He was educated at a number of local schools, including St. Francis Primary School, St. Edward's Primary School and St. George's Secondary School (which later became Trinity Catholic College, Middlesbrough). He attended St. Mary's Sixth Form College before studying a degree in law at Leeds Polytechnic.
Legal career
Upon completing his law degree, McDonald worked as a solicitor for over 25 years. He was a senior solicitor at the Middlesbrough office of Thompsons Solicitors and led the firm's Serious Injury Unit for the Cumbria, Humberside, North East and Yorkshire areas. He was also the firm's Head of Military Claims for members of the British Armed Forces.[3] Whilst working for the firm, McDonald acted as an adviser to the House of Commons Defence Select Committee for its 2003 report on Armed Forces Pensions and Compensation.[4] He has also served as both Chair and as Secretary of the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers' Military Special Interest Group, and was a founder member of The Royal British Legion's Solicitors Group.[5]
Early political career
McDonald was active in local politics in Middlesbrough for many years. He served as a Labour councillor for Westbourne ward from 1995 to 1999.[6] At the time of his selection as a parliamentary candidate, he was chairman of Middlesbrough Labour Party Local Government Committee.[7]
McDonald was elected to Parliament when he won the Middlesbrough by-election held on 29 November 2012, retaining the seat for Labour following the death of Sir Stuart Bell. McDonald increased the party's share of the vote to 60.5%, though his majority was reduced by 500 to 8,211.[8]
Since his election to Parliament, he has campaigned against the "Bedroom Tax" (part of the Welfare Reform Act 2012) and in favour of nationalisation of the East Coast Main Line franchise, arguing that the Scotland-London railway had been the only one in the country "which comes close to paying for itself" and that journey numbers, revenue and customer satisfaction had grown since nationalisation in 2009.[9]
In June 2016, he was promoted to Shadow Transport Secretary during Corbyn's post-Brexit Shadow Cabinet reshuffle.[13] In his time as Shadow Transport Secretary, McDonald oversaw the development of Labour's policy to nationalise the railways. On the 25th anniversary of the privatisation of the railways, McDonald said privatisation had failed since the taxpayer was "putting in even more money to the privatised system than when it was nationalised", and that nationalisation would allow a Labour government to cap fares and run the railways in the interest of passengers.[14]
At the snap 2017 general election, McDonald was again re-elected with an increased vote share of 65.7% and an increased majority of 13,873.[15]
In March 2018, McDonald was accused of comparing the situation in Gaza to the Holocaust by Karen Pollock, the chief executive of the Holocaust Educational Trust[16]
At the 2019 general election, McDonald was again re-elected, seeing his share of the vote decrease to 50.5% and his majority reduced to 8,395.[17]
In April 2020, incoming leader Keir Starmer moved McDonald to the role of Shadow Secretary of State for Employment Rights and Protections.[18] McDonald was the chair of Labour's "Power in the Workplace Taskforce" which provided input into Labour's Employment Rights' Green Paper published in September 2021. The paper stated that "Labour is demanding that the minimum wage is immediately raised to at least £10 per hour for all workers".[19] In September 2021, McDonald resigned as Shadow Secretary, citing lack of support from Starmer for an increase in the minimum wage to £15 per hour. He said he had been instructed by Starmer's office to argue at the Labour Party Conference "against a national minimum wage of £15 an hour and against statutory sick pay at the living wage".[20]
In April 2023, using parliamentary privilege when speaking in the House of Commons, McDonald alleged "shocking, industrial-scale corruption" surrounding the Teesworks free port development near Redcar.[21][22] In May 2023, the government commissioned an independent review into the allegations.[23][24] In the subsequent report published in January 2024, the review found no evidence to support allegations of corruption or illegality whilst going on to make recommendations to improve governance and transparency of the project.[25]
In June 2023, McDonald condemned the government's proposal to house 1,500 asylum seekers on a barge, possibly in Middlesbrough.[26]
In October 2023, McDonald lost the Labourwhip after using the phrase "between the river to the sea" at a pro-Palestine rally.[27] Consequently, he sat as an independent MP.[28][29][30] In early November 2023, McDonald announced that he would sue Conservative MP Chris Clarkson over his response to his comments.[31] McDonald had the Labour whip reinstated on 11 March 2024.[32] This was confirmed by a Labour Party spokesperson.[27] The party's investigation found that he had "not engaged in conduct that was against the party's rulebook".[27] In a statement McDonald said, "It was never my intention to use words that would cause anyone distress or anguish and I bitterly regret the pain and hurt caused. Accordingly, I will not use that phrasing again."[27]
McDonald was a governor of Abingdon Primary School for fifteen years until 2010, and became a governor of Middlesbrough College in 2012.[5] He has also been chair of two charities in his constituency, the Davison Trust, which works with children with special needs, and the Teesside branch of Headway, which works with people with brain injuries.[2]
