THE FORMER chief of anti-independence group Scotland in Union has quit the organisation completely.
Ex Labour MSP Graeme Pearson stepped down as a director of the unionist lobby group officially this week, citing "boredom" with public life and politics and a need to "get on with other things".
Pearson, who worked as a senior Strathclyde Police officer and lead the Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency prior to entering political life in 2011, previously held the role of Chief Executive of the pressure group.
He held the post for eight months, between January and August 2017, before current leader and fellow ex-Labour politician Pamela Nash took over and he became a company director.
Speaking to the Herald on Sunday, Pearson said he was now no longer involved in the running of the non-party-political organisation, which opposes a second referendum and is committed to making the “positive case for Scotland staying in the UK”.
He said: "I am 69 years of age, and I've got other things to do. I have things I need to get on with in my own personal life.
"The boredom of all that stuff in terms of the way Scottish public life has gone on this last decade, the whole political scene that is ongoing across Scotland for the last few years...I'm glad it's [others] facing it and not me.
"I'm glad that Scotland in Union have got the people in place now to take it forward, and I can only wish them well with it over the next few years.
"I'm no longer involved in terms of having any responsibility for the organisation."
Pearson said there was "nothing sinister" in his resignation, lodged officially this week with Companies House, and said he would be more than happy to help the lobby group again.
He said: "If I could help them at all, I would be quite happy to do sop but I just don't want to be involved in the day-to-day stuff.
"The truth of my involvement is that I left the [Scottish] parliament and wanted a bit of time for myself and get on with things...Scotland In Union needed somebody to run the organisation, and they asked me if I would do it.
"I said I didn't have the time but if they were stuck I would run it until they had a long-term chief executive. I said at the time the likelihood is that there will not be another referendum until some time towards 2022, and I certainly wasn't keen in 2022 to begin a campaign that might run sometime thereafter."
Pearson revealed in 2017 that he had quit the Labour party over disbelief in Jeremy Corbyn's ability to lead the country if Labour won a general election.
Scotland in Union Chief Executive Pamela Nash thanked Pearson for, saying: "We’re indebted to Graeme for his hard work standing up for the majority of people in Scotland who want to remain in the UK, and all of the board and team wish him all the very best for the future.
"Graeme helped Scotland in Union to grow, increasing our reach and number of supporters, ensuring the voice of the majority is heard and will continue to be heard.
"He remains a supporter and helpful friend of our organisation."
The former South Scotland MSP is the fourth person to resign from the management at Scotland in Union since it formed in 2014, according to documents registered with Companies House.
Co-founder Felicity Kane, an Edinburgh marketing company director, stepped down as a director in 2015, along writer Jennifer Young and Andrew Skinner.
Skinner, according to his LinkedIn profile, is still the company's campaigns manager.
Co-founder Alastair Cameron, Glasgow University lecturer Dr Patrick Harkness and former director of library services at the University of Edinburgh Sheila Cannell remain Scotland In Union directors.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel