The Lord Mawhinney | |
---|---|
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 the House of Lords Lord Temporal | |
In office 24 June 2005 – 9 November 2019[nb] Life peerage | |
Member of Parliament for North West Cambridgeshire | |
In office 1 May 1997 – 11 April 2005 | |
Preceded by | Constituency established |
Succeeded by | Shailesh Vara |
Member of Parliament for Peterborough | |
In office 3 May 1979 – 8 April 1997 | |
Preceded by | Michael Ward |
Succeeded by | Helen Clark |
Personal details | |
Born | Brian Stanley Mawhinney 26 July 1940 Belfast, Northern Ireland |
Died | 9 November 2019 Peterborough, England | (aged 79)
Nationality | British |
Political party | Conservative |
Children | 3 |
Education | Royal Belfast Academical Institution |
Alma mater | |
Awards | Knight Bachelor (1997) |
n.b. ^ Leave of absence from 9 October 2017 | |
Brian Stanley Mawhinney, Baron Mawhinney, PC (26 July 1940 – 9 November 2019) was a British Conservative politician. He was a member of the Cabinet from 1994 to 1997 and a member of Parliament (MP) from 1979 to 2005.
Mawhinney was born on 26 July 1940[1] in Belfast, son of Frederick Stanley Arnot Mawhinney and Coralie Jean (née Wilkinson).[2][3] He was educated at the Royal Belfast Academical Institution.[4] He studied physics at Queen's University Belfast,[4] gaining an upper second class degree in 1963 and obtained a PhD 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.[4] He worked as assistant professor of radiation research at the University of Iowa from 1968 to 1970 and then returned to the Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine as a lecturer from 1970 to 1984.[4]
Mawhinney contested Stockton-on-Tees in October 1974 but lost to Labour incumbent, Bill Rodgers. Mawhinney served as Member of Parliament for Peterborough from 1979 to 1997 and Member of Parliament for North West Cambridgeshire from 1997 to 2005.[5] 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".[6]
He was PPS to John Wakeham from 1982 to 1983, and PPS to Tom King from 1984 to 1986.[4] 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.[4] In 1992, he became Minister of State at the Department of Health until 1994.
Having been sworn of the Privy Council in the 1994 New Year Honours,[7] he entered the Cabinet as Secretary of State for Transport that year.[4] He served as Chairman of the Conservative Party and Minister without Portfolio for two years from 1995 until the 1997 election.[1] He was knighted in the 1997 Dissolution Honours.[8]
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 April 2005.[9][10]
On 13 May 2005 it was announced that he would be created a life peer,[11] and on 24 June he was created Baron Mawhinney, of Peterborough, in the County of Cambridgeshire.[12]
Lord Mawhinney questioned the priority David Cameron had given to the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013, stating that it was a distraction.[13]
He took leave of absence from the House of Lords in October 2017.[14]
In 2003, he was appointed chairman of The Football League,[15] and in 2004 oversaw a re-organisation of the league structure, renaming the former Division One as the Football League Championship. Deeply religious, Mawhinney was a leading member of the Conservative Christian Fellowship as well as a member of the General Synod for five years.[1] He was also president of Christians in Sport.[16] Mawhinney was also a patron of Peterborough United until his death in November 2019.
Mawhinney had two sons and a daughter with his wife Betty, a United States citizen. He listed Anglo-American relations among his interests.[17]
Mawhinney died on 9 November 2019, aged 79.[18]