Philippa Whitford

Originally from Belfast, Philippa moved to Scotland at the age of 10 and went on to study Medicine at Glasgow University. Prior to her election to Parliament, Philippa was a Consultant Breast Cancer Surgeon in Crosshouse Hospital, Kilmarnock for 19 years, where she redesigned the service and established reconstructive breast surgery. Philippa also designed the accreditation standards for the audit of breast cancer services across Scotland and helped develop regional cancer networks to establish peer review and encourage the sharing of good practice. In the early 1990s, Philippa spent 18 months as a medical volunteer at a UN sponsored hospital in Gaza. She is a passionate supporter of Palestinian rights and returned to Palestine in 2016 and 2017 to support the development of improved breast cancer care and services. She also supports the European Network for Palestine, Medical Aid for Palestine and the Scottish-Palestinian Health Partnership. Philippa actively campaigned for a YES vote in Scotland’s 2014 Referendum through ‘Women for Independence’ and, after a videoed speech went viral on YOUTUBE, ended up speaking all over Scotland. She raised the issue of NHS privatisation in England and how this would lead to the fragmentation and destruction of services and was one of the founders of ‘NHS for YES’. In 2015, she stood as an SNP candidate in the General Election and won her constituency of Central Ayrshire; turning a Labour majority of 12,500 into an SNP majority of 13,500. She was re-elected in June 2017 and again in December 2019. She was extremely honoured to represent the constituency of Central Ayrshire. Philippa has been Shadow Health Spokesperson for the SNP at Westminster from May 2015 until December 2021, Europe Spokesperson from February 2020 until December 2022 and Spokesperson on Scotland from December 2022 to July 2023. In 2016, Philippa was inducted as one of the 'Outstanding Women of Scotland' by the Saltire Society on their 80th anniversary and in 2018 was voted the ‘Overall People's Choice MP’ at the Patchwork Foundation’s MP of the Year Awards. In 2024 she received the Oliver Brown Award also. Philippa announced that she would be standing down in advance of 2024's General Election, for some much-needed retirement years.