Rt. Hon. The Viscount Thurso - PC FIH

Chairman VisitScotland

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John was elected Liberal Democrat MP for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross in June 2001 serving until 2015. He was a member of the Treasury Select Committee 2006-15, The Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards 2012/13, & CMS Select Committee 2001-05. He was Chairman of the HoC Finance Committee and a member of the HoC Commission 2010-2015. He was made a Privy Councillor in 2014. John sat in the House of Lords from 1995 -1999 becoming the only hereditary Peer to be elected to the Commons after House of Lords Act 1999. In 2016 He returned to the Lords as an elected Hereditary Peer. In 2016 He was appointed Chair of VisitScotland by the Scottish Government, and sits on the Board of VisitBritain, and in September 2016 appointed HM Lieutenant for Caithness by The Queen. Prior to politics John trained with the Savoy Group, managing the Lancaster Hotel in Paris before founding Cliveden. He was CEO of East Sussex National Golf Club , then CEO of the Champneys Group. He has been a non executive Director of various listed companies and Deputy Chairman of Millennium & Copthorne PLC. He was a Director of the Savoy Group for many years. He was Patron of the HCIMA between 1997 and 2003, was a trustee of the Queen Elizabeth’s Castle of Mey Trust 1996 -2019 and was a director of Mosimanns. He is President of the Tourism Society, Academy of Food & Wine, a Trustee of the Hospitality Education Trust,  and a member of the Council of the Fondation pour la Formation Hoteliere (Geneva). He also Chaired the International Wine and Spirit Competition.