Background
Mundell was born in Dumfries and grew up in Newton Wamphray and Lockerbie. He went to Lockerbie Academy in Lockerbie, and studied Law at the University of Edinburgh, also gaining a Diploma in Legal Practice. He received an MBA from the University of Strathclyde Business School.
He had joined the Young Conservatives when he was 14 but defected to the Social Democratic Party (SDP) when he was studying law in 1981. In 2002, his explanation for the defection was: The first Thatcher government did get a bit bogged down and it wasn't really the radical government that subsequently emerged,... And the fact that you had a completely new opportunity to wipe the slate clean, with no baggage, was a very attractive thing.
He worked as a solicitor then joined BT as Group Legal Advisor for Scotland in 1991. He became BT Scotland's head of national affairs, remaining with BT until becoming an MSP. Mundell was a councillor for the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in Annandale and Eskdale from 1984-6 and on Dumfries and Galloway council for another one until 1987, when a student. He is a member of the Law Society of Scotland and Writers to the Signet.
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