Andrew MacKinlay MP
Member of Parliament for Thurrock
Incumbent
Assumed office  9 April 1992
Preceded by	Timothy Janman
Majority	6,375 (14.6%)
Born	24 April 1949 (1949-04-24) (age 60) London, United Kingdom
Nationality	British
Political party	Labour
Spouse(s)	Ruth Segar
Religion	Roman Catholic

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

Contents 1 Early life 2 Parliamentary career 2.1 Notice of resignation 2.2 Damages win 2.3 Afghanistan war 3 Personal life 4 Political views and controversy 5 References 6 External links 6.1 News items 6.2 Media files

[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:

• February 1974 General Election: Surbiton
• October 1974 General Election: Surbiton
• 1983 General Election: Croydon Central
• 1984 European Elections: London South & Surrey East division
• 1987 General Election: Peterborough

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][3] MacKinlay reportedly apologised to Kelly's wife for the remark following Kelly's death.

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.^[4] However, another report states that the decisive nomination was made by Tony Wright^[5] with MacKinlay yet to nominate at that point.

[edit] 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 in which other MPs caved in to party pressure rather than standing up for their beliefs.^[6] He said that the final straw was the failure of a number of Labour MPs who had expressed support for Gary McKinnon, awaiting extradition to the US on computer hacking charges, to vote against a review of the extradition treaty.^[7]

[edit] Damages win

On 1 October 2009, MacKinlay accepted a public apology and libel damages from the BBC over allegations made on BBC2’s Newsnight programme that he proposed an amendment to a Government motion on MPs’ expenses so he would benefit financially.^[8][9][10] The damages were reported as being £15,000.^[11]

[edit] Afghanistan war

On 4 September 2009, MacKinlay supported the views of Eric Joyce on the Afghanistan war.^[12]

[edit] Personal life

He is a keen researcher on World War I history, travelling and discovering Ireland, and is an honorary patron of Tilbury Football Club. 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.^[13] He is a member of the editorial board of the political magazine 'Total Politics'^[14], whose editor is his daughter, Sarah MacKinlay.

[edit] Political views and controversy

He supports the abolition of the monarchy.^[15]

On 28 June 2008 he was reported by Mail Online to have received a warning from Downing Street after MI5 discovered that he was holding meetings with a suspected Russian spy Alexander Polyakov, officially a counsellor at the Russian Embassy in London; it was also claimed that MacKinlay had been targeted by aides of Russia's richest man, Oleg Deripaska, as a 'stooge' for use in a High Court battle. ^[16]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Andrew MacKinlay MP official site
• Guardian Unlimited Politics - Ask Aristotle: Andrew Mackinlay MP
• TheyWorkForYou.com - Andrew MacKinlay MP
• Hutton inquiry witness 29 August 2003
• Thurrock Labour Party
• BBC Politics page
• Andrew Mackinlay speaks out in the House about the debt collection industry being "rotten to the core". 22 April 2009
• Veteran Labour MP Andrew Mackinlay on life with the Westminster awkward squad

[edit] News items

• On the benches: Andrew Mackinlay reviews the week in politics for BBC News Online 30 June 2000
• Democracy 'requires dissent' 18 October 2001
• Mackinlay defends Kelly grilling 26 August 2003
• Analysis: Chaff MP puts case 26 August 2003
• Committee MP defends relentless grilling of Kelly
• MP calls for border toll scheme 24 November 2006

[edit] Media files

• Mercenaries (BBC video 13 February 2002)

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