Scottish-born British Government Minister, diplomat and colonial governor. He was the son of British prime minister, Ramsay MacDonald.
He was elected as a Labour MP in 1929. In 1931 MacDonald’s father formed the National Government with representatives drawn from all political parties. Very few Labour members would support it, however, and so Malcolm was appointed to a junior ministerial post as Under-Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs. When the Labour members of parliament met to discuss the formation of the government, Malcolm was the only one present who spoke in favour of his father’s actions and voted against a condemnatory resolution. MacDonald held his seat in the 1931 general election as a National Labour candidate, and continued to build up a reputation as a highly competent minister. When his father retired in 1935, the new Prime Minister, Stanley Baldwin, appointed Malcolm to the Cabinet for the first time as Secretary of State for the Colonies. His father had become Lord President of the Council and they became only the third father and son to sit together in the same Cabinet.
In May 1940, Winston Churchill formed an all party coalition, bringing the Labour Party into the National Government for the first time. There was some speculation that their hostility might result in MacDonald being amongst the ministers dropped, but MacDonald was retained and became Minister of Health. In June 1940, he was sent to Dublin for a series of meetings with Eamon De Valera: he was authorised to offer the end of the Partition of Ireland if the Free State would enter the war on the Allied side. De Valera declined the offer. The following year his career took a different turn when he was appointed High Commissioner to Canada. Initially special legislation was passed to allow him to retain his seat in Parliament, but in 1945 the National Labour Party dissolved itself and MacDonald decided to retire from British politics.
After his term in Canada ended in 1946, MacDonald moved on to serve in other Imperial posts: as Governor-General of Malaya to 1948 and then Commissioner-General for Southeast Asia during the communist insurrection; as High Commissioner in India from 1955 to 1960; as co-chairman of the Laos Conference; and finally as Governor-General of Kenya between 1963 and 1964.
He died in 1981.
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