Andrew MacKinlay
Encyclopedia
Andrew Stuart MacKinlay (born 24 April 1949) is a British
Labour Party
politician, who was the Member of Parliament
(MP) for Thurrock
from 1992
until he stepped down at the 2010 general election.
http://www.brent.gov.uk/Educ.nsf/vwalldocs/SCHDOC-68?open; Our Lady Immaculate Primary School, Tolworth
; the Salesian College (grammar school, now called Salesian School
) on Highfield Road in Chertsey
; and Kingston College
.
He worked for ten years from 1965 as a committee clerk with Surrey
County Council and from 1975 until his election to parliament he was a union official with the National Association of Local Government Officers
(NALGO). He joined NALGO in 1965 and the Labour Party the following year. He was elected as a councillor in 1971 in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames
and served for seven years.
In 2003, he famously described Dr. David Kelly as "chaff" during Dr. Kelly's appearance before the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee. His question was:
so in this context "chaff" is a reference to the radar countermeasure
rather than to something of little value. It emerged during Kelly's subsequent inquest that Kelly had been deeply upset by his treatment before the Committee and he had privately described an MP, assumed to be MacKinlay, as an "utter bastard" MacKinlay reportedly apologised to Kelly's wife for the remark following Kelly's death.
According to one report, in May 2007, MacKinlay made the nomination that resulted in Gordon Brown
having enough nominations to be certain of not facing a contest over the leadership of the party. However, another report states that the decisive nomination was made by Tony Wright with MacKinlay yet to nominate at that point.
, awaiting extradition to the US on computer hacking charges, to vote against a review of the extradition treaty.
on the Afghanistan war.
history, travelling and discovering Ireland
, and is an honorary patron of Tilbury Football Club
. He married his wife Ruth (née Segar) on 21 October 1972. They have two sons and a daughter. When an MP, he employed his wife as his Personal Assistant. He is a member of the editorial board of the political magazine 'Total Politics
', whose editor is his daughter, Sarah MacKinlay.
On 28 June 2008 he was reported by Mail Online
to have received a warning from Downing Street
after MI5
discovered that he was holding meetings with a suspected Russian spy Alexander Polyakov, officially a counsellor at the Russian Embassy in London; it was also claimed that MacKinlay had been targeted by aides of Russia's richest man, Oleg Deripaska
, as a 'stooge' for use in a High Court battle.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
Labour Party
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
politician, who was the Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
(MP) for Thurrock
Thurrock (UK Parliament constituency)
Thurrock is a parliamentary constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election.- Boundaries :...
from 1992
United Kingdom general election, 1992
The United Kingdom general election of 1992 was held on 9 April 1992, and was the fourth consecutive victory for the Conservative Party. This election result was one of the biggest surprises in 20th Century politics, as polling leading up to the day of the election showed Labour under leader Neil...
until he stepped down at the 2010 general election.
Early life
Andrew Mackinlay was educated variously at St Joseph's School, WembleyWembley
Wembley is an area of northwest London, England, and part of the London Borough of Brent. It is home to the famous Wembley Stadium and Wembley Arena...
http://www.brent.gov.uk/Educ.nsf/vwalldocs/SCHDOC-68?open; Our Lady Immaculate Primary School, Tolworth
Tolworth
Tolworth is a mostly residential area of outer South London in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, located south west of Charing Cross. Neighbouring places include: New Malden, Kingston, Surbiton, Berrylands, Chessington, Ewell and Worcester Park....
; the Salesian College (grammar school, now called Salesian School
Salesian School (Chertsey)
Salesian School is a split-site Roman Catholic Comprehensive Secondary School in Chertsey, Surrey. The two sites were originally 2 single-sex education Roman Catholic private schools maintained by the Salesian Fathers and Sisters. The Salesian College at Highfield Road, founded in 1921, was for...
) on Highfield Road in Chertsey
Chertsey
Chertsey is a town in Surrey, England, on the River Thames and its tributary rivers such as the River Bourne. It can be accessed by road from junction 11 of the M25 London orbital motorway. It shares borders with Staines, Laleham, Shepperton, Addlestone, Woking, Thorpe and Egham...
; and Kingston College
Kingston College (England)
Kingston College is a College of Further and Higher Education based in Kingston upon Thames, Greater London, England. It has five campuses in the town of Kingston. The main campus is the tallest building in the town and is based on Kingston Hall Road. The second campus is based on Richmond Road and...
.
