Bruce stood for parliament for a third time at the newly created seat of Gordon, based largely on the former Aberdeenshire West. Fairgrieve retired, and at the 1983 general election he was very narrowly elected and became the Liberal MP for Gordon with a majority of just 850, and held the seat for thirty-two years. He was an outspoken opponent of coalition with the Labour Party. When he was elected to parliament, Bruce served on the Scottish Affairs Select committee, and in 1986 was given a job by David Steel as a Spokesman on Energy and Scotland. He also became Rector of the University of Dundee in 1986 for three years. After the 1987 general election, at which Bruce's majority had increased to 9,519, he was briefly a spokesman on Education, before speaking on Trade and Industry later in 1987. After the amalgamation of the Liberal Party and the Social Democratic Party and the formation of the Liberal Democrats he became the new party's Energy spokesman and at the same time became the Leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats under the new leadership of Paddy Ashdown. In 1989 he was appointed as the Environment spokesman, before having the Scotland portfolio after 1990. After the 1992 general election, at which he narrowly held Gordon by just 274 votes, he again became the Trade and Industry spokesman. By 1994 he had become the Treasury spokesman. Whilst a Treasury spokesman it was Bruce who developed the idea of a 'penny on income tax'. At the 1997 general election Bruce's majority had risen again to 6,997. The Liberal Democrats had 46 MPs, more than they have had since before the 1920s. Paddy Ashdown created a new Shadow Cabinet system and Bruce became the Liberal DemocratShadow Chancellor of the Exchequer. When Ashdown stood down in 1999 he contested the leadership of the party but came in third place. In 1999, under the new leadership of Charles Kennedy, became the Chairman of the Liberal Democrats until 2001, and since 2000 has been the president of the Scottish Liberal Democrats. Bruce won Gordon for the fifth consecutive time at the 2001 general election with a still rising majority of 7,879. Following his re-election, Bruce became the Liberal Democrat Shadow Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, and the Shadow Secretary of State for Trade and Industry in 2003. He stood down from the frontbench following the 2005 general election, where he was re-elected with his highest majority yet at 11,026. He was Chairman of the International Development Select Committee from 2005 to 2015, scrutinising the work of the Department of International Development. He was made a Member of the Privy Council on 19 July 2006. He was knighted in the 2012 Birthday Honours for public and political service. On 2 September 2013 he announced that he would not seek re-election as an MP at the 2015 General Election. He was announced as a life peer in the 2015 Dissolution Honours and was created Baron Bruce of Bennachie, of Torphins in the County of Aberdeen on 19 October.
Personal life
He married Veronica Jane Wilson in 1969 and they have a son and a daughter, before divorcing in 1992. Bruce married secondly, in 1998, Rosemary Vetterlein, a Lib Dem activist and prospective parliamentary candidate who contested Beckenham unsuccessfully in 1997. Lord and Lady Bruce have two daughters and a son together. Bruce takes a keen interest in deaf issues; one of his children is deaf.
