Parliamentary Career
MacKay first entered parliament in 1977, after winning the Birmingham Stechford by-election. He lost the seat at the 1979 general election, but re-entered parliament in 1983 as MP for East Berkshire. He was deputy Chief Whip under John Major, and was shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland from 1997 to September 2001 during the leadership of William Hague. He remained on the backbenches since but was appointed a Conservative Deputy Chairman in September 2004 with responsibility for candidates, and, upon David Cameron's election in November 2005 as Leader of the Conservative Party, MacKay became a Senior Parliamentary/Political Adviser to the new Conservative leader.
On 23 May 2009, after a telephone call from Cameron, it was announced that MacKay would stand down at the 2010 general election. At a public meeting in his constituency on 22 May he had been heckled, and called a "thieving toad" according to The Independent. It was later reported the same day that he would receive £105,000 as "a golden goodbye".
Read more about this topic: Andrew MacKay
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