on various aspects of Scottish culture and Scottish politics. He did, however, stand for the leadership of the SNP in 2004, in the election prompted by John Swinney's resignation. He finished third behind Alex Salmond and Roseanna Cunningham. Russell continued as a political commentator, generating some controversy with his strongly free market views in his book, Grasping The Thistle, in which he called for the NHS to be abolished and replaced with an insurance based healthcare system. It also called for inheritance tax and the Barnett Formula to be scrapped and a voucher system introduced for education. Many SNP members saw Russell's absence from the Scottish Parliament as a great loss to the SNP's profile and performance there. In 2006 he was once again placed second on the SNP regional list in the South of Scotland though this time the list was chosen by a one member, one vote system for which Russell had argued over a long period and was re-elected to Parliament in 2007. He was also the party's candidate in the Dumfries constituency. Following the SNP's narrow victory at the 2007 Scottish Parliament Election, Russell was appointed the Minister for Environment. In the first reshuffle of the SNP Government in February 2009, Russell was moved to be Minister for Culture, External Affairs and the Constitution. In December 2009 Russell was promoted to the Scottish Cabinet as Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning following the repositioning of Fiona Hyslop to Culture, Tourism and External Affairs. Russell left the Scottish Cabinet in November 2014, when Nicola Sturgeon took over as First Minister. On 25 August 2016 he was appointed as the Scottish government's new minister with responsibility for Brexit negotiations with the UK government. During the pandemic he called for Britain to join the EU's vaccine procurement scheme, tweeting about the British Government's decision to go it alone: "This idiotic refusal is all about Brexit and nothing to do with the pandemic. It will cost lives.". He announced in 2020 that he would not be standing for re-election in 2021. In November 2020 he was elected to the honorary position of SNP President – having campaigned on a platform of holding an independence referendum in autumn 2021. Russell won 60% of the vote, beating political blogger Craig Murray, who placed second, and former MP Corri Wilson, who placed third. Campaigner For many years, Russell has campaigned for justice