Angus Francis MacDonald (born 7 November 1962) is a British Liberal Democrat politician who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Inverness, Skye and West Ross-shire since

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

Early life

Angus Francis MacDonald was born in London. He is the son of Donald ‘Rory’ MacDonald, descendant of distiller 'Long John' MacDonald, and Nancy MacDonald (nee Hill, of

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

). The second of five children, he was brought up in the Clachaig Inn, Glencoe. He was privately educated at two schools;

Ampleforth College Ampleforth College is a co-educational Private schools in the United Kingdom, fee-charging boarding and day school in the English Public school (United Kingdom), public school tradition. It opened in 1803 as a boys' school. It is near the villa ...

and

Edinburgh Academy The Edinburgh Academy is a Private schools in the United Kingdom, private day school in Edinburgh, Scotland, which was opened in 1824. The original building, on Henderson Row in Stockbridge, Edinburgh, Stockbridge, is now part of the Senior Scho ...

. After school, MacDonald attend RMA Sandhurst before joining the Queen's Own Highlanders as a Second Lieutenant. He served in Falklands immediately after the ceasefire, from July – December 1982, where the regiment led the operation to restore normality on the islands, and in Northern Ireland the following year.

Career

Business career

MacDonald left the army in 1983 and after a few years at stockbrokers Laing & Cruickshank, ran a number of publishing businesses in the financial services sector, including Edinburgh Financial Publishing, Financial News and eFinancialCareers, the latter two of which he and his co-investors sold in 2007 to a consortium including

Dow Jones Dow Jones is a combination of the names of business partners Charles Dow and Edward Jones. Dow Jones & Company Dow, Jones and Charles Bergstresser founded Dow Jones & Company in 1882. That company eventually became a subsidiary of News Corp, an ...

for £79 million. MacDonald later expanded his business interests to encompass renewable energy, online education and waste management.

Political career

MacDonald was elected as a

councillor A councillor, alternatively councilman, councilwoman, councilperson, or council member, is someone who sits on, votes in, or is a member of, a council. This is typically an elected representative of an electoral district in a municipal or re ...

Highland Council The Highland Council (' ) is the local authority for Highland, one of the 32 council areas of Scotland. The council is based at the Highland Council Headquarters in Inverness. History The Highland area had been created as an administrative a ...

, representing Fort William and Ardnamurchan in the

2022 Highland Council election Elections to The Highland Council were held on 5 May 2022, the same day as the 31 other Scottish local government elections. As with other Scottish council elections, it was held using single transferable vote (STV) – a form of proportional ...

, with 37.5% of the vote. He had previously been a Conservative Party donor, giving £40,000 to the party when the Scottish Conservatives were under the leadership of Ruth Davidson but also previously gifted the Liberal Democrats £5,000 in 2015. MacDonald's seat, Inverness, Skye and West Ross-shire, was the final constituency to declare its results in the 2024 general election due to a discrepancy. The result was declared on 6 July.

Political positions

MacDonald describes himself as

centre-left Centre-left politics is the range of left-wing political ideologies that lean closer to the political centre. Ideologies commonly associated with it include social democracy, social liberalism, progressivism, and green politics. Ideas commo ...

on social issues and

centre-right Centre-right politics is the set of right-wing politics, right-wing political ideologies that lean closer to the political centre. It is commonly associated with conservatism, Christian democracy, liberal conservatism, and conservative liberalis ...

on economic issues.

Other activities

MacDonald has been a patron of the

National Trust for Scotland The National Trust for Scotland () is a Scottish Building preservation and conservation trusts in the UK, conservation organisation. It is the largest membership organisation in Scotland and describes itself as "the charity that cares for, sha ...

since 2009, serving on the strategic review panel in 2010 under Lord

George Reid Sir George Houston Reid (25 February 1845 – 12 September 1918) was a Scottish-born Australian and British politician, diplomat, and barrister who served as the fourth Prime Minister of Australia, prime minister of Australia from 1904 t ...

, before serving as Vice-President for almost a decade. It was while running Edinburgh Financial Publishing in Hong Kong in the early 1990s that MacDonald took part in a 100km race along the famous

MacLehose Trail The MacLehose Trail is a 100-kilometre hiking trail that crosses much of the New Territories, Hong Kong, starting from Pak Tam Chung, Sai Kung District in the east to Tuen Mun Town, Tuen Mun District in the west. It is the longest trail in Hong ...

. Taking this idea he founded the Caledonian Challenge in 1997 with a friend, Alex Blyth, to raise money for Foundation Scotland. More than 17,000 people took part in the 52 mile race down the Scottish

West Highland Way The West Highland Way () is a linear Long-distance trail, long-distance route in Scotland. It is long, running from Milngavie north of Glasgow to Fort William, Highland, Fort William in the Scottish Highlands, with an element of hill walking i ...

and together raised over £13 million for Scottish communities. MacDonald competed in the event eight times himself, though never managed to beat the time of his wife, athlete Michie MacDonald. In addition to his charitable and business pursuits, MacDonald been involved with various social enterprises and non-profit endeavours to foster Highland traditions, culture and entrepreneurialism in Lochaber, most notably the Highland Cinema, an independent cinema in Fort William which was voted "Cinema of the year under 24 screens" in 2023, and Dragon's Glen, an annual competition inspired by the Dragons Den TV show that awarded £10,000 grants to aspiring local businesses. In 2014, MacDonald was awarded an OBE for services to the Highlands.

Personal life

MacDonald is a practising Christian. He is married to his wife Michie MacDonald, from Ireland, and both live in Fort William which is within his constituency. Together they have four adult sons.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:MacDonald, Angus Living people 21st-century Scottish businesspeople Year of birth missing (living people) Place of birth missing (living people) 21st-century Scottish politicians Scottish Liberal Democrat MPs UK MPs 2024–present Scottish financial businesspeople Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Highland constituencies Conservative Party (UK) donors People educated at Edinburgh Academy