Having led the Labour campaign in the run up to the first Scottish Parliament election, he subsequently became the Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for Glasgow Anniesland on 6 May 1999, and was appointed Leader of the Scottish Labour Party a day later and became the first Scottish First Minister as the head of a devolved coalition government with the Liberal Democrats. In October 2000, Dewar died of a brain hemorrhage at the age of 63 while still in office. He was succeeded as First Minister and Scottish Labour leader by Henry McLeish.