1. Kenneth Donald Macintosh was born on 15 January 1962 and is a Scottish politician who served as the Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament from 2016 to 2021.
23 Facts About Ken Macintosh
1. 2.
Ken Macintosh was first elected in the 1999 Scottish Parliament election as a Scottish Labour and Co-operative Party candidate, and retained his seat of Eastwood in the 2003,2007 and the 2011 elections, but lost it in the 2016 election.
3.
Kenneth Donald Macintosh was born on 15 January 1962 in Inverness.
4.
Ken Macintosh was educated at the Portree and Oban primary schools before attending the state comprehensive Royal High School, Edinburgh.
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Ken Macintosh's father, Dr Farquhar Macintosh CBE, was a Gaelic speaker from the Isle of Skye, a leading intellectual in Scottish education, rector of Royal High School and chair of the Scottish Examination Board.
6.
Ken Macintosh worked on Breakfast with Frost, Breakfast News, and the Nine O'Clock News.
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At the 1999 Scottish Parliament election, Ken Macintosh won the Eastwood constituency with a majority of 2,125 votes.
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In February 2002, Ken Macintosh was appointed as a ministerial parliamentary aide to Minister for Education and Young People, Cathy Jamieson.
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In 2006 and 2007 Ken Macintosh has proposed a Member's Bill to the Scottish Parliament providing for the tougher regulation of sunbed parlours, which passed successfully.
10.
Ken Macintosh was re-elected as MSP for Eastwood at the 2007 election with a narrow majority of 913, where he fought off a strong challenge from the Conservative Party's Jackson Carlaw.
11.
Ken Macintosh considered running for the 2008 Scottish Labour leadership election but pulled out and instead backed Andy Kerr's candidacy.
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Ken Macintosh had feared losing the constituency following boundary changes which gave a notional Conservative majority of almost 3,500.
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Ken Macintosh announced his candidacy in 2011 Scottish Labour leadership election.
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Colleagues who endorsed his bid included his campaign manager Michael McMahon, Claire Baker, Mary Fee, Neil Bibby, Mark Griffin, Kezia Dugdale, Jenny Marra and East Renfrewshire MP Jim Murphy, with whom Ken Macintosh shared his constituency office in Clarkston, East Renfrewshire.
15.
Ken Macintosh faced a straight two-way contest with previous deputy leader Kezia Dugdale, who won the leadership.
16.
At the 2016 Scottish Parliament election, Ken Macintosh lost the Eastwood constituency, being pushed into third place behind the Conservatives' Jackson Carlaw and the Scottish National Party's Stewart Maxwell.
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However, Ken Macintosh was returned as an additional member on Scottish Labour's West Scotland regional list.
18.
On 12 May 2016, Ken Macintosh was elected as Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament with 71 votes on the third round of voting by MSPs.
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Ken Macintosh defeated Murdo Fraser, Johann Lamont, John Scott and Elaine Smith.
20.
Ken Macintosh suspended his Scottish Labour Co-operative membership upon taking office, per the tradition of the presiding officer being strictly non-partisan.
21.
In early November 2018, Ken Macintosh created controversy when an MSP was sent out of the Holyrood chamber for wearing a rainbow tie in support of LGBTI rights and liberation.
22.
Ken Macintosh said it flouted rules against "ostentatious campaign material" in the chamber.
23.
In September 2020, Ken Macintosh announced that he would not stand for re-election at the 2021 Scottish Parliament election.