Sam Galbraith

Sam Galbraith (born 18 October 1945) is a Scottish Labour Party politician. He is a former Member of Parliament and a former Member of the Scottish Parliament.

At the 1987 general election, he was returned as Member of Parliament for the Strathkelvin and Bearsden constituency [news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/879814.stm BBC News] , and held the seat until standing down at the 2001 general election. He announced his resignation 20 March 2001 due to reasons of health. [www.firstfoot.com/News/news2001/ungraciousweeshit.htm Scottish New Headlines]

Galbraith served as Minister for Children and Education in the Scottish Executive under Donald Dewar from 1999 to 2000 and then, following the SQA exams controversy which was primarily his fault, as Minister for Environment, Sport and Culture under Henry McLeish until his resignation on 20 March 2001 from Ministerial office and his parliamentary seats for health reasons. He had previously been a Scottish Office Minister between 1997 and 1999, and before that had been a respected neurosurgeon.

He is also the world's longest surviving recipient of a lung transplant, having received a complete lung in 1990 due to a genetic condition (the same condition which took the life of a sister). [politics.guardian.co.uk/person/0,,-1853,00.html Guardian Unlimited Politics]

Galbraith was born in Clitheroe, Lancashire. He attended Greenock High School and then Glasgow University, where he received honors in medicine. He is married, the father of three daughters. In prior years he was an avid mountaineer.

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