David Patrick Paul Alton, Baron Alton of Liverpool, (born 15 March 1951) is a British politician.
He is a former
Liberal Party
The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left.
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and later
Liberal Democrat
Several political party, political parties from around the world have been called the Liberal Democratic Party or Liberal Democrats. These parties usually follow a liberal democracy, liberal democratic ideology.
Active parties
Former parties ...
Member of Parliament who has sat as a
crossbench
A crossbencher is an independent or minor party member of some legislatures, such as the British House of Lords and the Parliament of Australia. They take their name from the crossbenches, between and perpendicular to the government and oppositi ...
member of the
House of Lords
The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the Bicameralism, upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by Life peer, appointment, Hereditary peer, heredity or Lords Spiritual, official function. Like the ...
since 1997 when he was made a
life peer
In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the peerage whose titles cannot be inherited, in contrast to hereditary peers. In modern times, life peerages, always created at the rank of baron, are created under the Life Peerages ...
. Alton is also known for his human rights work including the co-founding of Jubilee Action, the children's charity (which changed its name to Chance for Childhood in 2014), and serves as chair, patron or trustee of several charities and voluntary organisations.
Education and entry into politics
Born in London on 15 March 1951,
His father was a
Desert Rat who had served in the
Eighth Army, and then worked for the Ford Motor Company. His mother was a native Irish speaker from the West of Ireland. After being rehoused from the East End, Alton was brought up in a council flat on an overspill council estate. He passed a scholarship exam to join the first intake of a new Jesuit grammar school and was educated at the
Campion School, Hornchurch
The Campion School is a Roman Catholic boys' secondary school and coeducational sixth form in Hornchurch, London, England. The school converted to academy status in August 2011, and has a specialism in science.
History
The Campion School was f ...
, Essex, and
Christ's College of Education, Liverpool.
He began his career as a teacher and, in 1972, was elected as a Liberal to
Liverpool City Council
Liverpool City Council is the governing body for the city of Liverpool in Merseyside, England. It consists of 90 councillors, three for each of the city's 30 wards.
The council is currently controlled by the Labour Party and is led by Mayor ...
as Britain's youngest city councillor. Alton was elected for the Low Hill ward, serving from 1972 to 1974, then, after the Local Government Act 1974, he was elected for the Smithdown ward where he served for the next six years. Alton was also a member of
Merseyside County Council
Merseyside County Council (MCC) was, from 1974 to 1986, the upper-tier administrative body for Merseyside, a metropolitan county in North West England.
MCC existed for a total of twelve years. It was established on 1 April 1974 by the Local ...
for the Smithdown division from 1974 to 1977 and chairman of the housing committee. He was deputy leader of Liverpool City Council from 1978 to 1980.
Political career
Alton was elected as Member of Parliament for
Liverpool Edge Hill at a
by-election in 1979 for the
Liberal Party
The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left.
__TOC__ Active liberal parties
This is a li ...
, when he became the "
Baby of the House
Baby of the House is the unofficial title given to the youngest member of a parliamentary house. The term is most often applied to members of the British parliament from which the term originated. The title is named after the Father of the House ...
", achieving a record swing of 36.8% and 64% of the vote. He won the seat the day after the Callaghan Government was defeated in a vote of confidence and the 1979 General Election being called. He became the shortest lived MP, a member for less than a week, and made his Maiden Speech within three hours of taking his seat. Five weeks later he was re-elected and went on to serve as a Liverpool MP for 18 years, before standing down. He was the only new member of a Parliamentary Party of 11 MPs. He campaigned on the slogan "Everyone Knows Someone Who Has Been Helped by David Alton."
He was notably a very short-serving Baby of the House, as
Stephen Dorrell
Stephen James Dorrell (born 25 March 1952) is a British Liberal Democrat politician. He served as the Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) for Loughborough between 1979 and 1997 and then for Charnwood from 1997 to 2015.
Dorrell most recentl ...
, who was a year younger than Alton, was elected at the 1979 election.
![DA - Everone knows someone](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1c/DA_-_Everone_knows_someone.jpg)
When the Edge Hill constituency was abolished for the
1983 general election, he was elected to represent the new
Liverpool Mossley Hill constituency.
