Brian Stanley Mawhinney, Baron Mawhinney PC (born 26 July 1940) is a British Conservative Party politician. He was a member of the Cabinet from 1994 until 1997 and a Member of Parliament from 1979 until 2005. Mawhinney, from Northern Ireland, went to school at the Royal Belfast Academical Institution and studied physics at Queen's University of Belfast, gaining an upper second class degree in 1963. He obtained a Ph.D. in radiation physics at the Royal Free Hospital in London. A post as assistant professor of radiation research from 1968-70 at the University of Iowa in Iowa City, Iowa followed, before returning to the Royal Free as a lecturer. He was elected to Parliament in 1979 from Peterborough. He was a junior minister in the Northern Ireland Office from 1986 to 1992, then became Minister of State at the Department of Health until 1994. He then entered the cabinet as Secretary of State for Transport until 1995, when he became Chairman of the Conservative Party and Minister without Portfolio. He served in this position until the Conservatives lost the 1997 election. He had led the Conservatives' campaign. The Peterborough constituency had been split by boundary changes and he followed a sizeable portion of his constituents to North West Cambridgeshire, the safer of the new seats. He was appointed a Knight Bachelor in 1997. He served as Shadow Home Secretary for a year under William Hague before returning to the back benches in June 1998. Highly religious, Mawhinney is a leading member of the Conservative Christian Fellowship and was a member of the General Synod for five years. In 2003, he was appointed Chairman of The Football League,[1] and in 2004 oversaw a re-organisation of the league structure, renaming the former Division One as the Football League Championship. He stepped down from the House of Commons in May 2005.[2] On 13 May 2005 it was announced that he would be created a life peer,[3] and on 24 June he was created Baron Mawhinney, of Peterborough, in the County of Cambridgeshire.[4]
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Michael Ward |
Member of Parliament for Peterborough 1979–1997 |
Succeeded by Helen Clark |
| Preceded by new constituency |
Member of Parliament for North West Cambridgeshire 1997–2005 |
Succeeded by Shailesh Vara |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by John MacGregor |
Secretary of State for Transport 1994-1995 |
Succeeded by George Young |
| Preceded by Jeremy Hanley |
Chairman of the Conservative Party 1995-1997 |
Succeeded by Lord Parkinson |
| Preceded by Jack Straw |
Shadow Home Secretary 1997-1998 |
Succeeded by Norman Fowler |
References
- Sir Brian Mawhinney. BBC News (18 October 2002). Retrieved on 21 December 2007.
- "Mawhinney to leave Parliament", BBC News, 30 September 2003. Retrieved on 21 December 2007.
- ^ "Mawhinney handed top post", BBC Sport, 2002-12-19. Retrieved on 2007-08-04.
- ^ "End of Commons road for four MPs", BBC News, 2005-04-10. Retrieved on 2007-08-04.
- ^ "Full list of new life peers", BBC News, 2005-05-13. Retrieved on 2007-08-04.
- ^ "Life baronies", The Times, 2005-08-06. Retrieved on 2007-08-04.
