The Lord Mawhinney | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| 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 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Personal details | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | Brian Stanley Mawhinney (1940-07-26)26 July 1940 Belfast, Northern Ireland | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Died | 9 November 2019(2019-11-09) (aged 79) Polebrook,Northamptonshire, England | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nationality | British | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Political party | Conservative | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Spouse | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 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 BritishConservative Party politician. He was a member of theCabinet from 1994 to 1997 and amember of Parliament (MP) from 1979 to 2005.
Mawhinney was born on 26 July 1940[1] inBelfast, son of Frederick Stanley Arnot Mawhinney and Coralie Anita Jean (née Wilkinson).[2][3] His family was heavily involved with anOpen Brethren church.[4] He was educated at theRoyal Belfast Academical Institution,[5] and studiedphysics atQueen's University Belfast,[5] gaining an upper second class degree in 1963.[4]
He then began studying for a doctorate from theRoyal Free Hospital School of Medicine in London. In 1963, he briefly moved to the United States for his education, settling inAnn Arbor, Michigan but travelling throughout the country, engaging with politics and becoming more involved with Christian evangelism, participating in missions led byBilly Graham.[4] It was also during this time that he met his wife, Betty Oja, whom he married in 1964.[4] He obtained his PhD in 1969, with thesis titleStudies on the effects of radiation on mammalian bone grown in vitro.[5] He worked as assistant professor of radiation research at theUniversity of Iowa from 1968 to 1970 and then returned to the Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine as a lecturer from 1970 to 1984.[5]
Mawhinney joined the Conservative Party shortly after his return to England.[4] He contestedStockton-on-Tees inOctober 1974 but lost toLabour incumbent,Bill Rodgers.[4] He was electedMember of Parliament forPeterborough in the 1979 election, serving until 1997.[4] He was then MP forNorth West Cambridgeshire from 1997 to 2005.[6]
Mawhinney was a social conservative who opposed abortion andSunday trading.[7] He also campaigned prolifically againstpornography: he introduced aprivate member's bill in 1979 to ban indecent images and posters outside cinemas, sex shops and strip clubs, and in early 1980, he called forKeith Joseph to launch an inquiry into a page on thePost Office'sPrestel viewdata service, called "A Buyer's Guide to Dirty Books".[8]
He wasPPS toJohn Wakeham from 1982 to 1983, and PPS toTom King from 1984 to 1986.[5] He became a junior minister at theNorthern Ireland Office in 1986,[1] and then became Minister of State at the Northern Ireland Office in 1990.[5] In 1992, he became Minister of State at theDepartment of Health until 1994.[4]
Having been sworn of thePrivy Council in the1994 New Year Honours,[9] he entered theCabinet asSecretary of State for Transport that year.[5] He served asChairman of the Conservative Party andMinister without Portfolio for two years from 1995 until the1997 election.[1] He wasknighted in the1997 Prime Minister's Resignation Honours.[10]
He served asShadow Home Secretary and spokesman for home, constitutional and legal affairs for a year underWilliam Hague before returning to the back benches in June 1998.[1] He stepped down from the House of Commons in April 2005.[11][12]
On 13 May 2005 it was announced that he would be created alife peer in the2005 Dissolution Honours,[13][14] and on 24 June he was createdBaron Mawhinney, of Peterborough, in the County ofCambridgeshire.[15]
Lord Mawhinney questioned the priorityDavid Cameron had given to theMarriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013, stating that it was a distraction.[16]
He took leave of absence from the House of Lords in October 2017 for health reasons.[4][17]
In 2003, he was appointed chairman ofThe Football League,[18] 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 theConservative Christian Fellowship as well as a member of theChurch of EnglandGeneral Synod for five years.[1] He was also president ofChristians in Sport.[19] Mawhinney was also a patron ofPeterborough United until his death in November 2019.
In 1964, Mawhinney married Betty Oja, an American citizen whom he met during his time in Michigan; the couple had three children.[4] He listedAnglo-American relations among his interests.[20] He wrote two autobiographies:In the Firing Line (1999) andJust a Simple Belfast Boy (2013).[7]
Mawhinney lived inChipping Barnet, and thenKeyston, Cambridgeshire in his later years. He died at a nursing home in nearbyPolebrook, Northamptonshire, on 9 November 2019, aged 79.[4]
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| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
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| Preceded by | Member of Parliament forPeterborough 1979–1997 | Succeeded by |
| New constituency | Member of Parliament forNorth West Cambridgeshire 1997–2005 | Succeeded by |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Secretary of State for Transport 1994–1995 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Minister without Portfolio 1995–1997 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Shadow Home Secretary 1997–1998 | Succeeded by |
| Party political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Chairman of the Conservative Party 1995–1997 | Succeeded by |
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| International | |
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| National | |
| People | |
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