Member of the Scottish Parliament for Edinburgh Eastern Edinburgh East and Musselburgh (2007–2011)
In office 3 May 2007 – 24 March 2016
Preceded by
Susan Deacon
Succeeded by
Ash Denham
Member of the Scottish Parliament for Lothians (1 of 7 Regional MSPs)
In office 6 May 1999 – 3 May 2007
Personal details
Born
(1958-04-28) 28 April 1958 (age 66) Edinburgh, Scotland
Political party
Alba[1]
Other political affiliations
SNP (1978–2021)
Alma mater
University of Edinburgh
Profession
Solicitor
Website
www.kennymacaskillmp.scot
Kenneth Wright MacAskill (born 28 April 1958) is a Scottish politician who has been Member of Parliament (MP) for East Lothian since 2019. He previously served as Cabinet Secretary for Justice from 2007 to 2014 and was a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) from 1999 to 2016. A former member of the Scottish National Party (SNP), he defected to the Alba Party in 2021 and currently serves as the party's depute[a] leader.
Born in Edinburgh and educated at Linlithgow Academy, MacAskill studied law at the University of Edinburgh and was a senior partner in a law firm in Glasgow. He was a long-standing member of the SNP's National Executive Committee and served as treasurer and vice convener of policy, before being elected at the 1999 Scottish Parliament election. He was convener of the Scottish Parliament Subordinate Legislation Committee from 1999 to 2001.
Following the SNP's victory in 2007, MacAskill was appointed as Cabinet Secretary for Justice in the Scottish Government. In this role, he oversaw the controversial transfer of convicted terrorist Abdelbaset al-Megrahi to his native Libya. MacAskill left office in November 2014 in the Cabinet reshuffle which followed the appointment of Nicola Sturgeon as First Minister of Scotland and stood down from the Scottish Parliament at the 2016 election.
After standing down from the Scottish Parliament, MacAskill was elected to the House of Commons as MP for East Lothian at the 2019 general election, gaining the previously Labour-held seat from Martin Whitfield. In March 2021, MacAskill defected from the SNP to the Alba Party. At the 2021 Scottish Parliament election, he stood on the Alba Party's Lothian regional list but neither he nor his party succeeded in gaining a seat.
^"MP Kenny MacAskill quits SNP to join Alex Salmond's Alba Party". The National. Retrieved 27 March 2021.
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"KennyMacAskill: SNP MP defends 200-mile trips between constituency and second home". The Scotsman. Retrieved 29 January 2021. "Macaskill, Kenny". Politics...
an SNP candidate for the 2021 Scottish Parliament election. The MPs KennyMacAskill and Neale Hanvey, as well as the former MP Corri Wilson, joined the...
MacAskill, also spelt Macaskill and McCaskill is a surname. It is an Anglicisation of the Gaelic Mac Asgaill, meaning "son of Asgall". The Gaelic name...
upcoming 2016 Scottish Parliament elections after the incumbent MSP KennyMacAskill, had announced in June that he would not stand for re-election. She...
the members of the Alba Party (Neale Hanvey and KennyMacAskill) and Independent Angus MacNeil. "Angus MacNeil to work with Alba in 'Scotland United' group...
until his defeat at the 2019 general election by the SNP candidate KennyMacAskill, who later defected to Alba in 2021. Whitfield was born in Gosforth...
Party. Retrieved 22 March 2023. Webster, Laura (27 March 2021). "MP KennyMacAskill quits SNP to join Alex Salmond's Alba Party". The National. Retrieved...
Minister Gordon Brown for Salmond, the Cabinet Secretary for Justice KennyMacAskill and the Lord Advocate Elish Angiolini to attend an emergency COBRA...
boundaries of its Council area. The current MP for East Lothian is KennyMacAskill of the Alba Party, who has represented the constituency since the 2019...
On 24 June 2004, Sturgeon also entered the leadership contest, with KennyMacAskill as her running mate. The political columnist Iain Macwhirter declared...
elections was credited to organisation by Murrell. In January 2019 KennyMacAskill, former SNP Justice Secretary suggested Murrell should resign. Following...
target seat in Scotland, which is currently held by the Alba Party's KennyMacAskill, who was elected for the SNP. He won the selection to stand for Labour...
2022, Speaker Lindsay Hoyle ejected Hanvey and his Alba colleague KennyMacAskill (East Lothian) from the House of Commons for disrupting the start of...
of Historic Scotland, located 3 miles (5 km) east of North Berwick. KennyMacAskill of the Alba Party has served as the Member of Parliament for East Lothian...
skull only two millimetres thick at the point of impact. MSPs such as KennyMacAskill have claimed Scotland has a problem with air gun violence. However...
instead for the Depute Leadership. The two ran on a joint campaign. KennyMacAskill dropped his bid for Depute Leader, and gave his support to Sturgeon...
Party. Retrieved 22 March 2023. Webster, Laura (27 March 2021). "MP KennyMacAskill quits SNP to join Alex Salmond's Alba Party". The National. Retrieved...
Minister, Alex Salmond, along with the Cabinet Secretary for Justice, KennyMacAskill and the Lord Advocate Elish Angiolini participated in the COBRA meeting...
had refused. The BBC said the programme contained Jim Sillars and KennyMacAskill, who were supporters of Salmond. A later news story said that Salmond...
the election by 547 votes to 268. Mike Russell Roseanna Cunningham KennyMacAskill Federation of Student Nationalists Adam Ingram Peter Kearney "Scramble...
re-appointed as Deputy First Minister and Health Secretary. John Swinney, Kenny McAskill and Richard Lochhead all remained in cabinet, with Fiona Hyslop returning...
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