Editing Andrew MacKinlay (section)

==Parliamentary career==
Following unsuccessful election campaigns in the safe [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative]] seats of [[Croydon Central]] in 1983 and [[Peterborough (UK Parliament constituency)|Peterborough]] in 1987, MacKinlay regained the historically safe Labour seat of [[Thurrock (UK Parliament constituency)|Thurrock]] in 1992 from the Conservatives.

On 15 June 1992, he tabled an [[Early day motion]], seeking a pardon for soldiers executed in the First World War.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://edm.parliament.uk/early-day-motion/8013/pardon-for-executed-soldiers|title=PARDON FOR EXECUTED SOLDIERS - Early Day Motions - UK Parliament|accessdate=16 April 2023}}</ref> This campaign eventually succeeded with the [[Armed Forces Act 2006]], where section 359 pardoned 306 British Empire soldiers.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://thurrock.nub.news/news/local-news/new-book-tells-how-former-borough-mp-helped-gain-pardon-for-the-306-men-shot-at-dawn|title=New book tells how former borough MP helped gain pardon for the 306 men shot at dawn|first=Neil|last=Speight|date=5 March 2021|website=Thurrock Nub News|accessdate=16 April 2023}}</ref>

In 1998 MacKinlay was the first to introduce a [[Freedom of Information Act 2000|freedom of information]] bill to the House of Commons.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2001-03-16|title=Andrew MacKinlay|url=http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2001/mar/16/profiles.parliament13|access-date=2021-02-27|website=the Guardian|language=en}}</ref>

Although MacKinlay had originally come from the right of the Labour Party, as an MP he came to be associated with the [[Labour left]] as a leader of a group of left-wing Labour MPs nicknamed the "[[awkward squad]]," known for rebelling against the [[New Labour]] leadership of [[Tony Blair]].<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite news |date=16 October 2002 |title=Profile: Andrew MacKinlay |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/2175568.stm |access-date=1 January 2025 |work=BBC News}}</ref> MacKinlay maintained that he had not moved toward the left, but that the leadership of the Labour Party under Blair had moved to the [[political right]].<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite news |date=8 May 2005 |title=Rebel Hell Labour: Tony Blair has a projected majority of just 66 but 34 of his MPs with a rebel streak could spell defeat in the Commons. Will the Labour malcontents finally curb his ambitions? |url=https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/12494971.rebel-hell-labour-tony-blair-has-a-projected-majority-of-just-66-but-34-of-his-mps-with-a-rebel-streak-could-spell-defeat-in-the-commons-will-the-labour-malcontents-finally-curb-his-ambitions/ |access-date=1 January 2025 |work=The Herald}}</ref> He continued to rebel against his party under the New Labour leadership of [[Gordon Brown]]; by 2008, he had broken the party whip 72 times.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Webster |first=Philip |last2=Coates |first2=Sam |date=23 April 2008 |title=Unusual suspects in 10p tax rebels' ranks |url=https://www.thetimes.com/article/unusual-suspects-in-10p-tax-rebels-ranks-l6vfgjz9z7f |access-date=1 January 2025 |work=The Times}}</ref>

In 2003, MacKinlay described [[David Kelly (weapons expert)|Dr David Kelly]] as "[[chaff]]" during Dr Kelly's appearance before the [[House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee]]. The committee was investigating issues around the British government's dossier on [[Weapon of mass destruction#WMD and Iraq|weapons of mass destruction in Iraq]]. 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?<ref>[https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200304/cmselect/cmfaff/1025/3071510.htm Select Committee on Foreign Affairs Minutes of Evidence] Q167</ref>
MacKinlay apparently meant "chaff" as in the [[Chaff (radar countermeasure)|radar countermeasure]] rather than [[Chaff#Metaphor|something of little value]].<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/hutton/keyplayers/story/0,13842,1031853,00.html "Hutton inquiry witness"], 29 August 2003; accessed 6 August 2014.</ref> It emerged during Kelly's [[Hutton Report|subsequent inquest]], however, 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".<ref>Neil Tweedie and Sandra Laville [https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1440323/Dad-said-interrogator-MP-was-utter-bastard.html "'Dad said interrogator MP was utter bastard'"], ''The Daily Telegraph'', 2 September 2003; retrieved 29 April 2009.</ref><ref>Andrew Sparrow, [https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1440390/Why-Mackinlay-the-Grand-Inquisitor-hit-a-raw-nerve.html "Why MacKinlay the Grand Inquisitor hit a raw nerve"], ''The Daily Telegraph'', 2 September 2003; accessed 6 August 2014.</ref> MacKinlay reportedly apologised to Kelly's widow for the remark.<ref>[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1439853/Committee-MP-defends-relentless-grilling-of-Kelly.html "Committee MP defends relentless grilling of Kelly"], telegraph.co.uk; accessed 6 August 2014.</ref>

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.<ref>Nick Robinson [https://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/nickrobinson/2007/05/its_official_it.html It's official. It's Brown"], 16 May 2007; accessed 6 August 2014.</ref> However, another report states that the decisive nomination was made by [[Tony Wright (Cannock Chase MP)|Tony Wright]]<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6660565.stm "Brown will enter No 10 unopposed"], bbc.co.uk, 16 May 2007; accessed 6 August 2014.</ref> 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.<ref>[http://iaindale.blogspot.com/2009/07/exclusive-andrew-mackinlay-quits.html "Andrew MacKinlay Quits Parliament"], iaindale.blogspot.com; July 2009.</ref> 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 U.S. on computer hacking charges, to vote for a review of the extradition treaty.<ref name=telegraph-20090725>{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/5903494/Andrew-MacKinlay-MP-quits-over-hacker-Gary-McKinnons-extradition.html |title=Andrew MacKinlay MP quits over hacker Gary McKinnon's extradition |author=Matthew Moore |newspaper=The Daily Telegraph|date=25 July 2009 |access-date=9 November 2014}}</ref>

===Damages win===
On 1 October 2009, MacKinlay accepted a public apology and libel damages from the [[BBC]] over allegations made on [[BBC Two]]'s ''[[Newsnight]]'' programme that he proposed an amendment to a British government motion on expenses of MPs so he would benefit financially.<ref>BBC [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/newsnight/8285200.stm Andrew MacKinlay MP – an apology]</ref><ref>[http://www.basildonrecorder.co.uk/news/4660880.Labour_MP_wins_apology_and_damages_from_BBC "Labour MP wins apology and damages from BBC"], basildonrecorder.co.uk; accessed 6 August 2014.</ref><ref>Oliver Luft [http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/story.asp?storycode=44415 MP paid 'substantial damages' over ''Newsnight'' slur] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110616192834/http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/story.asp?storycode=44415 |date=16 June 2011 }}, pressgazette.co.uk, 2 October 2009.</ref>

===Ireland and the Commonwealth===

MacKinlay argued that initiatives should be taken to encourage [[Ireland (state)|Ireland]] to participate in the [[Commonwealth of Nations|Commonwealth]].<ref name="auto">24 July 2007: Column 238WH – Ireland and the Commonwealth</ref> He brought forward a motion on the issue in the House of Commons.<ref name="auto"/> 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.<ref name="auto"/> This was, he said, because the Commonwealth, to the extent that it existed, was nothing like the Commonwealth of today.<ref name="auto"/> He felt that the [[London Declaration]] 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".<ref name="auto"/>