George Mackie obituary

George Mackie, who has died of pancreatic cancer aged 70, was a straightforward man, but one of paradox. He was a Kincardineshire Scot who lived in southern England, an Essex farmer who was also a socialist, a formidable Scottish rugby international who was notably soft-spoken. “A gentle giant, never the loudest around the dinner table, but usually the wisest,” said his friend Brian Wilson, the politician.

The son of Jeannie (nee Inglis Milne) and John Mackie, George sprang from a progressive farming dynasty in north-east Scotland. Radicalised by poverty he saw in Glasgow as a young man, his father became a leading Tribune Group leftwinger. MP for Enfield East (1959-74), he was a respected junior agriculture minister, later chairman of the Forestry Commission (1976-79) until Margaret Thatcher sacked him.

Continue reading...