Stephen Maxwell is a Scottish

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

 nationalist.

He came to prominence in the 1970s when he was elected to the Lothian Regional Council at a by-election

By-election

A by-election is an election held to fill a political office that has become vacant between regularly scheduled elections....

 for Wester Hailes

Wester Hailes

Wester Hailes is an area in the south west of Edinburgh, Scotland.Depending on the definition, Wester Hailes sometimes takes in Sighthill, the Calders and other surrounding areas, and may be said to contain the areas of Murrayburn, Clovenstone, Westburn and Dumbryden.Wester Hailes borders on...

 in Edinburgh

Edinburgh

Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...

 as a Scottish National Party

Scottish National Party

The Scottish National Party is a social-democratic political party in Scotland which campaigns for Scottish independence from the United Kingdom....

 (SNP) candidate. He became a leading figure in the socialist 79 Group

79 Group

The 79 Group was an internal faction within the Scottish National Party , named after the fact that it was formed in 1979. The group sought to persuade the SNP to take an active left-wing stance, arguing that it would win more support, and were highly critical of the established SNP leaders...

 within the SNP and stood for leader of the SNP in 1980 when William Wolfe

William Wolfe

William Cuthbertson "Billy" Wolfe was the leader of the Scottish National Party from 1969 to 1979...

 stood down as leader. He received 117 votes, to Gordon Wilson's

Gordon Wilson (Scottish politician)

Gordon Wilson is a former leader of the Scottish National Party and current leading figure in the campaign to ban same-sex marriage in Scotland...

 530 (a third candidate, Willie MacRae

Willie MacRae

Willie MacRae was a Scottish nationalist politician and lawyer, best remembered for the mystery surrounding his death.MacRae was an active member of the Scottish National Party and an anti-nuclear campaigner...

 got 52 votes).

Maxwell was expelled from the SNP (along with Alex Salmond

Alex Salmond

Alexander Elliot Anderson "Alex" Salmond MSP is a Scottish politician and current First Minister of Scotland. He became Scotland's fourth First Minister in May 2007. He is the Leader of the Scottish National Party , having served as Member of the Scottish Parliament for Gordon...

 who would become SNP leader in 1990) for his activities within this group in 1981.

He was later readmitted to the SNP and remains committed to Scottish independence

Scottish independence

Scottish independence is a political ambition of political parties, advocacy groups and individuals for Scotland to secede from the United Kingdom and become an independent sovereign state, separate from England, Wales and Northern Ireland....

.

He retired in October 2009 as Associate Director of the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations, SCVO and is now writing a history of the Scottish voluntary sector.