Introduction
Deidre Leanne Brock is an Australian-born Scottish National Party (SNP) politician. She has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Edinburgh North and Leith since May 2015 — the first SNP representative to hold the seat at either a Westminster or Scottish Parliament level.
Early life
Brock was born in Western Australia and grew up in Perth. She studied English at Curtin University and graduated with a BA, then studied acting at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts. In 1990, while working as an actor she appeared in an episode of the soap opera Home and Away. She moved to Scotland in 1996 to live with her partner, having met him when she visited the country on holiday a year earlier.
Political career
Brock worked for Rob Gibson MSP before being elected as a SNP Councillor on the City of Edinburgh Council for the Leith Walk ward in 2007 where she topped the poll with 2,550 first preferences. She was re-elected in the 2012 elections, again topping the poll with 1,735 first preferences, and subsequently became the Deputy Lord Provost for Council as the SNP and the Scottish Labour Party formed an arrangement to run the Council.
She was elected as MP for Edinburgh North and Leith in 2015 as part of the SNP landslide receiving 23,742 votes (a 40.9% share), defeating the Labour Party MP, Mark Lazarowicz, by 5,597 votes.