List of first ministers of Scotland

The first minister of Scotland is the head of government of Scotland, leader of the Scottish Government and keeper of the Great Seal of Scotland. The first minister is responsible for the exercise of functions by the Cabinet of the Scottish Government; policy development and coordination; relationships with the rest of the United Kingdom, Europe and international relations. Since the establishment of the office in 1999, seven men (including both tenures as acting first minister by Jim Wallace) and one woman has served in the position.

Donald Dewar was the inaugural person to hold the position following his election in 1999 and is regarded as the "Father of the Nation". Following Dewar's death in 2000 whilst still serving in office, he was succeeded by his enterprise minister, Henry McLeish. McLeish resigned from the office of first minister on 8 November 2001 following the officegate scandal and is the shortest-serving first minister, having served in the role for 1 year and 12 days. Humza Yousaf, who served as first minister between March 2023 and May 2024 is the second shortest–serving first minister after a period in office of 1 year and 39 days. Sturgeon is the longest-serving first minister, having surpassed Salmond on 25 May 2022. Salmond in turn spent a total of 7 and a half years in the role.

The current first minister is John Swinney, who leads the Government of the 6th Scottish Parliament, as did his predecessors Humza Yousaf and Nicola Sturgeon. Before that, Alex Salmond, led the governments of the 3rd and 4th Scottish Parliaments which was first elected in 2007 as a minority government, and re-elected in 2011, where they formed the first majority government in the 5th Scottish Parliament. The first minister is a member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP), and is nominated by the Scottish Parliament before being officially appointed by the monarch.