Danus Skene

Education

Born in Dundee, Skene was educated at Eton College, then studied at the University of Sussex, University of Chicago and University of Aberdeen before becoming a schoolteacher in Elgin.

Career

Skene"s teaching career later included stints in Israel and Kenya, work in the education department of Tayside Regional Council, and also service on the board of the Scottish Qualification Authority. He wrote a paper on rural land policy for the party, and was the secretary of the northern "Yes for Scotland" campaign during the Scottish devolution referendum, 1979. However, shortly before the referendum, he joined the Liberal Party, for which he was elected to Perth and Kinross Council in 1980.

Skene stood for the Liberals unsuccessfully in Tayside North at the 1983 United Kingdom general election, and lost his council seat the same year.

In 1987, he stood in Moray, taking fourth place with just over 10% of the vote. However, by 2007, he was concerned that the party now regarded itself as British unionist, when he was a Scottish nationalist.

This was confirmed by the Lord Lyon, and in 1994, Skene was confirmed as Chief of the Name and Arms of Skene. By the 2010s, Skene was living in Lerwick, where he was chair of Shetland Arts.

He stood down from this post to contest Orkney and Shetland for the Scottish National Party at the 2015 United Kingdom general election, in which he took a close second place, with 37.8% of the vote.

He was also selected as the party"s candidate for Shetland at the Scottish Parliament election, 2016.

Achievements

• In 1976, he was a founder of the Scottish Labour Party (SLP), a split from the Labour Party.

Politics

Skene joined the Labour Party and stood unsuccessfully in Kinross and West Perthshire in both February and October 1974 United Kingdom general election, and served on the party"s Scottish Executive. He remained active when the party became part of the Liberal Democrats, being on the party list for Scotland at the European Parliament election, 1999.

Membership

Early in the 1990s, Skene was approached by American-based members of Clan Skene who believed that he might be head of the clan.