This week's key appointments

Friday, 3 September 2004 12:00 AM

In this, the last week before parliament returns on Monday, September 6, there was no activity either in the Government or on the opposition front benches.

The biggest news of the week on the appointment front was the election on Friday of Alex Salmond, Banff and Buchan MP, as leader of the Scottish National Party. Mr Salmond, SNP leader from 1990 to 2000, won the leadership election by a landslide, taking over 75 per cent of the vote on the first ballot.

His running mate for the deputy leadership, Nicola Sturgeon MSP, also won on the first ballot, and takes over as SNP Scottish parliamentary leader. Her first question time clash with First Minister Jack McConnell takes place on Wednesday, September 8.

The other major political appointment of the week was the election of Simon Hughes, MP for North Southwark and Bermondsey, as the Liberal Democrat party president. He defeated his only challenger, fellow Lib Dem MP Lembit Opik, by a comfortable margin.

On Monday, there were obituaries for two lords, the Conservative Lord Keith of Castleacre and Labour's Lord Parry of Neyland. Lord Keith, the founder of the Hill Samuel merchant banking group, died aged 88. Lord Parry, the former chair of the Welsh Tourist Board, was 78.

Elsewhere, three people were tasked with investigating the sexual abuse of a pupil at Cabin Hill Preparatory School in Northern Ireland in 1992-93. They were: Douglas Osler, Lynne Peyton and William Calvert.

At the Housing Corporation, five new regional field directors were appointed. They were: Margaret Allen (central); Steve Douglas (London); John Carleton (north); Fiona Cruickshank (south east); and Andrew Wiles (south west).

A number of cultural appointments were made. The British Museum appointed Hasan Askari, Eric Salama and David Lindsell as trustees; Mark Getty became a trustee of the National Gallery; and Tom Wright was made a trustee if the Imperial War Museum.

Elsewhere in the civil service, Steve Lamey was appointed as Chief Information Officer of the newly formed HM Revenue and Customs, and Peter Handcock was made the chief executive designate of the Tribunals Service.

Ian Roxburgh was made chief executive officer of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority. And in the transport sector, Derek Langslow was appointed to the Rail Passengers Committee for Eastern England.

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