Craig Mackinlay (born 7 October 1966) is a
Conservative Party politician and businessman. Since May 2015, he has been the
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 o ...
(MP) for
South Thanet.
Initially a member of the
UK Independence Party
The UK Independence Party (UKIP; ) is a Eurosceptic, right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. The party reached its greatest level of success in the mid-2010s, when it gained two members of Parliament and was the largest par ...
(UKIP), Mackinlay served as
deputy leader of UKIP from 1997 to 2000 and as acting
leader of UKIP in 1997,
before joining the
Conservative Party in 2005.
Early life
Of Scottish heritage, Mackinlay was born on 7 October 1966 in
Chatham and raised in
Kent
Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...
. After attending
Rainham Mark Grammar School
Rainham Mark Grammar School (previously Known as Gillingham Technical High School) is the only co-educational selective grammar school in the Medway, Kent, England area. It has academy status, along with Twydall Primary School and Riverside Pri ...
, he went up to the
University of Birmingham
The University of Birmingham (informally Birmingham University) is a Public university, public research university located in Edgbaston, Birmingham, United Kingdom. It received its royal charter in 1900 as a successor to Queen's College, Birmingha ...
, where he read
zoology
Zoology ()The pronunciation of zoology as is usually regarded as nonstandard, though it is not uncommon. is the branch of biology that studies the animal kingdom, including the structure, embryology, evolution, classification, habits, and ...
and
comparative physiology. After graduating with the
degree of
BSc
A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years.
The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University ...
, he qualified as a
chartered accountant (FCA) and as a
chartered tax adviser
The Chartered Institute of Taxation (CIOT) is a registered charity (number 1037771) and the leading professional body in the United Kingdom concerned solely with taxation. The CIOT deals with all aspects of direct and indirect taxation.
Activit ...
(
CTA) and is now
partner in a Kent firm.
Political background
Mackinlay first became engaged in politics after observing the impact of Britain's membership of the
European Exchange Rate Mechanism
The European Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM II) is a system introduced by the European Economic Community on 1 January 1999 alongside the introduction of a single currency, the euro (replacing ERM 1 and the euro's predecessor, the ECU) as ...
on clients and friends who were going bankrupt as a result of soaring interest rates.
After hearing
Alan Sked
Alan Sked (born 22 August 1947) is a Scottish eurosceptic academic notable for having founded the Anti-Federalist League (in order to oppose the Maastricht Treaty) and its successor the UK Independence Party (UKIP). He is Professor Emeritus o ...
, a professor at the
London School of Economics
The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) is a public university, public research university located in London, England and a constituent college of the federal University of London. Founded in 1895 by Fabian Society members Sidn ...
, speak on a BBC politics programme,
he was persuaded to stand at the
1992 general election as an
independent
Independent or Independents may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups
* Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s
* Independ ...
in support of the
Anti-Federalist League, receiving 248 votes in
Gillingham.
[
]
UKIP
When the Anti-Federalist League evolved into the UK Independence Party (UKIP), Mackinlay was appointed its founding treasurer
and Vice-Chairman. He stood again in Gillingham at the
1997 general election, receiving 590 votes.
In July 1997, Sked resigned as UKIP leader, nominating Mackinlay as his successor.
Mackinlay decided that the only way to keep the party going was to rework its constitution and hold a leadership election. Mackinlay stood in the election against
Michael Holmes and Gerald Roberts. Holmes, with the backing of
Nigel Farage
Nigel Paul Farage (; born 3 April 1964) is a British broadcaster and former politician who was Leader of the UK Independence Party (UKIP) from 2006 to 2009 and 2010 to 2016 and Leader of the Brexit Party (renamed Reform UK in 2021) from 2 ...
, easily won and appointed Mackinlay as his deputy.
After the
European Parliament election in 1999, Holmes dismissed Mackinlay and Party Secretary Tony Scholefield at a National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting, which prompted an immediate
vote of no confidence
A motion of no confidence, also variously called a vote of no confidence, no-confidence motion, motion of confidence, or vote of confidence, is a statement or vote about whether a person in a position of responsibility like in government or mana ...
in Holmes, who agreed to resign the following month. After extensive wrangling,
Jeffrey Titford was elected as the new party leader; Mackinlay stepped down as deputy, but remained on its NEC.
Mackinlay remained active in UKIP, standing in
Totnes
Totnes ( or ) is a market town and civil parish at the head of the estuary of the River Dart in Devon, England, within the South Devon Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. It is about west of Paignton, about west-southwest of Torquay and abo ...
at the
2001 general election, at which he received 6.1% of the vote,
then back again in Gillingham in
2005, where he polled 2.6%.
He also stood unsuccessfully in the
1994
File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nelson ...
,
1999
File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shoot ...
and
2004 European elections.
[CONSERVATIVES:Founding member of the UKIP joins Conservative Party](_blank)
, noticias.info, 15 July 2005
Conservative Party
In July 2005, Mackinlay defected from UKIP to the
Conservative Party.
