George Kerevan | |
|---|---|
 Kerevan in 2015 | |
| Member of Parliament for East Lothian | |
| In office 8 May 2015 – 3 May 2017 | |
| Preceded by | Fiona O'Donnell |
| Succeeded by | Martin Whitfield |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 28 September 1949 Glasgow, Scotland, UK |
| Political party | Alba (2021–) |
| Other political affiliations | IMG (1972–82) SLP (1976) Labour (c. 1982–96) SNP (1996–2021) |
| Alma mater | University of Glasgow |
| Website | Official website |
George Kerevan (born 28 September 1949) is a Scottish journalist, economist, and politician. He was the Scottish National Party (SNP) Member of Parliament (MP) for East Lothian from 2015, until he lost his seat at the snap 2017 general election.
Born in Glasgow, Kerevan was educated at Kingsridge Secondary School in Drumchapel[1] and the University of Glasgow, graduating with a First-class MA degree in political economy.[2]
Kerevan held academic posts at Napier College, including Senior Lecturer in Economics, from 1975 to 2000, specialising in energy economics. He was associate editor of The Scotsman from 2000 to 2009,[2] and was the chief executive of What If Productions (Television) Ltd. He is co-organiser of the Prestwick World Festival of Flight.[3]
Kerevan was a member of the International Marxist Group (IMG), a Trotskyist group, between 1972 and 1982.[4] During this time, alongside many other Scottish IMG activists, he joined Jim Sillars' fledgling Scottish Labour Party (SLP) using entryist tactics, a process that resulted in a purge of the IMG-associated members by Sillars at the party's first conference in October 1976.[5][6] Following the demise of the IMG, Kerevan joined the Labour Party and served as a councillor for the party in Edinburgh from 1984 to 1996. In 1996, he left Labour to join the Scottish National Party.[7] He went on to stand unsuccessfully as the SNP candidate for Edinburgh East at the 2010 UK general election, as well as an SNP candidate in the Lothian region in the 2011 Scottish Parliament election.[citation needed]
Kerevan eventually stood successfully as the SNP candidate for East Lothian at the 2015 UK general election. He won 25,104 votes, a majority of 6,803, and unseated the then-incumbent Labour MP Fiona O'Donnell. He was a member of the House of Commons Treasury Select Committee.[8] He subsequently lost his seat in the 2017 snap election to Martin Whitfield of the Labour Party, who won with a majority of 3,083 votes over Kerevan.[9]
In March 2021, Kerevan defected from the SNP to the Alba Party.[10]
He is the co-author, with Alan Cochrane, of Scottish Independence: Yes or No, published in April 2014.
