Aberdeen South MP Stephen Flynn was crowned as the SNP’s new Westminster leader after enjoying a rapid rise to the top.
Mr Flynn had been touted by insiders for the role after Ian Blackford quit and was elected by his party ahead of Glasgow MP Alison Thewliss.
The initial favourite to take on the top job won the backing of 26 SNP MPs and Paisley firebrand Mhairi Black will serve as his deputy.
So who is the Aberdeen MP and where did his political career start?
Who is Stephen Flynn?
The dad-of-two, who grew up in Dundee and Brechin, first moved to Aberdeen more than a decade ago, prompted by his wife working as a teacher in the city.
He studied history and politics at Dundee University, then a postgraduate degree in international relations and security studies.
He joined the office of former SNP MSP Maureen Watt when he moved to the Granite City.
He is a proud Dundee United fan, telling Holyrood Magazine in 2020 that his “guilty pleasure is still travelling down to Dundee to watch Dundee United play”.
Local government years
It was a local Aberdeen by-election in 2015 where he entered the world of politics.
His dad Mark Flynn is also a politician, serving as a Dundee SNP councillor since 2017.
Speaking at the time, the newly-elected councillor, said: “I’m fed up of reading about the in-fighting that goes on in the council, I want progress.”
He experienced a rapid rise within the local SNP group and was voted in unanimously as leader in 2016.
He quickly became a thorn in the side of the ruling Labour, Conservative and Independent coalition.
The councillor criticised the cost of their planned revamp of Union Terrace Gardens and delays to the Aberdeen Art Gallery project.
Following his appointment as leader, former Labour councillor Jenny Laing, told the Press and Journal she was “surprised given Councillor Flynn’s lack of experience in local government”.
One of his first actions as group leader was to write to former Chancellor George Osborne calling for support for the oil industry – a sector he continues to support in the Commons.
His party won the most seats of any party in the 2017 local elections – more than trebling their number of councillors to 19.
But they remained locked out of the Town House, after failing to form a coalition with any of the other parties.
Stephen Flynn’s journey to MP in the Commons
The 34-year-old was elected MP for Aberdeen South in 2019 after managing to take the seat from the Tories.
Following the result, Mr Flynn pledged to “fight tirelessly as an SNP MP at Westminster to offer Scotland an escape from Brexit”.
In a double celebration for the family, his wife Lynn gave birth to the couple’s first child just three days after the General Election result.
In 2020, he told the Evening Express he underwent a “life-changing” hip replacement operation.
He suffered from a serious condition called avascular necrosis since his teens – leaving him unable to walk without sticks or crutches for 17 years.
The MP said he went from being a “sports-daft” teenager to “spending long periods in my bed at home or in hospital”.
But after undergoing the surgery two years ago, Mr Flynn said he was looking forward to a new lease of life – with a walk on the beach with his son top of his to-do-list.
As his party’s business spokesperson, he has regularly spoken out on the future of the energy sector in the north-east.
Now, he is the MP in charge of the party as it looks to break away from Westminster forever.
Conversation