| The Right Honourable The Lord McNally PC |
|
|---|---|
| Minister of State for Justice | |
| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office 13 May 2010 |
|
| Prime Minister | David Cameron |
| Leader of the Liberal Democrats in the House of Lords | |
| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office 24 November 2004 |
|
| Leader | Charles Kennedy Sir Menzies Campbell Vince Cable (acting) Nick Clegg |
| Preceded by | The Baroness Williams of Crosby |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 20 February 1943 |
| Nationality | British |
| Political party | Liberal Democrats |
Tom McNally, Baron McNally, PC (born 20 February 1943) is a British politician and the current Leader of the Liberal Democrats in the House of Lords and a Minister of State for Justice.[1]
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McNally was born in Blackpool, Lancs into an Irish Catholic family. He attended St Joseph's College, Blackpool, and University College London where he was elected president of the Debating Society.[2]
He later worked for the Fabian Society, and then as a full-time employee of the Labour Party, becoming its international secretary.[3] He served as a political advisor to Foreign Secretary, James Callaghan during the conflict in Cyprus in the 1970s, before becoming head of the Prime Minister's political office at Downing Street when Callaghan succeeded Harold Wilson.
Elected to the House of Commons in 1979 as a member of the Labour Party for the constituency of Stockport South, in 1981 he was one of the later defectors to the new Social Democratic Party. Following constituency boundary changes for the 1983 general election McNally was the SDP candidate for the new constituency of Stockport, but finished in third place behind Labour and the Conservative victor, Tony Favell. He has been President of the Stockport Liberal Democrat Constituency Party since 2007. From 1993 he was Head of Public Affairs at Shandwick Consultants. On 18 November 1995 it was announced he would receive a life peerage.[4] The Letters Patent were issued on 20 December and he took the title Baron McNally, of Blackpool in the County of Lancashire.[5]
He took office as Leader of the Liberal Democrats in the House of Lords at the beginning of the 2004/05 session of Parliament after being elected unopposed to succeed Baroness Williams of Crosby.[6]
In January 2006, McNally was linked to the resignation of Charles Kennedy, with critical comments regarding Kennedy's leadership of the party, and the effect that infighting was having on their electoral prospects in the upcoming local elections in May. Lord McNally criticised Kennedy, suggesting that his style and content were lacklustre. On 21 January, Lord McNally revealed in an interview that he had himself been alcohol dependent in the 1980s.[7] He said, "I don't think the passing of a more boozy, ill-disciplined, ill-researched type of politics is to be regretted at all." Friends noted that it had been quite a struggle for McNally (and his then-wife, Eileen) but that he had successfully stayed on the wagon since and, after remarrying, had forged a happy life, living in St Albans.
In May 2010, following the formation of the Conservative-Liberal Democrat Coalition Government, Lord McNally was appointed Minister of State at the Ministry of Justice, under Kenneth Clarke.[8]
Lord McNally is married with two sons and one daughter.[9]
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Maurice Orbach |
Member of Parliament for Stockport South 1979–1983 |
Constituency abolished |
| Party political offices | ||
| Preceded by The Baroness Williams of Crosby |
Leader of the Liberal Democrats in the House of Lords 2004–present |
Incumbent |
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