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Andrew Stuart MacKinlay (born 24 April 1949) is a British Liberal Democrat politician, who was the Labour
Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members ofte ...
(MP) for
Thurrock Thurrock () is a unitary authority area with borough status and unparished area in the ceremonial county of Essex, England. It is part of the London commuter belt and an area of regeneration within the Thames Gateway redevelopment zone. The l ...
from
1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...
until he stepped down at the 2010 general election. In parliament MacKinlay built a reputation as a hard-working constituency MP, gaining respect from all sides and as a stalwart of
Gibraltar ) , anthem = " God Save the King" , song = "Gibraltar Anthem" , image_map = Gibraltar location in Europe.svg , map_alt = Location of Gibraltar in Europe , map_caption = United Kingdom shown in pale green , mapsize = , image_map2 = Gibr ...
. In 2021 he was elected as a Liberal Democrat councillor for Kingston upon Thames London Borough Council, although he stood down a short time later, at the 2022 election.


Early life and career

MacKinlay was educated successively at St Joseph's School, Wembley; Our Lady Immaculate Primary School,
Tolworth Tolworth is a suburban area in the Surbiton district, Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, Greater London. It is southwest of Charing Cross. Neighbouring places include Long Ditton, New Malden, Kingston, Surbiton, Berrylands, Hinchley Wood, ...
; Salesian College (a private
Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
school at the time), now comprehensive Salesian School in
Chertsey Chertsey is a town in the Borough of Runnymede, Surrey, England, south-west of central London. It grew up round Chertsey Abbey, founded in 666 CE, and gained a market charter from Henry I. A bridge across the River Thames first appeared in ...
and Kingston College, now part of the South Thames College Group. He worked from 1965 as a committee clerk with
Surrey County Council Surrey County Council is the county council administering certain services in the non-metropolitan county of Surrey in England. The council is composed of 81 elected councillors, and in all but one election since 1965 the Conservative Party h ...
until 1975, when he served as a union official with the National and Local Government Officers Association (NALGO). He joined NALGO in 1965. He joined the Labour Party in 1966. MacKinlay was elected as a Labour councillor in 1971 in the
Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames The Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames is a London boroughs, borough in southwest London. The main town is Kingston upon Thames and it includes Surbiton, Chessington, Malden Rushett, New Malden and Tolworth. It is the oldest of the four List ...
and served for two terms as one of two councillors for the ward of Tolworth West until 1978. He unsuccessfully vied for his local seat of Surbiton in both of the 1974 general elections, keeping his deposit in what was then demonstrably a three-party contest.


Parliamentary career

Following unsuccessful election campaigns in the safe conservative seats of
Croydon Central Croydon is a large town in south London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a local government district of Greater London. It is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater London, with an extensive ...
in 1983 and
Peterborough Peterborough () is a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, east of England. It is the largest part of the City of Peterborough unitary authority district (which covers a larger area than Peterborough itself). It was part of Northamptonshire until 1 ...
in 1987, MacKinlay regained the historically safe Labour seat of
Thurrock Thurrock () is a unitary authority area with borough status and unparished area in the ceremonial county of Essex, England. It is part of the London commuter belt and an area of regeneration within the Thames Gateway redevelopment zone. The l ...
in 1992 from the Conservatives. On 15 June 1992, he tabled an
Early Day Motion In the Westminster parliamentary system, an early day motion (EDM) is a motion, expressed as a single sentence, tabled by members of Parliament that formally calls for debate "on an early day". In practice, they are rarely debated in the House a ...
, seeking a pardon for executed soldiers. This campaign eventually succeeded with the
Armed Forces Act 2006 The Armed Forces Act 2006 (c 52) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It came into force on 31 October 2006. It replaces the three separate Service Discipline Acts (the Army Act 1955, the Air Force Act 1955 and the Naval Discipl ...
, where section 359 pardoned 306 British Empire soldiers. In 1998 MacKinlay was the first to introduce a
freedom of information Freedom of information is freedom of a person or people to publish and consume information. Access to information is the ability for an individual to seek, receive and impart information effectively. This sometimes includes "scientific, indigen ...
bill to the House of Commons. In 2003, MacKinlay described Dr David Kelly as " chaff" during Dr. Kelly's appearance before the
House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee The Foreign Affairs Select Committee is one of many select committees of the British House of Commons, which scrutinises the expenditure, administration and policy of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. Inquiries The Foreign Affair ...
. The committee was investigating issues around the British government's dossier on
weapons of mass destruction in Iraq Iraq actively researched and later employed weapons of mass destruction (WMD) from 1962 to 1991, when it destroyed its chemical weapons stockpile and halted its biological and nuclear weapon programs as required by the United Nations Security Coun ...
. MacKinlay's 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 Radar jamming and deception is a form of electronic countermeasures that intentionally sends out radio frequency signals to interfere with the operation of radar by saturating its receiver with noise or false information. Concepts that blanket the ...
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 had privately described an MP, assumed to be MacKinlay, as an "utter bastard". MacKinlay reportedly apologised to Kelly's widow for the remark. According to one report, in May 2007, MacKinlay made the nomination that resulted in
Gordon Brown James Gordon Brown (born 20 February 1951) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 to 2010. He previously served as Chancellor of the Exchequer in Tony B ...
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 he felt other MPs had 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 McKinnon Gary McKinnon (born 10 February 1966) is a Scottish systems administrator and hacker who was accused in 2002 of perpetrating the "biggest military computer hack of all time", although McKinnon himself states that he was merely looking for evid ...
, awaiting extradition to the U.S. on computer hacking charges, to vote for a review of the extradition treaty.


