Malcolm Rifkind
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| The Right Honourable Sir Malcolm Rifkind KCMG, MP, QC |
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| In office 6 May 2005 – 6 December 2005 |
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| Leader | Michael Howard |
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| Preceded by | James Arbuthnot |
| Succeeded by | Philip Hammond |
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| In office 5 July 1995 – 2 May 1997 |
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| Prime Minister | John Major |
| Preceded by | Douglas Hurd |
| Succeeded by | Robin Cook |
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| In office 10 April 1992 – 5 July 1995 |
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| Prime Minister | John Major |
| Preceded by | Tom King |
| Succeeded by | Michael Portillo |
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| In office 28 November 1990 – 10 April 1992 |
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| Prime Minister | John Major |
| Preceded by | Cecil Parkinson |
| Succeeded by | John MacGregor |
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| In office 11 January 1986 – 28 November 1990 |
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| Prime Minister | Margaret Thatcher |
| Preceded by | George Younger |
| Succeeded by | Ian Lang |
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| Born | June 21, 1946 Edinburgh, Scotland, UK |
| Political party | Conservative |
| Profession | Lawyer |
| Religion | Jewish |
Sir Malcolm Leslie Rifkind, KCMG, QC, MP (born 21 June 1946) is an British Conservative and Unionist politician and Member of Parliament for the constituency of Kensington and Chelsea. He is a patron of the Tory Reform Group. He was a candidate in the 2005 Conservative Party leadership election, but withdrew before the voting commenced.
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[edit] Early life
Rifkind was born to a Jewish[1] family in Edinburgh, and was educated at George Watson's College and Edinburgh University where he studied law before taking a postgraduate degree in political science (his thesis was on land apportionment in Southern Rhodesia). While at University he took part in an overland expedition to the Middle East and India. He also appeared on University Challenge. He is the father of Times columnist Hugo Rifkind and a cousin of Leon Brittan, Samuel Brittan
[edit] Member of Parliament
Rifkind first stood for Parliament in 1970 when he lost the Edinburgh Central constituency. He entered Parliament in the February 1974 general election representing Edinburgh Pentlands for the Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party. He was appointed Junior Minister at the Scottish Office in the 1979 Thatcher Government and became Minister of State at the Foreign Office in 1983.
[edit] In government
In 1986 he was promoted into the cabinet as Secretary of State for Scotland. He gained a reputation as being a moderate voice on social and economic issues, and sometimes had disputes with Margaret Thatcher. On 21 December 1988, Rifkind was the first British government minister in Lockerbie after the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, as Scottish Secretary. After touring the wreckage, he gave the first indication that the plane had exploded. He told reporters: "The aircraft clearly experienced some form of explosion, which has resulted in many parts of the aircraft falling in many different locations—that we know. But what might have caused that to happen, I'm sorry, I could not even speculate."[2] It would later turn out that a terrorist bomb blew up the aircraft.
In 1990 he was moved by John Major to a series of Cabinet posts, from Secretary of State for Scotland, Transport and Defence Secretary in 1992. In 1994 he announced the Front Line First defence cuts. In the final years of the Major administration he was the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs. In that role, on 24 September 1996 Rifkind addressed the United Nations General Assembly and called for a UN Declaration barring political asylum for terrorists, arguing that they should not be able to benefit from the provisions of the 1951 UN Convention on Refugees to secure political asylum. In the same speech he emphasised Britain's commitment to the goal of global free trade by 2020 and said all governments should liberalise their economies and lift trading restrictions.[3]
[edit] 1997 election defeat
He received a knighthood in John Major’s resignation honours in 1997, becoming a Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George (KCMG), in recognition of his work for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs.
In the 1997 general election he lost his Pentlands seat in common with all Conservatives in Scotland (and Wales), and was succeeded by Labour candidate Lynda Clark. Rifkind was one of the few MPs to try again in his old seat, rather than seeking a safer one, standing again for Edinburgh Pentlands against Clark in the 2001 general election; although he improved his showing somewhat, he was unable to overturn the sizeable 10.6% majority in an election where the Conservatives made little progress. During this time he remained politically active, as president of the Scottish Conservatives, and used his position outside Westminster to criticize the 2003 invasion of Iraq and the Blair Government's support of it. At the time, the Conservative Party was staunchly in support of the invasion.
On April 13, 2004, Rifkind was named "non-executive chairman" of ArmorGroup, a private military contractor that "makes 60 per cent of its revenues in Iraq," the Financial Times reported on November 5, 2005. ArmorGroup "has over 5000 personnel located in over 40 subsidiaries based in over 50 countries." [4]
Rifkind is co-Vice Chair (with former U.S. Under-Secretary of Defense Dov S. Zakheim) of Global Panel America, the North American partner of the Global Panel Foundation. The Chair is former Canadian Foreign and Finance Minister Barbara McDougall. Other board members include Stuart E. Eizenstat, Thomas R. Pickering, Martin Walker, Jim Woolsey and Baroness Cox of Queensbury.
