Andrew MacKinlay

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Andrew MacKinlay MP
Andrew MacKinlay
Member of Parliament
for Thurrock
Incumbent
Assumed office 
9 April 1992
Preceded by Timothy Janman
Born 24 April 1949 (1949-04-24) (age 59)
Hampstead
Nationality British
Political party Labour
Religion Roman Catholic

Andrew Stuart MacKinlay (born 24 April 1949, Hampstead) is a British politician. He has been the member of Parliament for Thurrock since 1992 and is a member of the Labour Party.

Contents

[edit] Early life

Andrew Mackinlay was educated variously at St Joseph's School, Wembley [1]; 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.

[edit] Parliamentary career

He stood unsuccessfully for Labour in the following elections:

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?[1]

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" [2]

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.[3] However, another report states that the decisive nomination was made by Tony Wright[4] with MacKinlay yet to nominate at that point.

[edit] Personal life

He is a keen researcher on World War I history, travelling and discovering Ireland, and is an honorary patron of Tilbury F.C.. He married his wife Ruth (née Segar) on 21 October 1972. They have two sons and a daughter. He employs his wife as his Personal Assistant.[5]

[edit] Political views

He supports the abolition of the monarchy.[6]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Select Committee on Foreign Affairs Minutes of Evidence Q167
  2. ^ Neil Tweedie and Sandra Laville 'Dad said interrogator MP was utter bastard' The Daily Telegraph 2 September 2003. Retrieved 12 October 2007
  3. ^ Nick Robinson It's official. It's Brown 16 May 2007
  4. ^ BBC Brown will enter No 10 unopposed 16 May 2007
  5. ^ Family jobs and parliamentary passes The Times 31 January 2008
  6. ^ He is listed as a supporter by Republic - the campaign group for an elected head of state. http://www.republic.org.uk/supporters/index.php

[edit] External links

[edit] News items

[edit] Media files

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Timothy Janman		 Member of Parliament for Thurrock
1992–present		 Incumbent