Amanda Milling
Oliver Dowden
Predecessor 5Position established
Successor 5Bim Afolami
Term start 524 July 2019
Term end 5November 2021
Office 6Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Prime Minister
Prime minister 6Theresa May
Term start 629 December 2018
Term end 624 July 2019
Predecessor 6Seema Kennedy
Successor 6Alex Burghart
Trudy Harrison
Office 7Member of Parliament
for West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine
Majority 73,441 (7.0%)
Predecessor 7Stuart Donaldson
Term start 78 June 2017
Birth nameAndrew Campbell Bowie
Birth date28 May 1987 (age 39)
Birth placeArbroath, Scotland
PartyScottish Conservatives
SpouseMadeleine Clarke
EducationBritannia Royal Naval College
University of Aberdeen (MA)
Websitewww.andrewbowie.org.uk
Branch Royal Navy
Royal Naval Reserve
Service years2007–10
2022–[1]
RankSub-Lieutenant
Midshipman

Andrew Campbell Bowie (born 28 May 1987) is a Scottish Conservative politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine since 2017.[2][3] He previously served as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Nuclear and Networks from 2023 to 2024.[a][4] He has served as Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland since November 2024.

Bowie also served as Shadow Veterans Minister and Shadow Minister for Energy Security and Net Zero from July to November 2024.[5][6]

Early life and education

Andrew Bowie was born on 28 May 1987 in Arbroath.[7] He spent his early childhood in Alford, before moving to Inverurie, and was educated at Market Place School and Inverurie Academy in Aberdeenshire.[7][8] While studying at Inverurie Academy, Bowie was chosen to join the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland, playing the violin.[9] After leaving school, he joined the Royal Navy and attended Britannia Royal Naval College before serving as an officer, remaining on the rank of Sub-Lieutenant.

After leaving the navy, Bowie studied History and Politics at the University of Aberdeen, where he was a member of the Aberdeen University Royal Naval Unit and where he was elected Chairman of the University of Aberdeen Conservative and Unionist Association for the 2012/13 academic year.[10]

Political career

After graduating from the University of Aberdeen, Bowie was employed as a Military Projects Coordinator for the Westhill-based diving equipment supplier Divex. Bowie left Divex in January 2014 to assume a post as the North Scotland Campaign Manager for the Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party, and was seconded to the Better Together campaign for the duration of the 2014 Scottish Independence Referendum.

Following the referendum, Bowie transitioned to parliamentary politics by serving as a senior advisor to the Conservative MEP Ian Duncan. Following the 2016 Scottish Parliament election, Bowie was hired as office manager to Liam Kerr, who was elected as the Scottish Conservative and Unionist MSP for the North East Scotland region.[10] In 2016, while working for Kerr, he was forced to apologise to a female SNP councillor to whom he accidentally sent an offensive email.[11][12]

Parliamentary career

At the snap 2017 general election, Bowie was elected to Parliament as MP for West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine with 47.9% of the vote and a majority of 7,950.[13][14][15]

From October 2017 until June 2018, he was a member of the Work and Pensions Select Committee.

In February 2018, Bowie was appointed Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport under Matt Hancock, and later under Jeremy Wright.[16]

In December 2018, he was promoted to Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Prime Minister by Theresa May until her resignation in July 2019.[17]

In July 2019, Bowie was appointed as one of six vice-chairmen of the Conservative Party and was responsible for the Young Conservatives.[18]

Bowie was re-elected as MP for West Aberdeenshire & Kincardine at the 2019 general election with a decreased vote share of 42.7% and a decreased majority of 843 votes.[19][20][21][22]

In November 2021, Bowie announced he would resign as a vice-chairman of the Conservative Party once a replacement was selected, soon after the forced resignation of Owen Paterson from the party, giving the reason "to focus on representing my constituents in West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine".[23][24]

From October 2022 to February 2023, Bowie was Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Minister for Exports) at the Department for International Trade working for Kemi Badenoch.[25]

In 2023, he campaigned against energy pylons in his constituency, describing it as a "priority of mine."[26][27]

Bowie was again re-elected at the 2024 general election, with a decreased vote share of 35.6% and an increased majority of 3,441 votes.[28]

Personal life

He is married to Madeleine Clarke, who is originally from Stockholm, and lives in Aboyne, Aberdeenshire. They have a daughter, Emily, born 18 August 2022.[29][8]

