Sir David Steel

The Right Honourable The Lord Steel of Aikwood KT KBE PC


1st Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament
In office 12 May 1999 – 7 May 2003
Preceded by	Office created
Succeeded by	George Reid
Leader of the Liberal Democrats
In office 3 March 1988 – 16 July 1988 Serving with Robert Maclennan
Preceded by	Himself (as Leader of the Liberal Party) Robert Maclennan (as Leader of the Social Democratic Party)
Succeeded by	Paddy Ashdown
Leader of the Liberal Party
In office 7 July 1976 – 16 July 1988
Preceded by	Jo Grimond
Succeeded by	Paddy Ashdown (as Leader of the Social and Liberal Democrats)
Liberal Chief Whip
In office 18 June 1970 – 7 July 1976
Leader	Jeremy Thorpe Jo Grimond
Preceded by	Eric Lubbock
Succeeded by	Cyril Smith
Member of Parliament for Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale
In office 11 June 1983 – 1 May 1997
Preceded by	Constituency created
Succeeded by	Michael Moore
Member of Parliament for Roxburgh, Selkirk and Peebles
In office 24 March 1965 – 11 June 1983
Preceded by	Charles Donaldson
Succeeded by	Constituency abolished
Member of the Scottish Parliament for Lothians
In office 6 May 1999 – 1 May 2003
Preceded by	Constituency created
Succeeded by	Mark Ballard

Personal details
Born	David Martin Scott Steel (1938-03-31) 31 March 1938 (age 79) Kirkcaldy, Fife, United Kingdom
Political party	Liberal Democrats(1988-present)
Other political affiliations	Liberal (Before 1988)
Spouse(s)	Judith Steel
Children	3
Alma mater	University of Edinburgh

David Martin Scott Steel, Baron Steel of Aikwood, KT, KBE, PC (born 31 March 1938) is a British Liberal Democrat politician who served as the Leader of the Liberal Party from 1976 until its merger with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the Liberal Democrats. He served as a MP from 1965 to 1997 and as a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) from 1999 to 2003, during which time he was the parliament's Presiding Officer. Since 1997, he has been a member of the House of Lords.

Steel was born in Kirkcaldy, Fife, the son of a Church of Scotland minister also called David Steel, who would later serve as Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland. He was brought up in Scotland and Kenya, and educated at Dumbarton Academy; James Gillespies Boys' School, Edinburgh; the Prince of Wales School, Nairobi; and George Watson's College, Edinburgh. Steel was president of the British Anti-Apartheid Movement campaign from 1966 to 1970.