Iain Macwhirter

Iain Macwhirter (born 24 September 1952) is a Scottish political journalist. He is a political commentator for several newspapers, an author and documentary film and radio presenter and a former Rector of Edinburgh University. He has worked at both the UK Parliament and Scottish Parliament, presenting the BBC2 programmes Westminster Live, Scrutiny and, from 1999, the BBC TV programme Holyrood Live from the Scottish Parliament.

In 2013, he published Road to Referendum, which accompanied a three-part television series of the same name on STV and ITV. Following the Scottish independence referendum, he published Disunited Kingdom: How Westminster Won A Referendum But Lost Scotland, a retrospective on his experiences as a journalist documenting the campaign. In 2015, his book Tsunami, about the SNP's victory in the 2015 general election, was published by Freight Books.

Education Macwhirter was educated at George Heriot's School, a grant-aided independent school in Edinburgh, Scotland, followed by the University of Edinburgh, where he graduated with an honours degree in politics. Public Finance and other publications.

Macwhirter's columns were suspended by The Herald in September 2022, after allegations he posted an offensive tweet about members of Liz Truss's cabinet.

Rector of The University of Edinburgh Macwhirter announced that he was standing for Rector of the University of Edinburgh on 12 January 2009, and was backed by George Galloway following the latter's withdrawal as a candidate for the post. He was elected Rector on 13 February 2009, winning by 4,822 votes to 2,182 (69% to 31%). succeeding the former Green MSP Mark Ballard.