References

  1. ^ As Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Nuclear and Networks until January 2024
  1. ^ "Bowie joins RNR". The Times. Retrieved 18 May 2022.
  2. ^ "Andrew Bowie MP". UK Parliament. Archived 30 March 2019 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2 August 2017.
  3. ^ Davidson, Peter (9 June 2017). "Bowie says 'people have spoken' after landslide win in West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine". Evening Express. Archived 25 July 2020 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 9 June 2017.
  4. ^ "Andrew Bowie MP". GOV.UK. Archived 28 February 2023 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 28 February 2023.
  5. ^ "UK politics live: Anxiety over NHS legitimate but I'm optimistic about future, says Wes Streeting". BBC News. Archived 8 July 2024 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 8 July 2024.
  6. ^ "Conservative Party announces interim Opposition Front Bench". policymogul.com. Retrieved 2024-07-25.
  7. ^
  8. ^ "About Andrew". Andrew Bowie MP. Retrieved 2024-07-10.
  9. ^ PoliticsHome.com (1 July 2019). "Unparliamentary Language: Andrew Bowie". PoliticsHome.com. Retrieved 6 August 2019.
  10. ^ "Who are Scotland's new MPs?". BBC News. 9 June 2017. Archived 17 May 2021 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 21 July 2018.
  11. ^ "Tory chief apologises after "flipping woman" email". 26 October 2016. Archived 26 June 2022 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 25 October 2023.
  12. ^ "SNP councillor reported to standards watchdog over suggestion Andrew Bowie should be 'dangled' from a bridge". Press and Journal. 23 July 2020. Archived 12 April 2023 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 25 October 2023.
  13. ^ "Results". www.aberdeenshire.gov.uk. Archived 31 March 2021 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2021-06-26.
  14. ^ "Commons Briefing Paper 7979. General Election 2017: results and analysis". Second ed. House of Commons Library. 29 January 2019. Archived 12 November 2019 at the Wayback Machine.
  15. ^ "UK Parliamentary Election Results - West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine"
  16. ^ McKiernan, Jennifer (2 March 2018). "First Scottish Conservative promoted to leave the back benches is Andrew Bowie". Press and Journal. Archived 30 December 2018 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 29 December 2018.
  17. ^ Robertson, Kirsten (31 December 2018). "Aberdeenshire MP promoted to prestigious government role". Press and Journal. Retrieved 29 December 2019.
  18. ^ "The Party's new line-up of Deputy and Vice Chairmen". Conservative Home. 5 August 2019. Archived 3 January 2020 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 29 December 2019.
  19. ^ wpengine (13 December 2019). "General Election 2019 - Tories keep hold of West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine by just 843 votes". Forres Local. Archived from the original on 29 December 2019. Retrieved 29 December 2019.
  20. ^ "General Election 2019". Aberdeenshire Council. Archived 14 November 2019 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 16 November 2019.
  21. ^ "Aberdeenshire West & Kincardine parliamentary constituency - Election 2019". Archived 6 December 2019 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2019-12-15.
  22. ^ "Commons Briefing Paper 8749. General Election 2019: results and analysis". London: House of Commons Library. 28 January 2020. Archived 18 November 2021 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 19 January 2022.
  23. ^ Allegretti, Aubrey (10 November 2021). "Tory party vice-chair Andrew Bowie resigns in protest over sleaze". The Guardian. Archived 9 July 2024 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 10 November 2021.
  24. ^ Rodger, Hannah (10 November 2021). "Tory MP Andrew Bowie quits as vice chair of the Conservative party". The Herald. Archived 10 November 2021 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 10 November 2021.
  25. ^ "Andrew Bowie profile". Gov.uk. 24 November 2021. Archived 5 July 2024 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 8 July 2024.
  26. ^ "UK pylons minister reshuffled after … campaigning against local pylons". Politico. 2024-02-04.
  27. ^ "The green vs. NIMBY split blowing up British politics". POLITICO. 2024-11-18.
  28. ^ "West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine - General election results 2024". BBC News. Archived 5 July 2024 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2024-07-08.
  29. ^ Walker, David (2022-08-19). "Tory MP Andrew Bowie announces birth of new baby girl in gushing message". Scottish Daily Express. Retrieved 2024-07-10.