Angus Robertson spent 16 years representing Moray until being toppled by Douglas Ross in 2017 in a headline-grabbing victory.
It was one of the biggest scalps in UK politics to see the SNP’s Westminster leader lose out as the Tories swept to victory across the north-east.
Now, the former Moray MP has emerged as the bookies’ favourite to become the next first minister of Scotland, after entering politics in 2001.
He is currently Constitution Secretary with a brief which includes planning for a long-promised second independence referendum.
The 53-year-old entered Holyrood in 2021, to represent Edinburgh Central, and was quickly elevated to Nicola Sturgeon’s cabinet.
He is one of the few surviving veterans of the Alex Salmond era and was the party’s Westminster leader from 2007 until 2017.
Over 20 years spent in elected politics and his leadership experience is likely to have contributed to bookies tipping him for the position.
Aberdeen University
Born in London, to a Scottish father, Struan, who was an engineer, and a German mother, Anne, who was a nurse, he was later brought up in Edinburgh.
He graduated from Aberdeen University in 1991, with an MA Honours degree in politics and international relations.
After his studies, he entered the world of journalism, working as a foreign and diplomatic correspondent in Central Europe for the BBC World Service.
Moray MP
A fluent German speaker, he served as a European and international affairs adviser to SNP MSPs at Holyrood before he was elected to Westmister in 2001 to represent Moray.
He was Scotland’s youngest MP at the time and served as the SNP’s spokesman on defence and international relations.
In 2007, he became the SNP Westminster leader, following Mr Salmond’s election as first minister.
The MP co-ordinated the party’s election victories at Holyrood in 2007 and 2011, as well as the party’s landslide at Westminster in 2015.
He won plaudits for his performances in prime minister’s questions, with many describing him as the “real opposition leader”.
Locally, he campaigned to save the Kinloss Army Barracks from closure in 2016, after it emerged the base could close.
Defeat to Douglas Ross
The SNP politician was one of the party’s most high-profile losses in the 2017 general election.
Mr Ross stunned pundits when he overtook Mr Robertson with a swing of 13,000 votes – more than a quarter of the turn-out.
The Scottish Tory leader previously said he believed his opponent had been punished for focusing on Westminster grandstanding instead of local concerns.
He said: “The SNP just assumed that people would vote for them regardless, in what used to be their heartlands.”
Mr Robertson married partner Jennifer Dempsie, a former SNP aide and founding partner at Forres-based communications consultancy Spey, in 2016.
He resigned as the SNP’s depute leader in February 2018, after losing his seat in the Commons.
The following year, he went on to launch the pro-independence think tank Progress Scotland.
He and his wife welcomed their first daughter in 2019 and a second in 2021.
Holyrood entrance
The SNP veteran put himself forward for the seat of Edinburgh Central in the 2021 Holyrood election.
Ahead of the selection contest for the seat, the SNP National Executive Committee announced that any MP chosen as a candidate for Holyrood would have to resign from Westminster.
This was considered by some as a deliberate move to stop MP Joanna Cherry from winning the party’s nomination for the seat and boost Mr Robertson’s candidacy, as a close ally of Ms Sturgeon.
He won the seat with 39% of the vote, beating the Conservative candidate by 4,372 votes.
The first minister immediately sought to install him in her cabinet as Cabinet Secretary for the Constitution, External Affairs and Culture.
He praised Ms Sturgeon as a “tremendous first minister, SNP leader, public servant and advocate of Scottish independence”.
Nicola Sturgeon has been a tremendous First Minister, SNP leader, public servant and advocate of Scottish independence. It has been an honour to serve as her Depute Leader and as Cabinet Secretary. I am hugely grateful to her for all she has contributed and warmly wish her well. pic.twitter.com/QB5JowDXVV
— Angus Robertson (@AngusRobertson) February 15, 2023