Brian Mawhinney, Baron Mawhinney
| 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 | 26 July 1940 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.
Contents
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
- List of Northern Ireland Members of the House of Lords
- List of Northern Ireland members of the Privy Council
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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- ↑ InfoWorld 28 April 1980
- ↑ The London Gazette: no. 55229. p. 8994. 16 August 1998.
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- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ The London Gazette: no. 57688. p. 8439. 29 June 2005.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.[dead link]
- ↑ David Cameron under renewed pressure from Tory grassroots over gay marriage (02 June 2013)
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- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
External links
- Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Brian Mawhinney
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member of Parliament for Peterborough 1979–1997 |
Succeeded by Helen Clark |
| New constituency | Member of Parliament for North West Cambridgeshire 1997–2005 |
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 |
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- Articles with dead external links from September 2010
- Use dmy dates from April 2012
- Use British English from April 2012
- 1940 births
- Alumni of Queen's University Belfast
- British Secretaries of State
- Chairmen of the Conservative Party (UK)
- Conservative Party (UK) life peers
- Conservative Party (UK) MPs
- Knights Bachelor
- Living people
- Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies
- Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom
- People educated at the Royal Belfast Academical Institution
- People from Belfast
- People from Peterborough
- The Football League
- Secretaries of State for Transport (UK)
- UK MPs 1979–83
- UK MPs 1983–87
- UK MPs 1987–92
- UK MPs 1992–97
- UK MPs 1997–2001
- UK MPs 2001–05
- University of Iowa faculty