From 1979 to 1988 he served at various times as spokesman on the environment, home affairs, Northern Ireland and as
Chief Whip
The Chief Whip is a political leader whose task is to enforce the whipping system, which aims to ensure that legislators who are members of a political party attend and vote on legislation as the party leadership prescribes.
United Kingdom
...
. He is known for his
anti-abortion
Anti-abortion movements, also self-styled as pro-life or abolitionist movements, are involved in the abortion debate advocating against the practice of abortion and its legality. Many anti-abortion movements began as countermovements in respons ...
position, and in 1987 he resigned as Chief Whip to campaign for his unsuccessful
private member's bill
A private member's bill is a bill (proposed law) introduced into a legislature by a legislator who is not acting on behalf of the executive branch. The designation "private member's bill" is used in most Westminster system jurisdictions, in whi ...
which aimed to stop late abortions. He became a
Liberal Democrat
Several political party, political parties from around the world have been called the Liberal Democratic Party or Liberal Democrats. These parties usually follow a liberal democracy, liberal democratic ideology.
Active parties
Former parties ...
MP when the Liberal Party merged with the
SDP in 1988, but he had difficult relations with parts of the party, especially over attempts to make the party adopt a position
in favour of abortion rights. In 1992, he announced that he would not stand again as a Liberal Democrat after the party passed a policy that he believed committed the party to support abortion for the first time. A motion passed in Spring 1993 stating that the party had no position on the substantive issue of abortion spared him delivering on the promise.
He stood down as an MP at the
1997 general election. He was made a
life peer
In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the peerage whose titles cannot be inherited, in contrast to hereditary peers. In modern times, life peerages, always created at the rank of baron, are created under the Life Peerages ...
as Baron Alton of Liverpool, of
Mossley Hill
Mossley Hill is a suburb of Liverpool and a Liverpool City Council ward. Located to the south of the city, it is bordered by Aigburth, Allerton, Childwall, and Wavertree. At the 2001 Census, the population was 12,650, increasing to 13,816 at t ...
in the County of Merseyside as a personal choice of
John Major
Sir John Major (born 29 March 1943) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 1990 to 1997, and as Member of Parliament ...
in the
Dissolution Honours
Crown Honours Lists are lists of honours conferred upon citizens of the Commonwealth realms. The awards are presented by or in the name of the reigning monarch, currently King Charles III, or his vice-regal representative.
New Year Honours
Ho ...
, and took his seat in the
House of Lords
The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the Bicameralism, upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by Life peer, appointment, Hereditary peer, heredity or Lords Spiritual, official function. Like the ...
as a
crossbencher
A crossbencher is an independent or minor party member of some legislatures, such as the British House of Lords and the Parliament of Australia. They take their name from the crossbenches, between and perpendicular to the government and oppositi ...
.
Alton is chairman of the British-DPRK All-Party Parliamentary Group, and visited Pyongyang in October 2010 when he had talks with leaders of the North Korean government including
Choe Thae-bok
Choe Thae-bok (born 1 December 1930) is a North Korean politician. He is a member of the Politburo and the Secretariat of the Workers' Party of Korea, and was Chairman (speaker) of the Supreme People's Assembly for nearly 21 years, from 1998 to 2 ...
, the chairman of the
Supreme People's Assembly
The Supreme People's Assembly (SPA; ) is the unicameral legislature of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), commonly known as North Korea. It consists of one deputy from each of the DPRK's 687 constituencies, elected to five-year ...
.
On 26 March 2021, it was announced that Alton was one of two members of the House of Lords to be sanctioned by
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
for spreading what it called "lies and disinformation" about the country. He was subsequently banned from entering China,
Hong Kong
Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...
and
Macau
Macau or Macao (; ; ; ), officially the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (MSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China in the western Pearl River Delta by the South China Sea. With a pop ...
, and Chinese citizens and institutions are prohibited from doing business with him. The sanctions were condemned by the Prime Minister and led the Foreign Secretary to summon the Chinese ambassador.
