He was first elected in the
2003 Scottish Parliament election, when he was the youngest sitting MSP. He is a former member of Labour's Shadow Cabinet in the Scottish Parliament having served as the Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Justice and Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Finance. In the early part of 2014, he was selected as the Labour candidate for
Aberdeen North in the
2015 UK general election, after current MP
Frank Doran announced his retirement. However, he lost in the election to
Scottish National Party candidate
Kirsty Blackman. In June 2015, Baker announced he would stand in the
2015 Scottish Labour Party deputy leadership election. When the result was announced, he had come third of the three candidates in a close contest with 30% of the vote. In September 2015, Baker announced he would be stepping down from the parliament at the
2016 election. He instead stood down early in January 2016 to take up a job with
Age Scotland. As a list MSP, his seat was taken up by the next person on the
Labour list for the
North East Scotland region,
Lesley Brennan. In July 2024 he was elected
Member of Parliament for the new constituency of
Glenrothes and Mid Fife in the
United Kingdom general election. It was reported in August 2024 by
The National that Baker was also a landlord and rented out four apartments, based on the parliamentary register of financial interests. ==Personal life==