Who is Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP? The Scottish Liberal Democrat in the running to succeed Willie Rennie as party leader

During the pandemic, with MSPs attending committee meetings by zoom, he was seen mouthing the words “f*** off Maree” in response to a statement by then children’s minister Maree Todd.

The normally, polite, well-mannered, middle-class mask slipped, and a different ACH (as he is known in party circles) was revealed.

He apologised, saying that he had been angry over the Scottish Government "backsliding on children's rights once again" – the very issue that inspired him to enter politics in the first place.

Todd, was less than impressed for being blamed for his behaviour and said so in no uncertain terms, leaving ACH to apologise again, this time in the parliamentary chamber.

Swearing publicly at a political opponent, particularly a woman, is not quite the done thing by Liberal Democrat standards. For all of Willie Rennie’s election photo-call shenanigans it’s hard to imagine him being similarly offensive.

Whether it will have any impact on the 4000 or so party members who will decide his replacement is yet to be seen, and right now ACH is the front runner in a field of one.

It certainly had no bearing at the May election when the voters of Edinburgh Western returned him with the highest number of votes ever cast for a single candidate in a Scottish Parliament election – 25,578. His majority is now 9885.

So apart from being more potty-mouthed than had previously been thought, who is Alex Cole-Hamilton?

Within – and outwith – Holyrood, Cole-Hamilton is known for his energy, determination, self-confidence, and for being rather shorter in the flesh than you might expect given the giant photograph of him on his constituency office window.

Born in Hertfordshire in 1977, moving to St Andrews at the age of eight, he comes from a long line of movers and shakers. His ancestors include Irish peer John Cole, 1st Baron Mountflorence, while more recently another John Cole-Hamilton was Provost of Kilwinning and chairman of the Central Ayrshire Conservative Party.

After leaving Madras College for Aberdeen University Cole-Hamilton chose to study politics and international relations, and on graduating became a LibDem constituency organiser in Edinburgh West, before working for the party in Holyrood until late 2003. Standing unsuccessfully in a number of Holyrood and Westminster elections, he moved on to work in the children’s voluntary sector, until his election in 2016.

His win in Edinburgh Western was a surprise, particularly for the SNP which had expected to hold the seat it had won in 2011. The campaign was fierce and triggered an investigation by the electoral watchdog over allegations the LibDems had overspent on his campaign. A two-year investigation cleared him.

As well as being his party's health spokesman in Holyrood, Cole-Hamilton came to more public attention while on the committee of MSPs investigating the government’s handling of harassment complaints made against Alex Salmond.

With no other candidates yet declared, he seems a shoo-in for the leadership, and his party will be placing a lot of hope on his energy to pull them back from the brink of political oblivion. From a party of coalition government in the first years of devolution it is now down to just four MSPs.

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