Graham Watson

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For other people named Graham Watson, see Graham Watson (disambiguation).

Graham Watson
Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Group
In office
25 May 2004 – 1 July 2009
Preceded byOffice established
Succeeded byGuy Verhofstadt
Member of the European Parliament
for South West England
In office
19 July 1994 – 30 June 2014
Preceded byConstituency established
Personal details
Born (1956-03-23) 23 March 1956 (age 68)
Rothesay, Scotland, United Kingdom
CitizenshipUnited Kingdom • Italy
Political partyLiberal Democrats (1988–present)
LDE (2024–present)
Other political
affiliations		NLYL (1972–1988)
SpouseRita Giannini
Children2
Alma materHeriot-Watt University

Sir Graham Robert Watson (born 23 March 1956) is a British

Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Group (2004–2009).[1] From 2011 until 2015, he was the president of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party
. From 2015 to 2020, he was a UK Member on the European Economic and Social Committee. He is currently an adjunct Professor at the University of Toronto's Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy.

He will be the United States of Europe top candidate in the North-East constituency for the 2024 European Parliament election in Italy, as he is also an Italian citizen due to being married to one.[2]

Early life

Graham Watson was born in

City of Bath Boys' School following his father’s posting to the Admiralty in Bath. He returned to Scotland to attend Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh where he graduated in 1979 with a Bachelor of Arts in modern languages.[1]
While at university he spent one semester studying at the University of Geneva and one at the Karl Marx University in Leipzig in the German Democratic Republic. At the latter he was spied on by a fellow British student working for the East German Stasi (State Security Police): the story of this is told in the book 'The Stasi Files' by Anthony Glees (Free Press, 2004) and has been the subject of documentary film productions by the BBC and Channel Four. On graduating from university in 1979, Watson worked first as a freelance interpreter and translator and then (1980–83) as an administrator at Paisley College of Technology. He now speaks four European languages.

Watson began his political activity in the

European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party between 1983 and 1993.[3] Between 1983 and 1987 he also served as head of the private office of then leader of the British Liberal Party, Sir David Steel.[1]

In 1988 he began work for the bank HSBC in London and Hong Kong. His time there encompassed three months with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and gave him an interest in the Far East. He has travelled widely in the region and speaks some Mandarin Chinese.[1]

European Parliament

In the

Committee on Budgets,[1] and acted as whip for the ELDR group until 1996.[3]

Second term

In 1999 the introduction of the list system (a form of

Committee on Citizens' Freedoms and Rights, Justice and Home Affairs.[1]
In that position he steered through Parliament freedom of information provisions and the legislation providing for a European Arrest Warrant. In 2002 he was elected to lead the EU-wide ELDR Group, succeeding Irishman Pat Cox MEP.

Third term

Watson was re-elected once more at the 2004 European Parliamentary election with his party winning 265,619 votes (18.3%).[5]

Following the election, Watson was re-elected to lead the ELDR Group and took it into an alliance with Romano Prodi’s newly-formed European Democratic Party to form the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe. The ALDE group replaced the ELDR group (though ELDR and EDP existed for a while as separate parties outside the Parliament). Watson was elected leader of the new ALDE group, which was the largest group ever established in the Parliament outside of the European People's Party and Party of European Socialists.[6]

Fourth term

Watson was elected to a fourth term as an MEP for the South West in the European Parliament elections of June 2009,[7] with the Liberal Democrats winning 266,253 votes (17.07%).[8] Following the election, Watson stood down from the leadership of the ALDE Group, having served in that role for longer than any of his predecessors. He sat on the European Parliament's foreign affairs committee and served as Chairman of Parliament's Delegation for relations with India. He also chaired a global network of legislators campaigning for a switch from fossil fuels to renewable energy known as The Climate Parliament, of which he had been a founder member in the late 1990s.

2014 European elections

Watson lost his seat at the European Parliament in the elections of May 2014, despite his party having polled 10.7% of the vote, the largest vote share of the UK Liberal Democrat party in the 2014 EP election. He established a global advocacy practice, Bagehot Limited, which he ran until reaching retirement age in 2021.

In 2015 Watson was appointed by the UK Government to sit on the European Economic and Social Committee, an advisory body with a five-year mandate. He sat on the Transport and Energy section and on the Foreign Affairs section and from 2015 to 2017 was chairman of the EESC's China Contact Group.

Other activities and family

Watson lived in Langport, Somerset, from 1994 to 2017. He now lives in Edinburgh and in Brussels.[1] His wife is from Italy[9] and their children, one daughter and one son,[10] were born in 1992 and 1995 respectively.[1] Watson enjoys sailing, cycling, choir singing and music.[1] He indulges in the restoration of Art Nouveau houses and classic wooden yachts.[11]

Watson was knighted in the 2011 Birthday Honours for political and public service. He is also the recipient of honours from the Republic of China (Taiwan), Georgia and Gibraltar.

From 2018 to 2023 Watson served as Chairman of the Advisory Board of the European Centre for Populism Studies. In 2021 he was elected to the Board of the

World Cycling Alliance
.

Watson is a supporter of the Campaign for the Establishment of a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly, an organisation which advocates democratic reform of the United Nations.[12]

Bibliography

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l "Biography: Graham Watson MEP". Graham Watson MEP website. Archived from the original on 9 October 2007. Retrieved 7 October 2007.
  2. ^ "Bonino capolista per Stati Uniti d'Europa nel Nord ovest - Notizie - Ansa.it". Agenzia ANSA (in Italian). 20 April 2024. Retrieved 20 April 2024.
  3. ^ a b c d "MEP Profile: Graham Watson". European Parliament. Retrieved 7 October 2007.
  4. ^ "European Election Results For South West England". Graham Watson MEP website. Archived from the original on 12 October 2007. Retrieved 7 October 2007.
  5. ^ "European Election Results For South West England". Graham Watson MEP website. Archived from the original on 9 October 2007. Retrieved 7 October 2007.
  6. ^ "The Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe is born". Graham Watson MEP website. 14 July 2004. Archived from the original on 5 December 2007. Retrieved 7 October 2007.
  7. ^ "Labour loses hold in South West". BBC News. 8 June 2009. Retrieved 9 June 2009.
  8. ^ "Results of 2009 European elections in the UK". UK Office of the European Parliament. 8 June 2009. Archived from the original on 7 June 2009. Retrieved 9 June 2009.
  9. ^ "Graham's blog entry 31 August 2007". Graham Watson MEP website. 31 August 2007. Archived from the original on 5 October 2007. Retrieved 7 October 2007.
  10. ^ "Photo Gallery". Graham Watson MEP website. 31 August 2007. Archived from the original on 9 October 2007. Retrieved 7 October 2007.
  11. ^ "Het Huis van de Architect".
  12. ^ "Statements". Campaign for a UN Parliamentary Assembly. Retrieved 28 September 2017.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Graham Watson.
Party political offices
Preceded by Leader of the
European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party in the European Parliament

2002–2004 		Position abolished
New office Leader of the
Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe in the European Parliament

2004–2009 		Succeeded by
Preceded by President of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party
2011–2015 		Succeeded by
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