Sewel returned to the University of Aberdeen to resume his role as vice-principal in 1999 and was subsequently senior vice-principal from 2001 to 2004.

Sewel joined the University of Aberdeen as a research fellow in the Department of Politics in 1969. During the next three decades he worked in the Departments of Education and Political Economy and also the Regional Centre for the Study of Economic and Social Policy, where he was appointed to his chair. In 1988 he became the dean of the then Faculty of Economic & Social Sciences. Subsequently, in 1995, he was appointed vice-principal and dean of the faculty of Social Sciences & Law. [5] [6]

Sewel was first elected to political office as an Aberdeen District Councillor in 1974, serving as council leader from 1977 to 1980, and also as president of the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities from 1982 to 1984. Sewel was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 1984 New Year Honours.[7] Later, he was an influential member of the Scottish Constitutional Convention from 1994 to 1995.

On 10 January 1996 he was created Baron Sewel, of Gilcomstoun in the District of the City of Aberdeen,[8] and became Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Scottish Office from 1997 to 1999, serving as the Minister for Agriculture, Environment and Fisheries. As such he piloted the Scotland Act 1998 through Parliament and helped draft the plans for the new Scottish Parliament. At the first election to the Parliament, Sewel was a candidate as third on the Labour Party list for North East Scotland, but was not elected.

As an active member of the House of Lords, Sewel chaired the European Union Select Committee in Agriculture, the Environment and Fisheries and was a member of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly. His interests include enlargement of the European Union and of NATO, constitutional change and rural development.

Sewel was elected Chairman of Committees on 9 May 2012, whereupon he gave up the Labour whip and sat as a non-affiliated member in the House of Lords.

Scandal and resignation Edit

He resigned as Chairman of Committees on 26 July 2015 after The Sun released hidden camera footage seemingly showing him snorting white powder (widely reported in the media to be cocaine) at a party with prostitutes.[9] He was also filmed wearing an orange bra and leather jacket.[10] On the following day he was granted a leave of absence from the Lords,[11] and on 28 July 2015 he formally resigned from the House of Lords.[12]