Kenneth Donald Macintosh (born 15 January 1962) is a Scottish politician who served as the Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament from 2016 to 2021. Elected as a member of Scottish Labour, he suspended his party membership on becoming Presiding Officer. Macintosh was a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) from 1999 to 2021, representing the Eastwood constituency from 1999 to 2016, and then the West Scotland region from 2016 to 2021. Born in Inverness, Macintosh was employed between 1987 and 1999 as a television producer for the BBC, working on its news broadcasts and election coverage. He was first elected in the 1999 Scottish Parliament election as a Scottish Labour and Co-operative Party candidate, and retained his seat of Eastwood in the 2003, 2007 and the 2011 elections, but lost it in the 2016 election. In that election, he was returned on the regional list. Early life Family background and education Kenneth Donald Macintosh was born on 15 January 1962 in Inverness. Macintosh was educated at the Portree and Oban primary schools before attending the state comprehensive Royal High School, Edinburgh. Both his parents were headteachers. His father, Dr Farquhar Macintosh CBE, was a Gaelic speaker from the Isle of Skye, a leading intellectual in Scottish education, rector of Royal High School and chair of the Scottish Examination Board. His mother, Margaret Macintosh, came from Peebles and was head of Drummond Community High and assistant head of Wester Hailes Education Centre. Early career After graduating from the University of Edinburgh with a History MA (Hons) in 1984, Macintosh became a television producer in 1987 for the BBC News Network. He also worked on Breakfast with Frost, Breakfast News, and the Nine O'Clock News. In addition, he also worked as a researcher on election programmes for both David Dimbleby and Jonathan Dimbleby. Political career Early parliamentary career At the 1999 Scottish Parliament election, Macintosh won the Eastwood constituency with a majority of 2,125 votes. In February 2002, Macintosh was appointed as a ministerial parliamentary aide to Minister for Education and Young People, Cathy Jamieson. He resigned from this role in September 2002 when he voted against the Labour–Liberal Democrat Coalition Scottish Executive over the closure of the A&E department at the Glasgow Victoria Infirmary. Macintosh became Deputy Convenor on the Standards Committee but had to resign from this position in 2005 after it was revealed he had failed to declare