He worked for ten years from 1965 as a committee clerk with Surrey
Surrey
Surrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford. Surrey County Council sits at Kingston upon Thames, although this has been part of...
County Council and from 1975 until his election to parliament he was a union official with the National Association of Local Government Officers
National Association of Local Government Officers
The National and Local Government Officers Association was a British trade union representing mostly local government "white collar" workers. It was formed in 1905 as the National Association of Local Government Officers, and changed its full name in 1952 while retaining its widely-used acronym,...
(NALGO). He joined NALGO in 1965 and the Labour Party the following year. He was elected as a councillor in 1971 in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames
Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames
The Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames is a borough in southwest London, England. The main town is Kingston upon Thames and it includes Surbiton, Chessington, New Malden and Tolworth. It is the oldest of the three Royal Boroughs in England, the others are Kensington and Chelsea, also in London,...
and served for seven years.
Parliamentary career
He stood unsuccessfully for Labour in the following elections:- February 1974 General ElectionUnited Kingdom general election, February 1974The United Kingdom's general election of February 1974 was held on the 28th of that month. It was the first of two United Kingdom general elections held that year, and the first election since the Second World War not to produce an overall majority in the House of Commons for the winning party,...
: SurbitonSurbiton (UK Parliament constituency)Surbiton was a borough constituency in south-west London. It returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom by the first past the post system of election.... - October 1974 General ElectionUnited Kingdom general election, October 1974The United Kingdom general election of October 1974 took place on 10 October 1974 to elect 635 members to the British House of Commons. It was the second general election of that year and resulted in the Labour Party led by Harold Wilson, winning by a tiny majority of 3 seats.The election of...
: SurbitonSurbiton (UK Parliament constituency)Surbiton was a borough constituency in south-west London. It returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom by the first past the post system of election.... - 1983 General ElectionUnited Kingdom general election, 1983The 1983 United Kingdom general election was held on 9 June 1983. It gave the Conservative Party under Margaret Thatcher the most decisive election victory since that of Labour in 1945...
: Croydon CentralCroydon Central (UK Parliament constituency)The comparison is with the notional 2005 result for the new boundaries which made Croydon Central a Labour defence.-Elections in the 2000s:-Elections in the 1990s:- Notes and references :... - 1984 European ElectionsEuropean Parliament election, 1984 (UK)The European Parliament Election, 1984 was the second European election to be held in the United Kingdom. It was held on 14 June. The electoral system was First Past the Post in England, Scotland and Wales and Single Transferable Vote in Northern Ireland. The turnout was again the lowest in Europe...
: London South & Surrey EastLondon South and Surrey East (European Parliament constituency)Prior to its uniform adoption of proportional representation in 1999, the United Kingdom used first-past-the-post for the European elections in England, Scotland and Wales...
division - 1987 General ElectionUnited Kingdom general election, 1987The United Kingdom general election of 1987 was held on 11 June 1987, to elect 650 members to the British House of Commons. The election was the third consecutive election victory for the Conservative Party under the leadership of Margaret Thatcher, who became the first Prime Minister since the 2nd...
: PeterboroughPeterborough (UK Parliament constituency)Peterborough is a borough constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, formally styled The Honourable the Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in Parliament assembled. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past...
In 2003, he famously described Dr. David Kelly as "chaff" during Dr. Kelly's appearance before the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee. His question was:
- I reckon you are chaff; you have been thrown up to divert our probing. Have you ever felt like a fall-guy? You have been set up, have you not?
so in this context "chaff" is a reference to the radar countermeasure
Chaff (radar countermeasure)
Chaff, originally called Window by the British, and Düppel by the Second World War era German Luftwaffe , is a radar countermeasure in which aircraft or other targets spread a cloud of small, thin pieces of aluminium, metallized glass fibre or plastic, which either appears as a cluster of secondary...
rather than to something of little value. It emerged during Kelly's subsequent inquest that Kelly had been deeply upset by his treatment before the Committee and he had privately described an MP, assumed to be MacKinlay, as an "utter bastard" MacKinlay reportedly apologised to Kelly's wife for the remark following Kelly's death.
According to one report, in May 2007, MacKinlay made the nomination that resulted in Gordon Brown
Gordon Brown
James Gordon Brown is a British Labour Party politician who was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 until 2010. He previously served as Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Labour Government from 1997 to 2007...
having enough nominations to be certain of not facing a contest over the leadership of the party. However, another report states that the decisive nomination was made by Tony Wright with MacKinlay yet to nominate at that point.
