Edinburgh born and bred, the 60-year-old has something of the traditional Scottish banker about him, and indeed he spent five years working for Scottish Amicable Life Assurance before winning the Tayside North seat at Westminster in 1997.
But by then he was already a party veteran, having joined in 1979 aged just 15.
He ran the SNP’s youth wing before climbing through senior roles in the national party, becoming its secretary at 22.
John Swinney is full of contradictions. He rose rapidly among the fiery young party activists yet there is something quite old-fashioned about him.
His cautious strain of nationalism was forged in the era of SNP leader Gordon Wilson, who headed the party from 1979 to 1990.
Yet he became a close and trusted colleague of the next leader, Alex Salmond, who had emerged from the more radical wing of the party.
Through his time at Westminster and then at Holyrood from 1999, he was a trusted lieutenant to Mr Salmond and so it seemed natural that he should succeed him in 2000, when the leader stood down.