He was elected as a Conservative councillor on
Medway Council
Medway Council is the local authority of Medway in Kent, England. It is a unitary authority, having the powers of a non-metropolitan county and district council combined.
The council was created on 1 April 1998 and replaced Rochester-upon-Medw ...
in 2007 and re-elected in May 2011 with an increased majority.
In 2010, he fell out with
Kent Police over
Special Constable David Craggs, who was advised that there would be no conflict with him standing for election to Medway Council but, after being elected as a councillor, was informed that he could not hold both roles.
In May 2011, Mackinlay was appointed a member of Kent
Police Authority
A police authority in the United Kingdom is a public authority that is responsible for overseeing the operations of a police force. The nature and composition of police authorities has varied over time, and there are now just four dedicated "police ...
.
In June 2012, Mackinlay was selected as the Conservative candidate for the office of
Kent Police and Crime Commissioner. In the
November 2012 county-wide poll, he was defeated by the former Kent Police Authority chair
Ann Barnes; Barnes: 114,137, Mackinlay: 60,248, on a turnout of just under 16%.
In 2015, he was elected as
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 o ...
for
South Thanet at the
general election, where he stood against UKIP leader Nigel Farage and comedian
Al Murray
Alastair James Hay Murray (born 10 May 1968) is an English comedian, actor, musician and writer from Hammersmith. In 2003, he was listed in ''The Observer'' as one of the 50 funniest acts in British comedy, and in 2007 he was voted the 16th gre ...
, among others.
Conservative
Laura Sandys had represented the constituency in the
House of Commons
The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...
.
In October 2017 he said "unemployed young people from Glasgow should get on their bikes and work with gorgeous EU women on farms in the south of England after Brexit." Labour MSP
James Kelly responded that the comments were "abhorrent and offensive", while
Jenny Gilruth
Jennifer Madeleine Gilruth (born 1984) is a Scottish National Party (SNP) politician who has been the Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for Mid Fife and Glenrothes since 2016. She has served in the Scottish Government as Minister for Tr ...
MSP said that the comments were "sexist and patronising".
In June 2018 it was reported that Mackinlay had been found to have twice breached parliament's rules due to a potential financial interest, according to a decision by its
standards watchdog. The MP had used his position to press for the reopening of an airport from which his company had planned to run low-cost flights. Mackinlay responded that he no longer had plans for running flights from
Manston Airport
Manston Airport was a British airport. It was branded as Manston, Kent International Airport and was located in the parish of Minster-in-Thanet and partly adjacent to the village of Manston in the Thanet district of Kent, England, north-eas ...
and that there "was no suggestion he benefited financially from raising the matter in the Commons."
In the House of Commons, he sat on the
Committee on Exiting the European Union. He has previously sat on the
Work and Pensions Select Committee
The Work and Pensions Select Committee is a select committee of the House of Commons in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The remit of the committee is to examine the expenditure, administration, and policy of the Department for Work and Pensi ...
and
European Scrutiny Committee.
Following an interim report on the connections between
colonialism
Colonialism is a practice or policy of control by one people or power over other people or areas, often by establishing colony, colonies and generally with the aim of economic dominance. In the process of colonisation, colonisers may impose the ...
and properties now in the care of the
National Trust
The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...
, including links with
historic slavery, Mackinlay was among the signatories of a letter in November 2020 to ''
The Telegraph
''The Telegraph'', ''Daily Telegraph'', ''Sunday Telegraph'' and other variant names are popular names for newspapers. Newspapers with these titles include:
Australia
* ''The Telegraph'' (Adelaide), a newspaper in Adelaide, South Australia, publ ...
'' from the "
Common Sense Group
The Common Sense Group is an informal group of Conservative MPs in the United Kingdom who advocate a broad range of ideals that they think the Conservative Party and the country ought to be following.
The group was inspired by the euro-sceptic ...
" of Conservative Parliamentarians. The letter accused the National Trust of being "coloured by
cultural Marxist
The term "Cultural Marxism" refers to a far-right antisemitic conspiracy theory which claims that Western Marxism is the basis of continuing academic and intellectual efforts to subvert Western culture. The conspiracy theory misrepresents the ...
dogma, colloquially known as the '
woke
''Woke'' ( ) is an adjective derived from African-American Vernacular English (AAVE) meaning "alert to racial prejudice and discrimination". Beginning in the 2010s, it came to encompass a broader awareness of social inequalities such as sexi ...
agenda'".
Mackinlay leads the
Net Zero Scrutiny Group, a group created in 2021 of about 20 Conservative MPs who argue against the Westminster consensus to reduce
greenhouse gas emissions
Greenhouse gas emissions from human activities strengthen the greenhouse effect, contributing to climate change. Most is carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels: coal, oil, and natural gas. The largest emitters include coal in China and ...
to
net zero
Carbon neutrality is a state of net-zero carbon dioxide emissions. This can be achieved by balancing emissions of carbon dioxide with its removal (often through carbon offsetting) or by eliminating emissions from society (the transition to the " ...
by 2050 regardless of the economic cost. They have argued for
fracking in the UK to be resumed and cast doubt on plans to
phase-out of fossil fuel vehicles.
