Ken Macintosh

Kenneth "Ken" Macintosh (born 15 January 1962) is a Scottish Labour Party politician and the MSP for the Eastwood constituency. He was first elected in the 1999 Scottish Parliament election and retained his seat in the 2003, 2007 and the 2011 elections. He previously worked as a television producer for the BBC.

Early life

Born in Inverness, Macintosh was educated at the Portree and Oban primary schools before attending Royal High School, Edinburgh. He graduated from the University of Edinburgh with an History MA (Hons) in 1984.

Both his parents were headteachers. His father Dr Farquhar Macintosh CBE was a Gaelic speaker from Skye, a leading intellectual in Scottish education and was Rector of the Royal High in Edinburgh and chair of the Scottish Examination Board. His mother, Margaret Macintosh, is from Peebles and was head of Drummond Community High and assistant head of Wester Hailes Education Centre.

BBC career

Before Macintosh became an MSP, he was from 1987 to 1999, a television producer for the BBC News Network. He also worked on Breakfast with Frost, Breakfast News, and the Nine O'Clock News. He was also worked as a researcher on election programmes for both David Dimbleby and Jonathan Dimbleby.