Arbuthnott Commission Arbuthnott Commission The Arbuthnott Commission on Boundary Differences and Voting Systems was set up in July 2004 by Alistair Darling, then Secretary of State for Scotland, under the chairmanship of Sir John Arbuthnott, to examine various consequences of having four different electoral systems in Scotland, and different boundaries for constituencies of the House of Commons (Parliament of the United Kingdom, at Westminster) and the Scottish Parliament (Holyrood). In 2004, Scotland had three different electoral systems: plurality (first past the post) for Westminster and local government elections, and two different systems of proportional representation (PR) for European Parliament and Scottish Parliament
John Bull (businessman) John Bull (businessman) Sir John Bull (1672–1742) was a prominent businessman in the City of London trading with the Levant, who served as Sheriff of London. Born about 1672, he was the youngest son of John Bull (1631–1715), a London businessman from Newport, Isle of Wight who was a shareholder in the Royal Africa Company and his wife Sarah. His elder sister Elizabeth was the first wife of Lieutenant-General William Tatton. Becoming a member of the Levant Company which controlled English trade with the Venetian and Ottoman empires, he was knighted on 27 October 1717 at Hampton Court Palace by