He has been a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) since 2014, firstly for the Cowdenbeath constituency and the Mid Scotland and Fife region since 2016.

Born in Dunfermline, Rowley studied community education at the University of Edinburgh before serving as General Secretary of the Scottish Labour Party and on Fife Council.

[8] In September 2017, a leaked recording that was taken without permission and sold to The Scottish Sun, featuring Rowley at the Labour Party Conference in Brighton, led to accusations of a plot to oust Dugdale and replace her with Richard Leonard.

He apologised for the leaked recording, but strenuously denied being involved in or even aware of any plots within the Labour Party to remove Dugdale.

[14] After Anas Sarwar won the leadership election, he promoted Rowley to Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Transport, Infrastructure and Connectivity.

On 15 November 2017, Rowley resigned as deputy leader and referred himself to an internal investigation after a former partner took to the Scottish Sun to accuse him of sending her disrespectful text messages four years previously.

[16] Former Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale and leadership candidate Anas Sarwar called for Rowley to be suspended from the party while the investigation was carried out.