25.10.2016
The Queen has approved the Prime Minister’s nomination of the Scottish Parliament’s Presiding Officer Ken Macintosh to Her Majesty’s Privy Council, No 10 Downing Street has announced.
Presiding Officer Ken Macintosh said:
“Being elected Presiding Officer in May was a great privilege and today’s announcement is simply the icing on the cake. This is a real honour and I was delighted to receive the news this week although I don’t know what my kids will make of the new “Right Honourable” title!”
Background
The Queen is Head of the Privy Council. It is the oldest form of legislative assembly still functioning in the UK, responsible for a number of executive responsibilities. Its origins date from the court of the Norman kings, which met in private - hence the description 'privy'.
There are around 400 Privy Counsellors, whose appointments are for life. The Presiding Officer will now be titled “The Right Honourable" Ken Macintosh MSP.
Biography
Ken Macintosh MSP was born in Inverness and went to primary school in Portree then Oban before moving to the Royal High School in Edinburgh. He graduated from the University of Edinburgh in 1984 with a MA in History. Before entering Parliament in 1999, he was a television producer for BBC News working on programmes such as Breakfast with Frost, the Nine o’clock News and Election or Budget specials. He is married to Claire and the couple live in Busby with their six children.
Ken was first elected in 1999 to represent the constituency of Eastwood just south of Glasgow. He held the Eastwood seat in the 2003, 2007 and 2011 Scottish Parliamentary elections. He was a Ministerial Aide to the then First Minister Jack McConnell and, as a backbencher, he introduced a Member's Bill designed to tackle skin cancer and proposing tougher regulation of sunbed parlours. In opposition, he has served as Shadow Minister for Schools and Skills; Culture and External Affairs; Education; Finance; Social Justice; and Community. In 2011 and again in 2015, Ken ran to be the Leader of the Scottish Labour Party. In 2016, Ken was returned as an MSP for the West Scotland region before being elected as the Scottish Parliament’s fifth Presiding Officer.