21:03:00
Story highlights
20-year-old
Mhairi Black of the Scottish National Party wins Labour seat from Douglas
Alexander
Election
will make her the youngest British member of Parliament since 1667
Black's
candidacy was marred by a series of offensive tweets and remarks
(CNN)Mhairi Black, the freshly
elected lawmaker from Scotland, will soon be heading down from her constituency
of Paisley and Renfrewshire South to Westminster.
But
she has an immediate challenge ahead of her: getting her university degree.
Black
is all of 20 years old. And Friday, she made history by becoming the youngest
lawmaker in UK history since the 17th century.
Here's
what you need to know about the Scot who came from behind and shook the
political landscape.
She toppled a political
heavyweight
As
member of the Scottish Nationalist Party (the SNP), she went up against Douglas
Alexander, a long-time Labour Party heavy-hitter.
He
is a former Cabinet minister and such a shrewd veteran of political campaigns
that he was Labour's campaign chief.
He
is also a member of the shadow cabinet -- the group of politicians from the
opposition party who would head up ministries if in power.
If
he had been elected, and had Labour come to power, he would have become the new
foreign secretary, a position similar to the Secretary of State in the U.S.
But
in the end, her 23,548 votes outstripped her opponent -- Alexander ended the
night with 17,864 votes -- overturning the veteran's huge majority from the
2010 general election.
Alexander
has represented the area since 1997, and today marks the first time for 70
years that the constituency has not been a Labour seat.
She's the youngest MP
since 1667
In
1667, after being "returned as knight of the shire," Christopher Monck took his place in Parliament when he
was just 13.
Sure,
there have been other young parliamentarians, but none as young as Black -- in
the last 350 years.
Most
recently, former Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy was elected into
Westminster at the tender age of 23.
But
he was three years older than Black is now.
She was into politics even
as a kid
Black grew up in Paisley,
a working class town in the west of Scotland.
From a young age, she
would march for causes as diverse as support for a Scottish parliament and
opposition to the Iraq war.
The referendum campaign
failed, but a passionate, fiery and intelligent campaigner was born.
"Over the two years
of that referendum campaign it was a political awakening," she told CNN's
Phil Black. "It forced people to engage and think about arguments and try
and articulate arguments and look for quality."
She's drawn fire for some
of her tweets
A season ticket holder and
lifelong fan of her local football club, Partick Thistle, Black has
occasionally let her soccer tribalism get the better of her.
During one match against
perennial Scottish champions Celtic in October 2013, she tweeted: "I've
only just realised -- I really f***** hate Celtic" and "Celtic, yer a
joke! #scum."
And like many other
Scottish students she's also used social media to boast about her drinking. She
tweeted her love of Smirnoff Ice, calling it the "nectar of the
gods." She also tweeted about waking up next to a can of beer and a pizza,
calling it "a success."
Like a novice, the tweets
remained undeleted until after her selection -- at least until the media
managed to get hold of screen grabs.
The SNP defended her
selection as a candidate, saying, "Mhairi is a dedicated young woman who
learned a great deal during the referendum, and wants to do her best for her
community as its MP."
She's changed her tune
These slip-ups, along with
a speech where she seemed to suggest a desire to physically assault opponents
to the referendum, threatened to derail her freshman campaign.
After the referendum
result had come in, she told a pro-independence rally that her political
opponents' apparently insincere commiserations had made her want to put
"the nut on" -- head-butt -- them. She also called unionists
"selfish" and "gullible."
Comments like these put
pressure on SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon to deselect her as a candidate. Sturgeon
stood by her woman, and Black has since adopted a much more humble approach.
She says that she has
learned her lesson, telling Scottish tabloid newspaper the Daily Record,
"It's not a figure of speech I will use again.
And as far as my remarks
about No voters are concerned, I realised myself before the referendum that it
was wrong to talk in these terms - I learned and I changed my language.
"If elected, I will
be proud to represent all the people of Paisley and Renfrewshire South."
She's got a dissertation
to finish
She's a final-year student
of Politics and Public Policy at the University of Glasgow. In order to
graduate -- and take on her first graduate job in the House of Commons -- she
has to finish her dissertation. It's due at the end of the month.
But what'll she do first,
a reporter asked her Thursday night? "Sleep," she replied. And then?
"Breakfast."
