Danus George Moncrieff Skene

Danus George Moncrieff Skene (2 April 1944 – 19 August 2016) was a Scottish politician.

Skene was born in Dundee, and brought up in Fife. He was educated at Eton College, He then read African Studies at the University of Sussex, Public Administration at University of Chicago and Education at University of Aberdeen before becoming a schoolteacher in Elgin. Skene's teaching career later included stints in Israel and Kenya, work in the education department of Tayside Regional Council, and also service on the board of the Scottish Qualification Authority.

Skene joined the Labour Party and stood unsuccessfully in Kinross and West Perthshire in both February and October 1974 general elections, and served on the party's Scottish Executive. In 1976, he was a founder of the Scottish Labour Party (SLP), a split from the Labour Party. He wrote a paper on rural land policy for the party, and was the secretary of the northern "Yes for Scotland" campaign during the Scottish devolution referendum, 1979. However, shortly before the referendum, he joined the Liberal Party, for which he was elected to Perth and Kinross Council in 1980.

Skene stood for the Liberals unsuccessfully in Tayside North at the 1983 general election, and lost his council seat the same year. In 1987, he stood in Moray, taking fourth place with just over 10% of the vote. He remained active when the party became part of the Liberal Democrats, being on the party list for Scotland at the European Parliament election, 1999. However, by 2007, he was concerned that the party now regarded itself as British unionist, when he was a Scottish nationalist.