| The Right Honourable The Lord Macdonald of Tradeston CBE PC |
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|---|---|
| Minister for the Cabinet Office Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster |
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| In office 11 June 2001 – 13 June 2003 |
|
| Prime Minister | Tony Blair |
| Preceded by | Mo Mowlam |
| Succeeded by | Douglas Alexander |
| Minister of State for Transport | |
| In office 29 July 1999 – 8 June 2001 |
|
| Prime Minister | Tony Blair |
| Preceded by | Helen Liddell |
| Succeeded by | John Spellar |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1940 Larkhall, United Kingdom |
| Political party | Labour |
Angus John "Gus" Macdonald, Baron Macdonald of Tradeston, CBE, PC (born 1940, Larkhall, Scotland), is a member of the House of Lords, taking the Labour Party Whip.
Macdonald was educated at Allan Glen's School, Glasgow on a scholarship. Leaving school at 14, he became an apprentice marine engineer at the shipyards of Alexander Stephen and Sons’ in Govan.[1] Involved in an apprentices' strike in 1959,[2] Macdonald was leader of the Govan and Gorbals' branch of the Labour Party's Young Socialists.[3] He was briefly involved in revolutionary socialist politics as a member of the International Socialists and lived for a time in the London home of its foremost member, Tony Cliff.[1] He has said that he returned to his Tribune based political roots around 1964,[1] where he was appointed as the circulation manager by Michael Foot.[2]
He has worked as a journalist on The Scotsman and as a member of the Insight team on The Sunday Times. Originally taken on a researcher,[4] he was with Granada Television from 1967 to 1986[2] where he was soon appointed joint editor of World in Action with John Birt;[5] Macdonald had an association with the programme for many years. He also presented Granada's What the Papers Say and Right to Reply on Channel 4. He returned to Scotland in 1986 as Director of Programmes for Scottish Television, becoming Managing Director in 1990. While at STV he cut the core workforce from 800 to 330,[6] and the company took over two newspapers The Herald and the Evening Times plus the other ITV contractor in Scotland, Grampian Television.[7] He became Chair of Scottish Media Group plc at the end of 1997,[8] and of Taylor and Francis plc.
He was elevated to the House of Lords as Baron Macdonald of Tradeston, in the City of Glasgow on 2 October 1998. He served as Minister for Business and Industry in the Scottish Office (1998–99), Minister for Transport in the Department for Environment, Transport and the Regions, in attendance at cabinet (1999–2001) and Minister for the Cabinet Office and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (2001–03)
Member of Cabinet Office Advisory Committee on Business Appointments. Also member of House of Lords' Select Committees on Economic Affairs (2004–2008), and Communications (2009-).Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Humanist Group.[9] On Steering Group of OECD Futures Programme on Infrastructure and Advisory Board of OECD International Transport Forum.
Lord Macdonald was installed as Chancellor of Glasgow Caledonian University in October 2007, succeeding Magnus Magnusson.
Member of the Council (2006–2008) and of Court (2009-) at the University of Sussex.
Patron, Dystonia Society.[10]
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Helen Liddell |
Minister of State for Transport 1999–2001 |
Succeeded by John Spellar |
| Preceded by Mo Mowlam |
Minister for the Cabinet Office 2001–2003 |
Succeeded by Douglas Alexander |
| Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster 2001–2003 |
||
| Academic offices | ||
| Preceded by Magnus Magnusson |
Chancellor of Glasgow Caledonian University 2007–present |
Incumbent |
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