Brian Mawhinney, Baron Mawhinney

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The Right Honourable
The Lord Mawhinney
PC
Shadow Home Secretary
In office
11 June 1997 – 11 April 1998
Leader William Hague
Preceded by Michael Howard
Succeeded by Norman Fowler
Chairman of the Conservative Party
In office
5 July 1995 – 11 June 1997
Leader John Major
Preceded by Jeremy Hanley
Succeeded by Cecil Parkinson
Minister without Portfolio
In office
5 July 1995 – 2 May 1997
Prime Minister John Major
Preceded by Jeremy Hanley
Succeeded by Peter Mandelson
Secretary of State for Transport
In office
20 July 1994 – 5 July 1995
Prime Minister John Major
Preceded by John MacGregor
Succeeded by George Young
Minister of State for Health
In office
14 April 1992 – 20 July 1994
Prime Minister John Major
Preceded by Virginia Bottomley
Succeeded by Gerry Malone
Member of Parliament
for Peterborough
In office
3 May 1979 – 1 May 1997
Preceded by Michael Ward
Succeeded by Helen Clark
Member of Parliament
for North West Cambridgeshire
In office
2 May 1997 – 11 April 2005
Preceded by Constituency established
Succeeded by Shailesh Vara
Personal details
Born (1940-07-26) 26 July 1940 (age 83)
Belfast, United Kingdom
Political party Conservative
Alma mater Queen's University Belfast
University College London
Religion Christianity

Brian Stanley Mawhinney, Baron Mawhinney PC (born 26 July 1940)[1] is a British Conservative Party politician. He was a member of the Cabinet from 1994 until 1997 and a Member of Parliament (MP) from 1979 until 2005.

Early life

Mawhinney was born in 1940 in Belfast and was educated at the Royal Belfast Academical Institution.[2] He studied physics at Queen's University of Belfast,[2] gaining an upper second class degree in 1963 and obtained a Ph.D. in radiation physics at the Royal Free Hospital in London in 1969 with thesis title Studies on the effects of radiation on mammalian bone grown in vitro.[2] He worked as assistant professor of radiation research at the University of Iowa from 1968–70 and then returned to the Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine as a lecturer from 1970–84.[2] He has two sons and a daughter with his wife Betty who is an American and he lists Anglo-American relations among his interests.[3]

Political career

Mawhinney unsuccessfully fought Stockton-on-Tees in October 1974, being defeated by the Labour incumbent, Bill Rodgers.

He was Member of Parliament for Peterborough from 1979 to 1997 and Member of Parliament for North West Cambridgeshire from 1997 to 2005.[4] Mawhinney campaigned prolifically against pornography. In 1979 one of his bills was in the Private Members’ Bills ballot, which attempted to ban indecent displays outside cinemas, sex shops and strip clubs. In early 1980, he called for Keith Joseph to launch an inquiry into a page on the Post Office’s Prestel viewdata service, called "A Buyer's Guide to Dirty Books".[5] In the early 1980s he was secretary of the Conservative backbench Northern Ireland committee, during which time he showed wariness of the Rev Ian Paisley, warning his supporters that the British commitment to Ulster could be damaged by "protestant ingratitude".

He was PPS to John Wakeham from 1982 to 1983 and PPS to Tom King from 1984 to 1986.[2] He became a junior minister at the Northern Ireland Office in 1986,[1] and then became Minister of State at the Northern Ireland Office in 1990.[2] In 1992, he became Minister of State at the Department of Health until 1994 when he entered the cabinet as Secretary of State for Transport.[2] He served as Chairman of the Conservative Party and Minister without Portfolio for two years from 1995 until the 1997 election.[1] He was appointed a Knight Bachelor in the dissolution honours list in 1997.[6] He served as Shadow Home Secretary and spokesman for home, constitutional and legal affairs for a year under William Hague before returning to the back benches in June 1998.[1] He stepped down from the House of Commons in May 2005.[7][8] On 13 May 2005 it was announced that he would be created a life peer,[9] and on 24 June he was created Baron Mawhinney, of Peterborough, in the County of Cambridgeshire.[10][11]

Lord Mawhinney questioned the priority David Cameron had given to the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill, saying David Cameron had no plans to do bring forward the legislation and that it was a distraction following Lords reform and Alternative Vote.[12]

Outside politics

In 2003, he was appointed Chairman of The Football League,[13] and in 2004 oversaw a re-organisation of the league structure, renaming the former Division One as the Football League Championship. Deeply religious, Mawhinney is a leading member of the Conservative Christian Fellowship and was a member of the General Synod for five years.[1] He is also the current president of Christians In Sport.[14]

See also

References

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  5. InfoWorld 28 April 1980
  6. The London Gazette: no. 55229. p. 8994. 16 August 1998.
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  10. The London Gazette: no. 57688. p. 8439. 29 June 2005.
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  12. David Cameron under renewed pressure from Tory grassroots over gay marriage (02 June 2013)
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External links

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Member of Parliament
for Peterborough

19791997
Succeeded by
Helen Clark
New constituency Member of Parliament
for North West Cambridgeshire

19972005
Succeeded by
Shailesh Vara
Political offices
Preceded by Secretary of State for Transport
1994–1995
Succeeded by
George Young
Preceded by Minister without Portfolio
1995–1997
Succeeded by
Peter Mandelson
Preceded by Shadow Home Secretary
1997–1998
Succeeded by
Norman Fowler
Party political offices
Preceded by Chairman of the Conservative Party
1995–1997
Succeeded by
Cecil Parkinson