The Office star Ewen MacIntosh has died
Actor and comedian Ewen MacIntosh, best known for playing Keith in The Office, has died at the age of 50.
The star died on Monday, his management company Just Right confirmed. His cause of death has not been disclosed, but he had been unwell for the past two years.
“Ewen was a wonderful actor and an even better human being,” they said in a statement. “He made people laugh and possessed such a kind heart. He touched the lives of all who came into contact with him.”
Just Right said MacIntosh’s family had been “heartened by” and appreciative of “all the outpouring of love for Ewen”, but had requested privacy to grieve peacefully.
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The Office star and creator Ricky Gervais shared a tribute on X, formerly Twitter, describing MacIntosh as “very funny and very lovely”, and “an absolute original”.
The Office fan podcast Out Of Office also posted a message, saying MacIntosh would “always be fondly remembered firstly as a great guy, but also as a key part of the greatest British sitcom of all time. An excellent legacy to leave. RIP”.
MacIntosh’s friend Ed Scott, an executive producer, shared a poignant tribute on his social media accounts, saying the actor was “known by millions as Keith from The Office but the person inside is what I will most remember”.
He continued: “Ewen was so full of empathy, kindness, and integrity and above all a really good man… He was a firm friend first and foremost but I also was fortunate to have worked on several occasions with him nailing every take with great humour despite the scripts I made him recite!”
Scott also paid tribute to those who cared for him, saying: “Thanks to the incredible care and love provided by the wonderful medical staff and especially the nurses who all loved him when he brought a smile to their days.
“I saw first hand the empathy and incredible care they gave him was just so reassuring during the toughest of times and am forever grateful to them all.”
As well as The Office, MacIntosh also appeared in Gervais’s series After Life, as well as Little Britain and Miranda, and films including The Lobster, starring Olivia Colman and Colin Farrell.
But it is his role as Wernham Hogg accountant Keith Bishop – also known as “Big Keith” – for which he will be best remembered.
Macintosh (and scotch egg) pictured at the world premiere of David Brent: Life On The Road in 2016. Pic: PA
Among his memorable scenes were dressing up as Ali G for Red Nose Day, and any dedicated to his love of scotch eggs. And like all good employees, he was aware of both his strengths (accounts) and weaknesses (eczema).
In an interview with The Independent celebrating 20 years of The Office in 2021, MacIntosh told how he didn’t originally have a character when the show started – his lines were those of “office worker” – but Keith “sort of developed through the first series”.
He also paid tribute to his scotch eggs, saying: “We were reusing them by the end, turning them around to hide the bites because we did so many takes. The funny thing is, they don’t really have scotch eggs in America, so when the show started to do well there, Americans were like, ‘I love that guy with the apple’. I was like: ‘That’s not an apple, my friend…'”
TV comedy channel Gold has also paid tribute, saying: “We loved him as Keith in The Office and were lucky enough to work with him over the years on the channel. Our thoughts go out to his family and friends at such a difficult time.”
The UK-US trade deal has been signed and is “done”, US President Donald Trump has said as he met Sir Keir Starmer at the G7 summit.
The US president told reporters in Canada: “We signed it, and it’s done. It’s a fair deal for both. It’ll produce a lot of jobs, a lot of income.”
Sir Keir said the document “implements” the deal to cut tariffs on cars and aerospace, describing it as a “really important agreement”.
“So this is a very good day for both of our countries – a real sign of strength,” the prime minister added.
Mr Trump added that the UK was “very well protected” against any future tariffs, saying: “You know why? Because I like them”.
However, he did not say whether levies on British steel exports to the US would be set to 0%, saying “we’re gonna let you have that information in a little while”.
Mr Trump also praised Sir Keir as a “great” prime minister, adding: “We’ve been talking about this deal for six years, and he’s done what they haven’t been able to do.”
He added: “We’re very longtime partners and allies and friends and we’ve become friends in a short period of time.
“He’s slightly more liberal than me to put it mildly… but we get along.”
Sir Keir added that “we make it work”.
As the pair exited a mountain lodge in the Canadian Rockies where the summit is being held, Mr Trump held up a physical copy of the trade agreement to show reporters.
