Malcolm Rifkind
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Sir Malcolm Leslie Rifkind (born 21 June 1946) is a British Conservative Party politician. He held cabinet positions in the governments of Margaret Thatcher and John Major. He was the Chairman for the Intelligence and Security Committee and the Member of Parliament (MP) for the constituency of Kensington.
Malcolm Rifkind was born in Edinburgh into a Jewish family from Lithuania.[1] He first became a Conservative MP at the February 1974 General Election for the constituency of Edinburgh Pentlands. He was first made a cabinet minister in 1979 and served constantly through 18 years of Conservative government.
His cabinet posts included:
- Minister of Home Affairs and the Environment at the Scottish Office (1979 - 1983)
- Minister of State at the Foreign Office (1983 - 1986)
- Secretary of State for Scotland (1986 - 1990)
- Secretary of State for Transport (1990 - 1992)
- Secretary of State for Defence (1992 - 1995)
- Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (1995 - 1997)
At the 1997 General Election, Malcolm Rifkind lost his seat to the Labour Party. He tried but failed to regain the seat at the 2001 General Election and re-entered parliament in 2005 as the MP for Kensington. Rifkind left parliament in 2015.
References
[change | change source]- 1946 births
- Living people
- Conservative Party (UK) MPs
- Members of the British House of Commons for Scottish constituencies
- Jewish British politicians
- Members of the British House of Commons for English constituencies
- Politicians from Edinburgh
- UK MPs 1974
- UK MPs 1974–1979
- UK MPs 1979–1983
- UK MPs 1983–1987
- UK MPs 1987–1992
- UK MPs 1992–1997
- UK MPs 2005–2010
- UK MPs 2010–2015
- Secretaries of State for Scotland