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Brian Stanley Mawhinney, Baron Mawhinney, (26 July 1940 – 9 November 2019) was a British Conservative Party politician. He was a member of the Cabinet from 1994 to 1997 and a member of Parliament (MP) from 1979 to 2005.
He then began studying for a doctorate from the Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine in London. In 1963, he briefly moved to the United States for his education, settling in Ann Arbor, Michigan but travelling throughout the country, engaging with politics and becoming more involved with Christian evangelism, participating in missions led by Billy Graham. It was also during this time that he met his wife, Betty Oja, whom he married in 1964. He obtained his PhD in 1969, with thesis title Studies on the effects of radiation on mammalian bone grown in vitro. 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.
Mawhinney was a social conservative who opposed abortion and Sunday trading. He also campaigned prolifically against pornography: he introduced a private member's bill in 1979 to ban indecent images and posters outside cinemas, sex shops and strip clubs, and 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". InfoWorld, 28 April 1980.
Lord Mawhinney questioned the priority David Cameron had given to the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013, stating that it was a distraction. David Cameron under renewed pressure from Tory grassroots over gay marriage, standard.co.uk, 2 June 2013.
He took leave of absence from the House of Lords in October 2017 for health reasons.
Mawhinney lived in Chipping Barnet, and then Keyston, Cambridgeshire in his later years. He died at a nursing home in nearby Polebrook, Northamptonshire, on 9 November 2019, aged 79.
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Political career
Mawhinney joined the Conservative Party shortly after his return to England. He contested Stockton-on-Tees in October 1974 but lost to Labour incumbent, Bill Rodgers. He was elected Member of Parliament for Peterborough in the 1979 election, serving until 1997. He was then MP for North West Cambridgeshire from 1997 to 2005.
In Government
He was PPS to John Wakeham from 1982 to 1983, and PPS to Tom King from 1984 to 1986. He became a junior minister at the Northern Ireland Office in 1986, and then became Minister of State at the Northern Ireland Office in 1990. In 1992, he became Minister of State at the Department of Health until 1994.
Cabinet
Having been sworn of the Privy Council in the 1994 New Year Honours, he entered the Cabinet as Secretary of State for Transport that year. He served as Chairman of the Conservative Party and Minister without Portfolio for two years from 1995 until the 1997 election. He was Knight Bachelor in the 1997 Prime Minister's Resignation Honours.
In Opposition
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. He stepped down from the House of Commons in April 2005.
House of Lords
On 13 May 2005 it was announced that he would be created a life peer in the 2005 Dissolution Honours, and on 24 June he was created Baron Mawhinney, of Peterborough, in the County of Cambridgeshire.
Outside politics
In 2003, he was appointed chairman of The Football League, 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 Church of England General Synod for five years. He was also president of Christians in Sport. Mawhinney was also a patron of Peterborough United until his death in November 2019.
Personal life and death
In 1964, Mawhinney married Betty Oja, an American citizen whom he met during his time in Michigan; the couple had three children. He listed Anglo-American relations among his interests. He wrote two autobiographies: In the Firing Line (1999) and Just a Simple Belfast Boy (2013).
Arms
See also
External links
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Categories: 1940 Births, 2019 Deaths, 20th-century Anglicans, 20th-century Autobiographers From Northern Ireland, 21st-century Anglicans, 21st-century Autobiographers From Northern Ireland, Alumni Of Queen's University Belfast, Association Football People Awarded Knighthoods, British Expatriates In The United States, Chairmen Of The Conservative Party, Conservative Party Mps For English Constituencies, Conservative Party Life Peers, Converts To Anglicanism, Evangelicals From Northern Ireland, Knights Bachelor, Life Peers Created By Elizabeth Ii, Members Of The General Synod Of The Church Of England, Members Of The Privy Council Of The United Kingdom, Northern Ireland Office Junior Ministers, People Educated At The Royal Belfast Academical Institution, Politicians From Peterborough, Politicians From Belfast, Presidents Of The English Football League, Secretaries Of State For Transport, Uk Mps 1979–1983, Uk Mps 1983–1987, Uk Mps 1987–1992, Uk Mps 1992–1997, Uk Mps 1997–2001, Uk Mps 2001–2005, University Of Iowa Faculty, University Of Michigan Alumni
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