Several leaves of paper fell from the binding, and Sir Keir quickly stooped to pick them up, saying: “A very important document.”
Sir Keir Starmer picks up paper from the UK-US trade deal after Donald Trump dropped it at the G7 summit. Pic: Reuters
The US president also appeared to mistakenly refer to a “trade agreement with the European Union” at one point as he stood alongside the British prime minister.
Mr Trump announced his “Liberation Day” tariffs on countries in April. At the time, he announced 10% “reciprocal” rates on all UK exports – as well as separately announced 25% levies on cars and steel.
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In a joint televised phone call in May, Sir Keir and Mr Trump announced the UK and US had agreed on a trade deal – but added the details were being finalised.
Ahead of the G7 summit, the prime minister said he would meet Mr Trump for “one-on-one” talks, and added the agreement “really matters for the vital sectors that are safeguarded under our deal, and we’ve got to implement that”.
Whitehall officials tried to convince Michael Gove to go to court to cover up the grooming scandal in 2011, Sky News can reveal.
Dominic Cummings, who was working for Lord Gove at the time, has told Sky News that officials in the Department for Education (DfE) wanted to help efforts by Rotherham Council to stop a national newspaper from exposing the scandal.
In an interview with Sky News, Mr Cummings said that officials wanted a “total cover-up”.
Politics latest: Grooming gangs findings unveiled
The revelation shines a light on the institutional reluctance of some key officials in central government to publicly highlight the grooming gang scandal.
In 2011, Rotherham Council approached the Department for Education asking for help following inquiries by The Times. The paper’s then chief reporter, the late Andrew Norfolk, was asking about sexual abuse and trafficking of children in Rotherham.
The council went to Lord Gove’s Department for Education for help. Officials considered the request and then recommended to Lord Gove’s office that the minister back a judicial review which might, if successful, stop The Times publishing the story.
Lord Gove rejected the request on the advice of Mr Cummings. Sources have independently confirmed Mr Cummings’ account.
Education Secretary Michael Gove in 2011. Pic: PA
Mr Cummings told Sky News: “Officials came to me in the Department of Education and said: ‘There’s this Times journalist who wants to write the story about these gangs. The local authority wants to judicially review it and stop The Times publishing the story’.
“So I went to Michael Gove and said: ‘This council is trying to actually stop this and they’re going to use judicial review. You should tell the council that far from siding with the council to stop The Times you will write to the judge and hand over a whole bunch of documents and actually blow up the council’s JR (judicial review).’
“Some officials wanted a total cover-up and were on the side of the council…
“They wanted to help the local council do the cover-up and stop The Times’ reporting, but other officials, including in the DfE private office, said this is completely outrageous and we should blow it up. Gove did, the judicial review got blown up, Norfolk stories ran.”
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Grooming gangs victim speaks out
The judicial review wanted by officials would have asked a judge to decide about the lawfulness of The Times’ publication plans and the consequences that would flow from this information entering the public domain.
A second source told Sky News that the advice from officials was to side with Rotherham Council and its attempts to stop publication of details it did not want in the public domain.
One of the motivations cited for stopping publication would be to prevent the identities of abused children entering the public domain.
There was also a fear that publication could set back the existing attempts to halt the scandal, although incidents of abuse continued for many years after these cases.
Sources suggested that there is also a natural risk aversion amongst officials to publicity of this sort.
Read more on grooming gangs:
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Mr Cummings, who ran the Vote Leave Brexit campaign and was Boris Johnson’s right-hand man in Downing Street, has long pushed for a national inquiry into grooming gangs to expose failures at the heart of government.
He said the inquiry, announced today, “will be a total s**tshow for Whitehall because it will reveal how much Whitehall worked to try and cover up the whole thing.”
He also described Mr Johnson, with whom he has a long-standing animus, as a “moron’ for saying that money spent on inquiries into historic child sexual abuse had been “spaffed up the wall”.
Asked by Sky News political correspondent Liz Bates why he had not pushed for a public inquiry himself when he worked in Number 10 in 2019-20, Mr Cummings said Brexit and then COVID had taken precedence.
“There are a million things that I wanted to do but in 2019 we were dealing with the constitutional crisis,” he said.
The Department for Education and Rotherham Council have been approached for comment.
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