Damages win

On 1 October 2009, MacKinlay accepted a public apology and libel damages from the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
over allegations made on
BBC2 BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream a ...
's ''
Newsnight ''Newsnight'' (or ''BBC Newsnight'') is BBC Two's news and current affairs programme, providing in-depth investigation and analysis of the stories behind the day's headlines. The programme is broadcast on weekdays at 22:30. and is also avail ...
'' programme that he proposed an amendment to a British government motion on expenses of MPs so he would benefit financially.


Ireland and the Commonwealth

MacKinlay argued that initiatives should be taken to encourage
Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, and St George's Channel. Ireland is the s ...
to participate in the
Commonwealth A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. Historically, it has been synonymous with "republic". The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the ...
.24 July 2007: Column 238WH – Ireland and the Commonwealth He brought forward a motion on the issue in the House of Commons. Ireland had participated in the Commonwealth in the 1930s and 40s. Mackinlay's view was that historians were wrong to say that Ireland had left the Commonwealth in 1949. This was, he said, because the Commonwealth, to the extent that it existed, was nothing like the Commonwealth of today. He felt that the
London Declaration The London Declaration was a declaration issued by the 1949 Commonwealth Prime Ministers' Conference on the issue of India's continued membership of the Commonwealth of Nations, an association of independent states formerly part of the British ...
formula that permitted republics to participate in the Commonwealth had not been offered to Ireland as an option, though he felt it was not too late to do so. He argued that Ireland should be formally invited to join and that the Commonwealth was its "natural place".


Personal life

MacKinlay lives in Malden Rushett, Surrey with his wife. He is a keen researcher on World War I history, travelling and discovering Ireland, and is an honorary patron of Tilbury Football Club. He and his wife Ruth (née Segar); have three children. While an MP, he employed his wife as his personal assistant. He is a member of the editorial board of ''
Total Politics ''Total Politics'' is a British political magazine described as "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 Sc ...
'', a political magazine, of which his daughter, Sarah, was editor until August 2009. He was given the
Freedom Freedom is understood as either having the ability to act or change without constraint or to possess the power and resources to fulfill one's purposes unhindered. Freedom is often associated with liberty and autonomy in the sense of "giving on ...
of
Gibraltar ) , anthem = " God Save the King" , song = "Gibraltar Anthem" , image_map = Gibraltar location in Europe.svg , map_alt = Location of Gibraltar in Europe , map_caption = United Kingdom shown in pale green , mapsize = , image_map2 = Gibr ...
in 2010.


Political views

In December 2018, he allowed his Labour Party membership to lapse and, in May 2019, he joined the Liberal Democrats. In the Chessington South by-election held on 6 May 2021, he stood for the Liberal Democrats. MacKinlay publicly supports the abolition of the
monarchy A monarchy is a form of government in which a person, the monarch, is head of state for life or until abdication. The political legitimacy and authority of the monarch may vary from restricted and largely symbolic (constitutional monarchy), ...
and is identified as a republican.List of supporters
, republic.org.uk; accessed 6 August 2014.


References


External links


Voting record
at
Public Whip The Public Whip is a parliamentary informatics project that analyses and publishes the voting history of MPs in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It was developed by Francis Irving and Julian Todd following the 18 March 2003 Parliamentary App ...
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mackinlay, Andrew 1949 births Living people Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Labour Party (UK) councillors Councillors in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames Transport and General Workers' Union-sponsored MPs UK MPs 1992–1997 UK MPs 1997–2001 UK MPs 2001–2005 UK MPs 2005–2010 Politics of Thurrock People from Hampstead British republicans British Roman Catholics Local government officers in England Alumni of Kingston College (England) Liberal Democrats (UK) politicians Liberal Democrats (UK) councillors