[1] A member of the Scottish Labour Party, he was Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Justice from 2015 to 2016.

He is a former police officer and Director General of the Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency.

[2] On 12 June 2015, Pearson announced that he would not seek re-election at the 2016 Scottish Parliament election.

[3] Pearson was appointed as the Chief Executive of Scotland in Union in January 2017, in succession to Alastair Cameron, founder of the pressure group.

[4] He was succeeded in the post at the organisation (now known as Scotland in the Union) the following August by the former Labour MP Pamela Nash.