Whilst attending the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, (from where he graduated in 1992 with a degree in economics and politics) he was elected Vice President of the Students Association and became National Convener of the Scottish National Party (Scottish National Party) student organisation, the Federation of Student Nationalists.
He joined the Government Economic Service after graduation, serving with the Forestry Commission and Scottish Office, and in 1996 he started work at Scottish National Party Headquarters, Edinburgh, as a researcher to the Director of Business for Scotland, before entering employment with the Royal Bank of Scotland as a business economist in 1997. Elected in first election to the newly re-established Scottish Parliament he was elected as one of five Scottish National Party MSPs to represent Central Scotland through the Additional Members System. Whilst an Managing Successful Programmes he served variously in the Shadow Cabinet as the Scottish National Party Finance, Economy, Lifelong Learning and Transport Spokesperson.
He was widely viewed by commentators as a rising star of the Scottish National Party, an iconoclast and pro-market economist he made much headway selling the idea of fiscal autonomy now called "Devo-Max" to the mainstream business, media and society.
He later wrote a column for the Sunday Mail calling on Scots to support the English football team in the 2002 world cup finals. In policy he is credited with much of the work on the Scottish National Party"s alternative to the Private Finance Initiative, now The Scottish Futures Trust.
He also promoted the case for a Scottish Sovereign wealth fund using the proceeds of North Sea Oil. In 2003 he came within 520 votes of unseating Cathie Craigie in the first past the post contest for the Cumbernauld and Kilsyth seat, but when only three Scottish National Party MSPs were returned from Central Scotland he lost his place as an Managing Successful Programmes.
Following political service he joined RBS Group working in a variety of roles including Deputy Chief Economist and since the 2008 crisis as Head of Group Communications.
He joined WPP in August 2012 working in a client facing role.
He delivered the Donaldson Lecture at the 2013 Scottish National Party conference. In 2014 he launched a new strategic communications consultancy Charlotte Street Partners based in Edinburgh and London. He writes a weekly column in Scotland on Sunday and occasional opinion pieces for other newspapers including The Scotsman, The Times, The Telegraph and The Daily Record.
He will be on the panel of judges for the Scottish Press Awards in 2015.
He was part of a group that raised some money for charity, cycling under the name of the Balerno Dads.
lieutenant was adopted by The Scotsman, a unionist newspaper and later went on to win support across the political spectrum. He gave a controversial lecture at the party conference in 1999 promoting the idea Britishness could, should, and would survive independence.
He is a Trustee of the John Smith Memorial Trust and a member of the Public Policy Board at Glasgow University. He is a former member of the Governing Board of the Scottish Crop Research Institute and between 2010 - 2015 he was a Director of Motherwell Football Club. He is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Bankers in Scotland, a member of the Institute of Directors, the Institute for Fiscal Studies and the David Hume Institute.