[edit] Return to the House of Commons
The Edinburgh Pentlands seat was abolished for the 2005 general election, as part of a general reduction of the number of seats Scotland is entitled to, freeing Rifkind to look for a new seat to contest. In the 2005 general election he won the ultra safe seat of Kensington and Chelsea with a majority of 12,418. He succeeded Michael Portillo, who retired from politics at that election. On May 10, 2005 he was appointed Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary. On August 14, 2005 he announced that he would stand as a contender to replace Michael Howard as Conservative leader in its contest expected November 2005. Appearing on Newsnight on August 31, after Ken Clarke had announced his candidacy and stressed his opposition to the war in Iraq and has called for British troops to be withdrawn and replaced by troops from moderate Arab countries. However, at the same time, Sir Malcolm Rifkind also sits a remunerate non-executive director of private security company ArmorGroup, which has several thousand private security personnel (mercenaries) in Afghanistan and Iraq.
On October 11, 2005, he announced that he was withdrawing from the leadership contest and that he would be supporting Kenneth Clarke's candidacy.
On December 7, 2005 he left the Conservative front bench as incoming leader David Cameron formed his team. Rifkind admitted that he had not wished to remain a Shadow Cabinet minister unless in the post of Shadow Foreign Secretary, but this post had gone to William Hague. Rifkind declared his loyalty to the new party leader and remains one of the Conservative Party's most experienced senior figures.
[edit] References
- Torrance, David, The Scottish Secretaries (Birlinn 2006)
- Footnotes
- ^ Giving and belonging: the lesson Jews can offer new immigrants
- ^ Cody, Edward. "Pan Am Jet Crashes in Scotland, Killing 270", Washington Post, 22 Dec 1988.
- ^ The Times, 25 September 1996
- ^ P.W. Singer, Corporate Warriors: The Rise of the Privatized Military Industry [Ithaca & London: Cornell University Press, 2003], p. 84
[edit] Publications
- Rights and wrongs: The European Convention on Human Rights and its application in the United Kingdom (SSC biennial lecture) by Malcolm Rifkind (2000, Society of Solicitors in the Supreme Courts of Scotland) ISBN B0000CP0RH
- Head to Head on the Euro: Kenneth Clarke and Malcolm Rifkind edited by Janet Bush (2000, New Europe) ISBN 0-9536360-3-8
- Conservative Britain in the 21st century by Malcolm Rifkind (1996, Centre for Policy Studies) ISBN 1-897969-53-8
- Hume Occasional Paper No.46: UN Peacekeeping – Past Lessons and Future Prospects (Hume Occasional Papers) by Malcolm Rifkind (1995, The David Hume Institute) ISBN 1-870482-43-3
- Towards 2000 by Malcolm Rifkind (1988, Conservative Political Centre) ISBN 0-85070-788-9
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Conservative Party – Rt Hon Sir Malcolm Rifkind QC MP official biography
- Kensington & Chelsea Conservatives
- Guardian Unlimited Politics Ask Aristotle – Sir Malcolm Rifkind MP
- TheyWorkForYou.com - Sir Malcolm Rifkind MP
- The Public Whip – Malcolm Rifkind MP voting record
- Open Directory Project – Sir Malcolm Rifkind directory category
- ePolitix - Sir Malcolm Rifkind - Shadow work and pensions secretary 10 June 2005 interview
- BBC News – Rifkind in frame for leadership 7 June 2005
- BBC News – Profile: Sir Malcolm Rifkind 10 May 2005
- The Observer – Manifesto for a Conservative Britain column by Malcolm Rifkind, 8 May 2005
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Norman Wylie |
Member of Parliament for Edinburgh Pentlands 1974–1997 |
Succeeded by Lynda Clark |
| Preceded by Michael Portillo |
Member of Parliament for Kensington and Chelsea 2005 – present |
Incumbent |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by George Younger |
Secretary of State for Scotland 1986–1990 |
Succeeded by Ian Lang |
| Preceded by Cecil Parkinson |
Secretary of State for Transport 1990–1992 |
Succeeded by John MacGregor |
| Preceded by Tom King |
Secretary of State for Defence 1992–1995 |
Succeeded by Michael Portillo |
| Preceded by Douglas Hurd |
Foreign Secretary 1995–1997 |
Succeeded by Robin Cook |
