Malcolm Sinclair, 20th Earl of Caithness

Malcolm Ian Sinclair, 20th Earl of Caithness, PC (born 3 November 1948), is a Scottish Conservative politician and member of the House of Lords as one of the remaining hereditary peers. He is also 20th Lord Berriedale, 15th Baronet Sinclair, of Canisbay, Co. Caithness, Nova Scotia, and chief of Clan Sinclair. He is the Chief Executive of the Clan Sinclair Trust.

The Right Honourable The Earl of Caithness PC
Minister of State for Railways and Roads
In office 14 April 1992 – 11 January 1994
Prime Minister	John Major
Preceded by	The Lord Brabazon of Tara
Succeeded by	John Watts
Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs
In office 14 July 1990 – 14 April 1992
Prime Minister	Margaret Thatcher John Major
Preceded by	The Lord Brabazon of Tara
Succeeded by	Tristan Garel-Jones
Paymaster-General
In office 25 July 1989 – 14 July 1990
Prime Minister	Margaret Thatcher
Preceded by	Peter Brooke
Succeeded by	Richard Ryder
Minister of State for Housing
In office 25 July 1988 – 25 July 1989
Prime Minister	Margaret Thatcher
Preceded by	William Waldegrave
Succeeded by	Michael Howard
Minister of State for Environment
In office 10 January 1988 – 25 July 1988
Prime Minister	Margaret Thatcher
Preceded by	The Lord Belstead
Succeeded by	Michael Howard
Minister of State for Home Affairs
In office 10 September 1986 – 10 January 1988
Prime Minister	Margaret Thatcher
Preceded by	Giles Shaw
Succeeded by	The Earl Ferrers
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport
In office 2 September 1985 – 10 September 1986
Prime Minister	Margaret Thatcher
Preceded by	David Mitchell
Succeeded by	The Lord Brabazon of Tara
Lord-in-waiting Government Whip
In office 8 May 1984 – 2 September 1985
Prime Minister	Margaret Thatcher
Preceded by	The Lord Lyell
Succeeded by	The Viscount Davidson
Member of the House of Lords Lord Temporal
Incumbent
Assumed office 2 December 1969 Hereditary peerage
Preceded by	The 19th Earl of Caithness
Personal details
Born	(1948-11-03) 3 November 1948
Political party	Conservative
Alma mater	Marlborough College Royal Agricultural College, Cirencester

Education

Sinclair was educated at Blairmore School, Aberdeenshire (then Marlborough College), and the Royal Agricultural College, Cirencester.

House of Lords and political offices

Malcolm Caithness served as a House of Lords government-whip under Margaret Thatcher from 1984 to 1985. He then moved to the Department of Transport as a Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, serving until 1986, the year when he became Minister of State at the Home Office. In 1988, he was once appointed Minister of State at the Department of Environment. In 1989, he became Paymaster-General and a Minister of State in the Treasury.[1]

In 1990, Caithness was appointed Minister of State at the Foreign Office, and then, in 1992, back to the Department of Transport. He married Diana Caroline Coke (1953–1994) in 1975. He was made a privy counsellor in 1990.

With the passage of the House of Lords Act 1999, Caithness, along with most other hereditary peers, lost his automatic right to sit in the House of Lords. He was, however, elected as one of the 90 representative peers designed under the provisions of the act to remain in the House of Lords. He has since blocked further reform of the Lords, tabling 'wrecking' amendments to a draft Bill to abolish by-elections for hereditary peers, proposed by Lord Grocott in 2018. [2]

Caithness is an opponent of fractional-reserve banking.[3]

Caithness was a trustee of Queen Elizabeth Castle of Mey Trust, from its inception in 1996 until 2016. In 1999, he helped found a heritage charity, the Clan Sinclair Trust, the aim of which is the preservation and conservation of Castle Sinclair Girnigoe, near Wick in Caithness. He serves as chief executive and has been responsible for getting the castle listed by the World Monuments Fund in its Watch List of the 100 Most Endangered Sites in the World in 2002, the fundraising and overseeing the remedial works which has allowed the castle to be accessible and open to the public.

Personal life

In January 1994, Caithness resigned from his post at the Ministry of Transport, following the suicide of his wife, Diana Caroline Coke.[4] In 2004, he married Leila C. Jenkins in Rosslyn Chapel, whom he had met at Ascot,[5] and he filed for divorce a year later.[4]

His children are Lady Iona Alexandra Sinclair (b. 1978), and Alexander James Richard Sinclair, Lord Berriedale (b. 1981).

Clan Sinclair

There are Clan Sinclair associations in the UK, Australia, Canada, Italy, and the USA.

Malcolm Sinclair has organized the first Clan Sinclair International Gathering in Caithness in 2000, and then again in 2002, 2005, 2008, 2010, 2012 (in Norway), and 2015.

In 2009, Sinclair, referring to the role of Clan Chiefs, said "I do not believe there is an obligation towards the clan in any formal sense. For many years I took no interest in the Clan because I was too busy earning a living and bringing up the family...If a chief can give the time, particularly to the Diaspora, then there are huge rewards for everyone and I would hope that most chiefs can do that".[6]

References

1. Mosley, Charles (ed.) Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th edition, volume 1 (Wilmington, DE: Burke's Peerage, 2003) page 641.
2. Garland, Jessica. "A handful of hereditary peers are trying to stifle reform – they are on the wrong side of history". Electoral Reform Society.
3. House of Lords record, February 2009, Hansard archives
4. Sinclair, Robert (2013) The Sinclairs of Scotland, AuthorHouse, 12 June 2013, ISBN 978-1481795708
5. Ward, Louise (15 November 2004). "Earl of Caithness marries American businesswoman". The Scotsman. Edinburgh. Retrieved 22 August 2010.
6. Chief to Chief - Malcolm Sinclair, The Earl of Caithness, Jamie Sempill, 15 July 2009 Archived 10 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by the Earl of Caithness
• Hereditary Chief, Clan Sinclair, Caithness
• Malcolm Sinclair, 20th Earl of Caithness, The Peerage website

Political offices
Preceded by Peter Brooke	Paymaster General 1989–1990	Succeeded by Richard Ryder
Peerage of Scotland
Preceded by James Sinclair	Earl of Caithness 1965–present	Incumbent