George Leslie (politician)

George Andrew Leslie (21 November 1936 – 14 June 2023) was a Scottish politician and veterinary surgeon. He was the Scottish National Party (SNP)'s Senior Vice-Chairman from 1969 to 1971.

Leslie was born in Glasgow, Scotland. He studied at Hillhead High School and Glasgow University before becoming a vet.^[1]

Leslie joined the Scottish National Party (SNP) in the early-1960s. He was selected to stand for the party at the 1967 Glasgow Pollok by-election.^[2] During the by-election, one observer described his speeches as being in the style of Jimmy Maxton.^[3] His campaign also featured the singing of both traditional and topical Scottish songs.^[4] Although the party had never previously contested the seat, Leslie took 28% of the vote. The Labour Party share of the vote dropped considerably, enabling the Conservative Party to win – their last by-election win of the twentieth century in Scotland. Leslie's campaign marked the start of a year of successes for the SNP, including becoming the largest party in local government in Stirling, and victory in the Hamilton by-election.^[5]

Leslie was soon elected to the Glasgow Corporation,^[1] and, in June 1969, became the SNP's Senior Vice-Chairman.^[6][7] Later, he served as a Strathclyde Regional councillor for East Kilbride, and he stood as the SNP candidate for Glasgow at the European Parliament election in 1979, taking 16.4% of the vote.^[1]

During the early-1980s, Leslie was the SNP's vice-chairman for policy.^[1] He was the party's candidate in the high-profile Glasgow Hillhead by-election in 1982 but, despite campaigning hard, he finished in fourth place,^[8][9] with 11.3% of the votes cast.^[10] He stood again in the Hillhead constituency at the 1983 general election, but only received 5.4% of the vote,^[11] He stood in Strathclyde East at the 1984 European election, taking second place with 17.6% of the vote,^[1] then in Kilmarnock and Loudoun in the 1987 general election, taking third place but with 18.2% of the vote.^[12] Standing again in Strathclyde East at the 1989 European election, he increased his share to 25.2%,^[13] and finally at the 1992 general election he took 15.6% and fourth place in Glasgow Pollok.^[11]

On 28 February 2010, Leslie formally launched a campaign to contest Kilmarnock and Loudoun at the 2010 general election.^[14] However, he finished in second place, 12,378 votes behind the Labour Party candidate Cathy Jamieson.

Leslie returned to his home on 13 June 2023 after a prolonged stay at University Hospital Crosshouse. He died the following day, at the age of 86.^[15]