Sir Edward Mountain | |
Honorific-Suffix: | Bt MSP |
Constituency Mp: | Highlands and Islands |
Parliament: | Scottish |
Term Start: | 5 May 2016 |
Birth Date: | 1961 3, df=yes |
Party: | Scottish Conservatives |
Sir Edward Brian Stanford Mountain, 4th Baronet (born 19 March 1961) is a Scottish Conservative politician who has been a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the Highlands and Islands region since 2016.[1]
Mountain was commussioned into the Blues and Royals regiment of the British Army from the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst in October 1981.[2] His military service took him to Uganda, Canada, Spain, Cyprus, Germany, and Egypt. He left in 1992 and continued to serve as a reservist for six years.[3]
In 1997, Mountain left the army reserve, having become a chartered surveyor. By 2006 he was a senior partner in a firm based in Inverness. The following year, he returned to farming. The Mountain family owns estates in Hampshire and in Strathspey.
In the 2011 Scottish Parliament election, Mountain stood in the Caithness, Sutherland and Ross constituency, where he finished fourth.[4] At the 2015 United Kingdom general election he stood unsuccessfully in Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey.
In the 2016 Scottish Parliament election, Mountain stood as the Conservative candidate for Inverness and Nairn, coming second to Fergus Ewing. Although he failed to win that seat, he was nevertheless elected as an additional member of the Scottish Parliament for the Highlands and Islands region.[5] In the 5th Scottish Parliament, he was the Scottish Conservatives' spokesperson for land reform.[6]
In the 2021 Scottish Parliament election, Mountain retained his seat as an additional member. He is the Deputy Chief Whip and Shadow Minister for Veterans.
In June 1987, Mountain's engagement to Charlotte Sarah Jesson Pownall, daughter of Henry Pownall, was announced, and they were married on 24 October 1987.[7]
Crest: | Issuant from the battlements of a tower Proper a demi lion guardant Argent holding between the paws an escallop Gules. |
Escutcheon: | Ermine on a fess Azure between three lions rampant guardant Sable each holding between the forepaws an escallop Gules three cross crosslets Argent.[8] |
Motto: | Cum cruce salus. |
Badge: | An ivy leaf and a maple leaf slipped in saltire Proper enfiled by a circlet Or. |