Carlaw was raised in Newton Mearns and privately educated at The Glasgow Academy.[1] He worked for 25 years as a car salesman and was joint head of FirstFord car dealership in the west of Scotland until it was placed into receivership in November 2002.[2] He was also a director of Wylies automotive services until it went into administration in February 2003.[3]
In the run-up to the 1997 Scottish devolution referendum Carlaw campaigned against the formation of a devolved Scottish Parliament alongside the Scottish Conservatives and the Think Twice campaign, advocating a No vote for both the question of the parliament's formation and whether the parliament should be granted tax-varying powers.[5][6]
Carlaw was unsuccessful as a candidate for Eastwood in the 2003, 2007, and 2011 Scottish Parliament elections. He was, however, elected on the party list under Scotland's additional member system in 2007 and 2011, representing the West of Scotland region. He sat on the Culture, Tourism, Europe and External Relations Committee of the Scottish Parliament until mid-2018.[7]
Carlaw opposed the SNP's changes to council tax in November 2016, believing the proposed changes would effectively put over 50% of property in East Renfrewshire in the top two council tax bands. Commenting against the decision, he maintained "the rise would unfairly hit working families and the elderly" and "will hit Eastwood residents hard".[12]
In February 2017, Carlaw was appointed Deputy Convener of the Cross Party Group on End-of-life Choices.
Following an attempt in March 2017 by the SNP to hold a second Scottish independence referendum, Carlaw spoke against the attempt, describing it as "pointless" and unwanted". He pledged the Scottish Conservatives would not allow for a further referendum until the Scottish public showed clear support.[13]
Carlaw served as acting leader of the Scottish Conservatives while leader Ruth Davidson was on maternity leave from September 2018 until May 2019. Following her resignation in August 2019, he was appointed to serve a second term.[14][15] In his role as acting leader, he supported Brexit and u-turned on criticisms of Prime Minister and Conservative leaderBoris Johnson.[11] He was the incumbent when Johnson called the 2019 general election, in which the party lost seven of their 13 seats from 2017.[16]
On 6 January 2020, Carlaw confirmed his candidacy for the February 2020 Scottish Conservative Party leadership election[17] and launched his campaign in Edinburgh on 15 January. He received support from Ruth Davidson,[18] Murdo Fraser,[19]Adam Tomkins,[20]Liz Smith,[21]Annie Wells and Jamie Greene.[22] This gave Carlaw the position of favourite over his opponent Michelle Ballantyne. He centred his campaign around how he could beat Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP in the next Scottish Parliament election and the local elections in 2022. He also promised to make the Scottish Conservatives more for the middle and working classes and continue to maintain the Scottish Conservatives as the main party of the Union.[22] Carlaw won the election with 4,917 votes in his favour, as opposed to 1,581 for Ballantyne.[23] He promised to provide a "clear, focused and ambitious alternative to the SNP".[24]
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Scottish Greens accused Carlaw in June 2020 of claiming an "outright falsehood" when he said the Scottish Parliament could be opened up quickly in order to hold the SNP government to account.[25] He initially supported the position of Boris Johnson to stick by Downing Street adviser Dominic Cummings after alleged lockdown breaches but withdrew his support following criticism from leading figures in the Scottish party.[26]
On 30 July 2020, Carlaw announced his resignation as Leader of the Scottish Conservatives, stating he had reached the "simple if painful conclusion" he was not "the person best placed" to lead the party into the next Scottish Parliament election, in 2021.[27] He was succeeded by Douglas Ross.[28]
Post-leadership
At the 2021 Scottish Parliament election Carlaw was re-elected as MSP for Eastwood with an increased majority of 2,216 votes over the SNP, with his share of the vote increasing by 6.2%.[29] Polling expert John Curtice put Carlaw's victory down to tactical voting by unionist voters who had voted Labour in 2016.[30]
In December 2022, Carlaw was found to have breached the MSP code of conduct by not declaring a paid trip to Israel that was funded by the Israeli Embassy.[31]
