Roderick Lewis Macdonald (born 1 January 1957) is a Scottish politician who was a

Member of the Scottish Parliament Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP; ; ) is the title given to any one of the 129 individuals elected to serve in the Scottish Parliament. Electoral system The additional member system produces a form of proportional representation, where ...

(MSP) for the North East Scotland region between

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

and 2021. A member of

Scottish Labour Scottish Labour (), is the part of the UK Labour Party (UK), Labour Party active in Scotland. Ideologically social democratic and Unionism in the United Kingdom, unionist, it holds 23 of 129 seats in the Scottish Parliament and 37 of 57 Sco ...

, he previously represented the Aberdeen Central constituency from

1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

to 2011. He was a deputy

Scottish Executive The Scottish Government (, ) is the executive arm of the devolved government of Scotland. It was formed in 1999 as the Scottish Executive following the 1997 referendum on Scottish devolution, and is headquartered at St Andrew's House in t ...

minister from 2001 to 2007.

Early life and career

Born in

Stornoway Stornoway (; ) is the main town, and by far the largest, of the Outer Hebrides (or Western Isles), and the capital of Lewis and Harris in Scotland. The town's population is around 6,953, making it the third-largest island town in Scotlan ...

, Macdonald moved with his family to

Aberdeenshire Aberdeenshire (; ) is one of the 32 Subdivisions of Scotland#council areas of Scotland, council areas of Scotland. It takes its name from the Shires of Scotland, historic county of Aberdeenshire (historic), Aberdeenshire, which had substantial ...

as a child, and attended

Inverurie Academy Inverurie Academy is a comprehensive secondary school in Inverurie, Aberdeenshire. The school is one of the 17 secondary schools run by Aberdeenshire Council. Inverurie Academy is located on Jackson Street, Inverurie. As of 2023, the academy ra ...

and later the

University of Aberdeen The University of Aberdeen (abbreviated ''Aberd.'' in List of post-nominal letters (United Kingdom), post-nominals; ) is a public university, public research university in Aberdeen, Scotland. It was founded in 1495 when William Elphinstone, Bis ...

. Macdonald received an MA in history and a PhD in

African studies African studies is the study of Africa, especially the continent's cultures and societies (as opposed to its geology, geography, zoology, etc.). The field includes the study of Africa's History of Africa, history (pre-colonial, Colonisation of Af ...

and later lectured at the university. He is a member of the trade union

Unite Unite may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music Albums * ''Unite'' (1GN album), 2016 * ''Unite'' (A Friend in London album), 2013 * ''Unite'' (Kool & the Gang album), 1992 * ''Unite'' (The O.C. Supertones album), 2005 Songs *"Unite!" ...

Political career

Macdonald unsuccessfully contested the

Moray Moray ( ; or ) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland. It lies in the north-east of the country, with a coastline on the Moray Firth, and borders the council areas of Aberdeenshire and Highland. Its council is based in Elgin, the area' ...

UK Parliament constituency at the 1997 general election. Prior to his election as an MSP, he worked as a parliamentary researcher to the MPs Frank Doran and Tom Clarke. After being elected in the

1999 Scottish Parliament election The first election to the devolved Scottish Parliament, to fill 129 seats, took place on 6 May 1999. Following the election, the Labour Party and the Liberal Democrats formed the Scottish Executive, with Labour Member of the Scottish Parlia ...

, Macdonald joined the

in March 2001. He was briefly Deputy Minister for Transport and Planning from March to November 2001. He then served as Deputy Minister for Enterprise, Transport and Lifelong Learning, later renamed Deputy Minister for Enterprise and Lifelong Learning, from 2001 to 2004. He served as

Deputy Minister for Environment and Rural Development The Cabinet Secretary for Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform was a cabinet post in the Scottish Government. The Cabinet Secretary was supported by the Minister for Rural Affairs and the Natural Environment, who also reported to the ...

from 2004 to 2005 and Deputy Minister for Health and Community Care from 2005 to 2007. Between June 2013 and December 2014, Macdonald served as Scottish Labour Chief Whip. He has also led for Scottish Labour on enterprise and tourism, infrastructure, justice and energy. He has served as convener of the Health and Sport Committee from December 2017 to May 2021. He became interim

Deputy Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament The presiding officer of the Scottish Parliament (, ) is the presiding officer and speaker of the Scottish Parliament. The office of presiding officer was established by the Scotland Act 1998, and the elected presiding officer is a member of t ...

in April 2020, following the self isolation of

Christine Grahame Christine Grahame (formerly Creech; born 9 September 1944) is a Scottish politician who served as a Deputy Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament from 2016 to 2021. A member of the Scottish National Party (SNP), she has been a Member o ...

during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. Macdonald nominated

Anas Sarwar Anas Sarwar (born 14 March 1983) is a Scottish Labour and Co-operative Party, Co-operative politician who has served as Leader of the Scottish Labour Party since 2021 Scottish Labour leadership election, 2021. He has been a Member of the Scottis ...

in the

2021 Scottish Labour leadership election The 2021 Scottish Labour leadership election was triggered on 14 January 2021 by the resignation of Richard Leonard as leader of the Scottish Labour, Scottish Labour Party, who had led the party 2017 Scottish Labour leadership election, since ...

. He stood down at the

2021 Scottish Parliament election The 2021 Scottish Parliament election took place on 6 May 2021 under the provisions of the Scotland Act 1998. It was the sixth Scottish Parliament election since the parliament was re-established in 1999. 129 Member of the Scottish Parliament, ...

Personal life

Macdonald is married to Sandra who has worked in the oil industry. Macdonald also has two children. Sandra was a member of the

Aberdeen City Council Aberdeen City Council is the Local government in Scotland, local authority for Aberdeen City, one of the 32 council areas of Scotland. In its modern form it was created in 1996. Aberdeen was formerly governed by a municipal corporation, corporat ...

in 2017.

References

External links

*
Lewis Macdonald MSP
personal site 1957 births Living people People from Stornoway People from Inverurie People educated at Inverurie Academy Alumni of the University of Aberdeen Academics of the University of Aberdeen Labour MSPs Scottish trade unionists Members of the Scottish Parliament for Aberdeen constituencies Members of the Scottish Parliament 1999–2003 Members of the Scottish Parliament 2003–2007 Members of the Scottish Parliament 2007–2011 Members of the Scottish Parliament 2011–2016 Members of the Scottish Parliament 2016–2021 Deputy Presiding Officers of the Scottish Parliament {{UK-trade-unionist-bio-stub