Electoral spending criminal investigation following the 2015 general election
In 2016–17, the
2015 general election party spending investigation revealed that the Conservative Party had spent many thousands of pounds centrally on
campaign buses to transport activists, and hotel accommodation for the activists, who went to campaign in marginal constituencies, including South Thanet. The expenditure on the buses was declared by the Conservative Party on its national declaration of "Campaign Spending", but in some cases the hotel accommodation was not declared at all as election spending when it should have been. In addition, there was controversy about whether the expenditure, both on the buses and the accommodation, should have been declared on the declarations of expenditure for the constituency made by each candidate's
election agent
An election agent in elections in the United Kingdom, as well as some other similar political systems such as elections in India, is the person legally responsible for the conduct of a candidate's political campaign and to whom election material is ...
. Kent Police began an investigation into the spending returns of Mackinlay following the
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...
report.
In a court case on 1 June 2016, brought by Mackinlay and his election agent Nathan Gray, District Judge Barron granted more time for investigation saying "In this case, the allegations are far-reaching and the consequences of a conviction would be of a local and national significance with the potential for election results being declared void."
On 14 March 2017, it was reported that Mackinlay had been interviewed under caution by officers investigating the allegations. The day after, ''
Channel 4 News
''Channel 4 News'' is the main news programme on British television broadcaster Channel 4. It is produced by ITN, and has been in operation since Channel 4's launch in November 1982.
Current productions
''Channel 4 News''
''Channel 4 News'' ...
'' published leaked emails, alleging that
Theresa May
Theresa Mary May, Lady May (; née Brasier; born 1 October 1956) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2016 to 2019. She previously served in David Cameron's cabi ...
's Political Secretary
Stephen Parkinson, and Chris Brannigan, Director of Government Relations at the
Cabinet Office, also took a key role in Mackinlay's campaign. On 18 April 2017, Kent police passed Mackinlay's file to the
Crown Prosecution Service
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) is the principal public agency for conducting criminal prosecutions in England and Wales. It is headed by the Director of Public Prosecutions.
The main responsibilities of the CPS are to provide legal advi ...
(CPS) to be considered for prosecution. The CPS decided on 2 June 2017 that it was in the public interest to authorise charges under the
Representation of the People Act 1983
The Representation of the People Act 1983 (c. 2) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It changed the British electoral process in the following ways:
* Amended the Representation of the People Act 1969.
* Stated that a convicted pe ...
against three people: Mackinlay, his agent Nathan Gray, and a party activist, Marion Little. Appearing at
Westminster Magistrates' Court
Westminster Magistrates' Court is a magistrates' court at 181 Marylebone Road, London. The Chief Magistrate of England and Wales, who is the Senior District Judge of England and Wales, sits at the court, and all extradition and terrorism-rela ...
on 4 July 2017, the three pleaded not guilty and were released on unconditional bail pending an appearance at
Southwark Crown Court
The Crown Court at Southwark, commonly but inaccurately called Southwark Crown Court, is one of two locations of the Crown Court in the London SE1 postcode area, along with the Crown Court at Inner London.
Opened in 1983, the brick building is ...
on 1 August 2017.
Later in August 2017, a trial date of 14 May 2018 was set for Mackinlay on charges relating to his 2015 general election expenses, alongside Little and Gray. The trial eventually started on 15 October 2018. Gray was acquitted in December 2018, and Mackinlay was acquitted on 9 January 2019. Little was convicted of two counts relating to falsifying election expenses and was given a nine-month suspended prison sentence and fined £5,000; the court concluded that Mackinlay and Gray had signed documents falsified by Little "in good faith, not knowing what she had done".
Public service
Mackinlay was appointed as a
Justice of the Peace on the
North Kent Bench in 2006.
A
Freeman
Freeman, free men, or variant, may refer to:
* a member of the Third Estate in medieval society (commoners), see estates of the realm
* Freeman, an apprentice who has been granted freedom of the company, was a rank within Livery companies
* Free ...
of the
City of London
The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London f ...
, he serves as a
trustee
Trustee (or the holding of a trusteeship) is a legal term which, in its broadest sense, is a synonym for anyone in a position of trust and so can refer to any individual who holds property, authority, or a position of trust or responsibility to ...
of three Kent charities:
Chatham Historic Dockyard Trust,
Foord Almshouses in Rochester, and Medway Sculpture Trust.
Electoral history
UK Parliament elections
Police and Crime Commissioner elections
Local elections
European Parliament elections
References
External links
The official Craig Mackinlay website*
www.souththanetconservatives.org.uk
, -
, -
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mackinlay, Craig
1966 births
Alumni of the University of Birmingham
Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies
Councillors in Kent
Living people
English people of Scottish descent
People educated at Rainham Mark Grammar School
People from Rainham, Kent
UK Independence Party parliamentary candidates
UK MPs 2015–2017
UK MPs 2017–2019
UK MPs 2019–present
Conservative Party (UK) councillors
British Eurosceptics