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Sir Graham Robert Watson (born 23 March 1956) is a British Liberal Democrat politician who served as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for South West England from 1994 to 2014. Watson was the chairman of the Parliament's committee on citizens rights, justice and home affairs (1999–2002). He then served for seven and a half years as leader of the Liberal Group in the European Parliament, first as leader of the European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party Group (2002–2004) and then as leader of the new Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Group (2004–2009). From 2011 until 2015, he was the president of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party. From 2015 to 2020, he was a UK member on the European Economic and Social Committee. He is currently an adjunct Professor at the University of Toronto's Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy.
Sir Graham, who holds Italian citizenship through marriage, was chosen as head of list for the 2024 European Parliament election in North East Italy by the centrist coalition 'United States of Europe' (electoral list). He was not elected since the coalition failed to reach the threshold of votes required nationwide to elect MEPs.
Watson began his political activity in the Scottish Young Liberals in 1976. As international officer of the Scottish Young Liberals he became involved in the International Federation of Liberal Youth, becoming a vice-president (1977) then General Secretary (1979) of the organization. He was a founder of the European Communities' Youth Forum. He served as a council member of the European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party between 1983 and 1993. Between 1983 and 1987 he also served as head of the private office of then leader of the British Liberal Party, Sir David Steel.
In 1988 he began work for the bank HSBC in London and Hong Kong. His time there encompassed three months with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and gave him an interest in the Far East. He has travelled widely in the region and speaks some Mandarin Chinese.
Following the election, Watson was re-elected to lead the ELDR Group and took it into an alliance with Romano Prodi’s newly-formed European Democratic Party to form the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe. The ALDE group replaced the ELDR group (though ELDR and EDP existed for a while as separate parties outside the Parliament). Watson was elected leader of the new ALDE group, which was the largest group ever established in the Parliament outside of the European People's Party and Party of European Socialists.
with the Liberal Democrats winning 266,253 votes (17.07%).
Following the election, Watson stood down from the leadership of the ALDE Group, having served in that role for longer than any of his predecessors. He sat on the European Parliament's foreign affairs committee and served as Chairman of Parliament's Delegation for relations with India. He also chaired a global network of legislators campaigning for a switch from fossil fuels to renewable energy known as The Climate Parliament, of which he had been a founder member in the late 1990s.
In 2015 Watson was appointed by the UK Government to sit on the European Economic and Social Committee, an advisory body with a five-year mandate. He sat on the Transport and Energy section and on the Foreign Affairs section and from 2015 to 2017 was chairman of the EESC's China Contact Group.
Watson was Knight Bachelor in the 2011 Birthday Honours for political and public service. He is also the recipient of honours from the Republic of China (Taiwan), Georgia and Gibraltar.
From 2018 to 2023 Watson served as Chairman of the Advisory Board of the European Centre for Populism Studies. In 2021 he was elected to the Board of the European Cyclists' Federation and in November 2022 was elected Chairman of the World Cycling Alliance.
Watson is a supporter of the Campaign for the Establishment of a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly, an organisation which advocates democratic reform of the United Nations.
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