Notice of resignation
On 24 July 2009, he announced that he would not stand at the next General Election due to disillusionment with the way in which other MPs caved in to party pressure rather than standing up for their beliefs. He said that the final straw was the failure of a number of Labour MPs who had expressed support for Gary McKinnonGary McKinnon
Gary McKinnon is a Scottish systems administrator and hacker who has been accused of what one U.S. prosecutor claims is the "biggest military computer hack of all time," although McKinnon himself states that he was merely looking for evidence of free energy suppression and a cover-up of UFO...
, awaiting extradition to the US on computer hacking charges, to vote against a review of the extradition treaty.
Damages win
On 1 October 2009, MacKinlay accepted a public apology and libel damages from the BBC over allegations made on BBC2’s Newsnight programme that he proposed an amendment to a Government motion on MPs’ expenses so he would benefit financially. The damages were reported as being £15,000.Afghanistan war
On 4 September 2009, MacKinlay supported the views of Eric JoyceEric Joyce
Eric Stuart Joyce is a British Labour Party politician, who has been the Member of Parliament for Falkirk since 2005. Joyce served as a Private in the Black Watch before attending University and subsequently rejoining the army as a commissioned officer...
on the Afghanistan war.
Personal life
He is a keen researcher on World War IWorld War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
history, travelling and discovering Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
, and is an honorary patron of Tilbury Football Club
Tilbury F.C.
Tilbury F.C. are a football club based in Tilbury, Essex, England, established in 1900. In 1976, they won the Isthmian League Second Division. In the 1977–78 season, they reached the Third Round of the FA Cup, their best performance in the competition. They currently play in Division One North of...
. He married his wife Ruth (née Segar) on 21 October 1972. They have two sons and a daughter. When an MP, he employed his wife as his Personal Assistant. He is a member of the editorial board of the political magazine 'Total Politics
Total Politics
Total Politics is a British political magazine described as a "a lifestyle magazine for the political community". It was first published in June 2008 and is distributed freely to all MPs, MEPs, peers, political journalists, members of the Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish assemblies, and all...
', whose editor is his daughter, Sarah MacKinlay.
Political views and controversy
He supports the abolition of the monarchy.On 28 June 2008 he was reported by Mail Online
Mail Online
Mail Online is the name of the website of the Daily Mail, a newspaper in the United Kingdom. It contains almost all the stories from the Daily Mail and includes a large archive of main stories...
to have received a warning from Downing Street
Downing Street
Downing Street in London, England has for over two hundred years housed the official residences of two of the most senior British cabinet ministers: the First Lord of the Treasury, an office now synonymous with that of Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, and the Second Lord of the Treasury, an...
after MI5
MI5
The Security Service, commonly known as MI5 , is the United Kingdom's internal counter-intelligence and security agency and is part of its core intelligence machinery alongside the Secret Intelligence Service focused on foreign threats, Government Communications Headquarters and the Defence...
discovered that he was holding meetings with a suspected Russian spy Alexander Polyakov, officially a counsellor at the Russian Embassy in London; it was also claimed that MacKinlay had been targeted by aides of Russia's richest man, Oleg Deripaska
Oleg Deripaska
Oleg Vladimirovich Deripaska is the Russian Chief executive officer of Basic Element company and a member of the Board of Directors and CEO of United Company RUSAL, a Russian aluminium industry company...
, as a 'stooge' for use in a High Court battle.
External links
- Andrew MacKinlay MP official site
- Andrew MacKinlay MP (at The Wayback Machine)
- Guardian Unlimited Politics - Ask Aristotle: Andrew Mackinlay MP
- TheyWorkForYou.com - Andrew MacKinlay MP
- Hutton inquiry witness 29 August 2003
- Thurrock Labour Party
- BBC Politics page
- Andrew Mackinlay speaks out in the House about the debt collection industry being "rotten to the core". 22 April 2009
- Veteran Labour MP Andrew Mackinlay on life with the Westminster awkward squad
News items
- On the benches: Andrew Mackinlay reviews the week in politics for BBC News Online 30 June 2000
- Democracy 'requires dissent' 18 October 2001
- Mackinlay defends Kelly grilling 26 August 2003
- Analysis: Chaff MP puts case 26 August 2003
- Committee MP defends relentless grilling of Kelly
- MP calls for border toll scheme 24 November 2006
Media files
- Mercenaries (BBC video 13 February 2002)