Story highlights
20-year-old
Mhairi Black of the Scottish National Party wins Labour seat from Douglas
Alexander
Election
will make her the youngest British member of Parliament since 1667
Black's
candidacy was marred by a series of offensive tweets and remarks
(CNN)Mhairi Black, the freshly
elected lawmaker from Scotland, will soon be heading down from her constituency
of Paisley and Renfrewshire South to Westminster.
But
she has an immediate challenge ahead of her: getting her university degree.
Black
is all of 20 years old. And Friday, she made history by becoming the youngest
lawmaker in UK history since the 17th century.
Here's
what you need to know about the Scot who came from behind and shook the
political landscape.
She toppled a political
heavyweight
As
member of the Scottish Nationalist Party (the SNP), she went up against Douglas
Alexander, a long-time Labour Party heavy-hitter.
He
is a former Cabinet minister and such a shrewd veteran of political campaigns
that he was Labour's campaign chief.
He
is also a member of the shadow cabinet -- the group of politicians from the
opposition party who would head up ministries if in power.
If
he had been elected, and had Labour come to power, he would have become the new
foreign secretary, a position similar to the Secretary of State in the U.S.
But
in the end, her 23,548 votes outstripped her opponent -- Alexander ended the
night with 17,864 votes -- overturning the veteran's huge majority from the
2010 general election.
Alexander
has represented the area since 1997, and today marks the first time for 70
years that the constituency has not been a Labour seat.
She's the youngest MP
since 1667
In
1667, after being "returned as knight of the shire," Christopher Monck took his place in Parliament when he
was just 13.
Sure,
there have been other young parliamentarians, but none as young as Black -- in
the last 350 years.
Most
recently, former Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy was elected into
Westminster at the tender age of 23.
But
he was three years older than Black is now.
She was into politics even
as a kid
Black grew up in Paisley,
a working class town in the west of Scotland.
From a young age, she
would march for causes as diverse as support for a Scottish parliament and
opposition to the Iraq war.
She was a vocal supporter
of Scottish independence during last year's referendum campaign. She says that
she "witnessed first hand the level of poverty and injustice prevalent in
our society," touring some of the country's most deprived areas.
The referendum campaign
failed, but a passionate, fiery and intelligent campaigner was born.
"Over the two years
of that referendum campaign it was a political awakening," she told CNN's
Phil Black. "It forced people to engage and think about arguments and try
and articulate arguments and look for quality."
She's drawn fire for some
of her tweets
A season ticket holder and
lifelong fan of her local football club, Partick Thistle, Black has
occasionally let her soccer tribalism get the better of her.
During one match against
perennial Scottish champions Celtic in October 2013, she tweeted: "I've
only just realised -- I really f***** hate Celtic" and "Celtic, yer a
joke! #scum."
And like many other
Scottish students she's also used social media to boast about her drinking. She
tweeted her love of Smirnoff Ice, calling it the "nectar of the
gods." She also tweeted about waking up next to a can of beer and a pizza,
calling it "a success."
Like a novice, the tweets
remained undeleted until after her selection -- at least until the media
managed to get hold of screen grabs.
The SNP defended her
selection as a candidate, saying, "Mhairi is a dedicated young woman who
learned a great deal during the referendum, and wants to do her best for her
community as its MP."
She's changed her tune
These slip-ups, along with
a speech where she seemed to suggest a desire to physically assault opponents
to the referendum, threatened to derail her freshman campaign.
After the referendum
result had come in, she told a pro-independence rally that her political
opponents' apparently insincere commiserations had made her want to put
"the nut on" -- head-butt -- them. She also called unionists
"selfish" and "gullible."
Comments like these put
pressure on SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon to deselect her as a candidate. Sturgeon
stood by her woman, and Black has since adopted a much more humble approach.
She says that she has
learned her lesson, telling Scottish tabloid newspaper the Daily Record,
"It's not a figure of speech I will use again.
And as far as my remarks
about No voters are concerned, I realised myself before the referendum that it
was wrong to talk in these terms - I learned and I changed my language.
"If elected, I will
be proud to represent all the people of Paisley and Renfrewshire South."
She's got a dissertation
to finish
She's a final-year student
of Politics and Public Policy at the University of Glasgow. In order to
graduate -- and take on her first graduate job in the House of Commons -- she
has to finish her dissertation. It's due at the end of the month.
But what'll she do first,
a reporter asked her Thursday night? "Sleep," she replied. And then?
"Breakfast."
