Donald Dewar
![](/Images/godic/202501/09/Donald_Dewar5544.jpg")
![Dewar (left) with Queen Elizabeth II at the opening of the Scottish Parliament, July 1999](/Images/godic/202501/09/Her_Majesty_Queen_Elizabeth_II_at_the_opening_of_the_Scottish_Parliament5544.jpg")
![In 2002, a nine-foot (2.7 m) bronze statue of Dewar was erected outside Glasgow's Royal Concert Hall in a ceremony attended by Prime Minister Tony Blair and Scottish politicians.[10]](/Images/godic/202501/09/Wfm_donald_dewar_statue5544.jpg")
![Bust of Donald Dewar by Archie Forrest in the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, Glasgow](/Images/godic/202501/09/Kelvingrove_Art_Gallery_and_MuseumDSCF0239_015544.JPG")
Donald Campbell Dewar (21 August 1937 – 11 October 2000) was a Scottish politician, the inaugural First Minister of Scotland and an advocate of Scottish devolution.
Dewar first entered politics as the Labour Member of Parliament (MP) for Aberdeen South following the 1966 general election. After losing his seat in 1970, he served in the House of Commons again from 1978 until his death in 2000. He served as Secretary of State for Scotland in British Prime Minister Tony Blair's Cabinet from 1997 to 1999, successfully campaigning for a Scottish Parliament in the 1997 Scottish devolution referendum.