{"id":594299,"date":"2026-05-20T12:38:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-20T12:38:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/594299\/"},"modified":"2026-05-20T12:38:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-20T12:38:11","slug":"john-swinney-appoints-cabinet-after-swearing-in-ceremony","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/594299\/","title":{"rendered":"John Swinney appoints cabinet after swearing in ceremony"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>John Swinney sworn in as first ministerpublished at 11:19 BST<\/p>\n<p>11:19 BST<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-qs9kpv-Contributor etflsgg2\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/0e87c515-1189-4d1f-b5be-05517a80aefb.jpg.webp.webp\" width=\"64\" height=\"64\" class=\"ssrcss-egie1y-Image edrdn950\"\/>James Cook<br \/>Scotland Editor<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">The day began with SNP leader John Swinney being sworn in as first minister of Scotland at the Court of Session in Edinburgh.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">He was confirmed in the role after the King issued a warrant approving his appointment.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">He took the oath of office, declared his allegiance to King Charles, and was confirmed as Keeper of the Scottish Seal, all without uttering a word but by nodding his head three times.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">The court was silent except for the ticking of a clock, the clicking of a camera shutter, and the scratch of the pen as the first minister signed a parchment to confirm his appointment.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">The Lord President, Lord Pentland, congratulated Swinney on what he called a &#8220;great honour&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Swinney\u2019s wife Elizabeth,<br \/>\nhis son Matthew and several of his closest advisers watched the ceremony.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Outside the building, where the<br \/>\noriginal Scottish Parliament sat from 1639 until the 1707 union with England,<br \/>\nSwinney said taking the oath had been \u201cdaunting\u201d.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;It&#8217;s a very solemn<br \/>\nproceeding and it emphasises the significance and the weight of responsibility<br \/>\nthat is carried by the person that holds the office of first minister,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"John Swinney in blue suit, white shirt and purple tie, standing over two versions of the Great Seal of Scotland.\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/b2a25131-69d5-4b36-ac7e-604763c30071.jpg.webp\"  width=\"5643\" height=\"3762\" class=\"ssrcss-egie1y-Image edrdn950\"\/>Image source, PA MediaImage caption, <\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">First Minister John Swinney is now also Keeper of the Great Seal of Scotland<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"John Swinney sworn in as first ministerpublished at 11:19 BST 11:19 BST James CookScotland Editor The day began&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":594300,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-594299","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-gb","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-news","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/594299","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=594299"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/594299\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/594300"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=594299"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=594299"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=594299"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}