Third time’s a charm as former first minister Henry McLeish ties knot

SCOTLAND’S former first minister Henry McLeish was married yesterday for the third time.

Former Labour leader Mr McLeish, who will be 64 this month, tied the knot with Caryn Nicolson, the daughter of a Canadian farmer, at the ceremony at Markinch in Fife.

The ceremony and wedding party were held at the Balbirnie House Hotel near the home the newly married couple bought together two years ago.

Ms Nicolson, 48, grew up on a farm in Ontario, but left Canada for Scotland after winning a scholarship to Glasgow University. She is now head of business development at Stevenson College, Edinburgh, having previously worked for the Royal College of Physicians.

Mr McLeish, a former football player with Leeds United, served as Scotland’s second first minister between October 2000 and November 2001 after the death of Donald Dewar.

He resigned from office amid a scandal known as “Officegate” that involved allegations that he sublet part of his tax-subsidised Westminster constituency office without it having been registered in the register of interests kept in the parliamentary office.

Since leaving front-line politics, Mr McLeish has lectured widely in the United States. He was also commissioned to write a report on the state of football in Scotland by the Scottish Football Association.

However, Mr McLeish has continued to make high-profile interventions in the debate about Scotland’s constitutional future, during which he has called for full economic powers for the Scottish Parliament, or “devo max”.