Andrew Bowie (politician)


Andrew Campbell Bowie is a Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party politician. He has served as the Member of Parliament for West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine since the 2017 general election, when he unseated the incumbent Scottish National Party MP Stuart Donaldson.

Early life and education

Bowie was born in Arbroath and educated at Inverurie Academy in Aberdeenshire. While studying at Inverurie Academy, Bowie was chosen to join the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland, playing the violin. After leaving school, he joined the Royal Navy and attended Britannia Royal Naval College before serving as an officer, achieving the rank of Sub-Lieutenant. After leaving the Navy, Bowie read History and Politics at the University of Aberdeen, where he was elected Chairman of the University of Aberdeen Conservative and Unionist Association for the 2012/13 academic year.

Career

Early career

After graduating from the University of Aberdeen, Bowie was employed as a Military Projects Coordinator for Westhill-based diving equipment supplier Divex. Bowie left Divex in January 2014 to assume a post as the North Scotland Campaign Manager for the Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party, and was seconded to the Better Together campaign for the duration of the 2014 Scottish Independence Referendum. Following the referendum, Bowie transitioned to parliamentary politics by serving as a senior advisor to the Conservative MEP for Scotland Ian Duncan MEP. In 2016, following the Scottish Parliament election, 2016, Bowie was hired as Chief of Staff to Liam Kerr MSP, who was elected as the Scottish Conservative and Unionist Member of Scottish Parliament for the North East Scotland region.

Parliamentary career

Bowie was elected as an MP in June 2017, with a majority of 7,950 votes. From October that year until June 2018, he was a member of the Work and Pensions Select Committee.
In February 2018, Bowie was appointed Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport under Matt Hancock, and later under Jeremy Wright.
In December 2018, he was promoted to Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Prime Minister by Theresa May until her resignation in July 2019.
In August 2019, Bowie was appointed as one of six Vice Chairmen of the Conservative Party.
Bowie was re-elected as the MP for West Aberdeenshire & Kincardine at the 2019 general election, with a significantly reduced majority of 843 votes.

Electoral history