Sir Malcolm Leslie Rifkind (born 21 June 1946) is a British politician who served in various roles as a Cabinet minister under Prime Ministers Margaret Thatcher and John Major, including Secretary of State for Scotland (1986–1990), Defence Secretary (1992–1995), and Foreign Secretary (1995–1997).
Rifkind was the MP for Edinburgh Pentlands from 1974 to 1997.
In 1997, his party lost power and he lost his seat to the Labour Party.
He attempted, unsuccessfully, to be re-elected in Pentlands in 2001; the constituency was abolished before the 2005 general election and he was adopted, and subsequently elected, as the Conservative candidate for Kensington and Chelsea.
He announced his intention to seek the leadership of the party before the 2005 Conservative Party leadership election, but withdrew before polling commenced.
Rifkind stood for the Kensington seat and was elected at the 2010 general election with a majority of 8,616 votes.
He was appointed Chairman of the Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament by the Prime Minister, David Cameron, on 6 July 2010.
In January 2015 he was appointed by the OSCE as a member of their Eminent Persons Panel on European Security.
In December 2015, Rifkind was appointed a Visiting Professor by King's College, London in their Department of War Studies.
He was also invited to become a Distinguished Fellow at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI).
In July 2016, his memoirs, Power and Pragmatism, were published.
In 2017, Rifkind was invited by the UK Government to become the British Co-Chairman of the Belvedere Polish–British Forum.