Colin Fox | |
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Scottish Socialist Party co-spokesperson | |
Assumed office 13 February 2005 |
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Member of the Scottish Parliament for Lothians |
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In office 1 May 2003 – 2 April 2007 |
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Personal details | |
Born |
Motherwell, Scotland |
17 June 1959
Political party | Scottish Socialist Party (1998-present) |
Other political affiliations |
Scottish Labour Party (1970s-1998) |
Colin Fox (born 17 June 1959, Motherwell) is the national co-spokesperson of the Scottish Socialist Party (SSP) and a former Member of the Scottish Parliament for the Lothians (2003-07).
Described in The Herald as "one of Scotland's most prominent socialists", he is a founding member of the SSP and Scotland's longest-serving party leader or spokesperson, having been originally elected as the SSP's convener in February 2005. He was a member of the Yes Scotland Advisory Board.
Fox was born in Motherwell. Both of his grandfathers were steelworkers, his mother was a nurse and his father an insurance salesman with the Co-operative Insurance Society. He attended Our Lady's High School before studying mathematics at Strathclyde University and accountancy at Bell's College, Hamilton (now part of the University of the West of Scotland). He graduated with a BSc (Hons) in social sciences from the Open University in 2013.
Colin currently lives in Edinburgh, with his partner and children.
Fox joined the Labour Party in Motherwell and Wishaw as a teenager, and established Labour Party Young Socialists (LPYS) branches throughout Lanarkshire.
He has described Tony Benn as "one of my heroes", and says that it was after attending a talk given by Benn at the University of Glasgow, while Benn was running for deputy leader of the Labour Party, that he was inspired to get involved in politics full-time. As a prominent LPYS activist, he attracted the attention of the Militant tendency, and joined in 1981. He was elected its Lanarkshire organiser in 1983 and has been heavily involved in socialist politics ever since.