Professor of Citizenship
In 1997, Alton was appointed Professor of Citizenship at
Liverpool John Moores University
, mottoeng = Fortune favours the bold
, established = 1823 – Liverpool Mechanics' School of Arts1992 – Liverpool John Moores University
, type = Public
, endowment =
, coor ...
, establishing the Foundation for Citizenship and the Roscoe Lectures. The lecture series explores citizenship and lectures have been given by commentators including the
14th Dalai Lama
The 14th Dalai Lama (spiritual name Jetsun Jamphel Ngawang Lobsang Yeshe Tenzin Gyatso, known as Tenzin Gyatso (Tibetan: བསྟན་འཛིན་རྒྱ་མཚོ་, Wylie: ''bsTan-'dzin rgya-mtsho''); né Lhamo Thondup), known as ...
and
Prince Charles
Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. He was the longest-serving heir apparent and Prince of Wales and, at age 73, became the oldest person to ...
.
Human rights
![Freedom of religion or belief (30128108530)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a3/Freedom_of_religion_or_belief_%2830128108530%29.jpg)
Alton established the lobby group for human rights,
Jubilee Campaign, in 1987, with the support of other members of parliament. He also co-founded Jubilee Action, a children's charity established to fulfil the humanitarian needs highlighted by the work of Jubilee Campaign. In 2014 Jubilee Action changed its name to Chance for Childhood.
Alton campaigned against the
Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008
The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008 (c 22) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The Act constitutes a major review and update of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990.
According to the Department of Health the ...
, opposing the creation and use of animal-human hybrid stem cells for medical purposes.
He is a patron of the International Young Leaders Network and Save the Congo!, a small international rights group founded by the Congolese rights activist Vava Tampa to end the political crisis that continues to give rise to wars, conflicts and violence that have killed over 5.4 million people in Congo.
Support for Hong Kong
Alton has supported the rights and freedoms of those in
Hong Kong
Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...
, during the
2019–20 Hong Kong protests and regarding the
National Security Law imposed by
Beijing
}
Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...
in June 2020, and its associated clampdowns. In reaction to pro-Beijing lawmaker
Junius Ho
Junius Ho Kwan-yiu (; born 4 June 1962) is a Hong Kong lawyer and politician who currently serves as a member in the Hong Kong Legislative Council. a prominent pro Beijing figure in Hong Kong’s political landscape, he formerly served as pre ...
's actions regarding women and the LGBT+ community, as well as Ho's alleged support of the
Yuen Long attackers, Alton worked with
Luke de Pulford
Luke John de Pulford () is a human rights campaigner, particularly in the areas of modern slavery and human rights abuses in China. De Pulford is director and co-Founder of the London-based anti-slavery charityArise He coordinates the Inter-Parl ...
to pressure
Anglia Ruskin University
Anglia Ruskin University (ARU) is a public university in East Anglia, United Kingdom. Its origins are in the Cambridge School of Art, founded by William John Beamont in 1858. It became a university in 1992, and was renamed after John Ruskin in ...
into rescinding the honorary doctoral degree it had conferred on Ho. The degree was withdrawn on 29 October 2019.
During the
2019 Hong Kong Polytechnic University conflict, he issued a statement calling for the end to police violence and criticising Chief Executive
Carrie Lam
Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor ( Cheng; ; born 13 May 1957) is a retired Hong Kong politician who served as the 4th Chief Executive of Hong Kong from 2017 to 2022. She served as Chief Secretary for Administration between 2012 and 2017 and Secr ...
.
Trade Bill amendment
In January 2021, Alton influenced the Lords to pass an amendment to the
Trade Act 2021
The Trade Act 2021 (c. 10) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom to make provision about the implementation of international trade agreements. It was introduced to the House of Commons on 19 March 2020 by the Secretary of State for ...
that "would require that the UK does not trade with genocidal regimes. Importantly, with the
United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...
having shown itself incapable of making such decisions, the determination of whether genocide has taken place would be made by the
High Court of England and Wales
The High Court of Justice in London, known properly as His Majesty's High Court of Justice in England, together with the Court of Appeal and the Crown Court, are the Senior Courts of England and Wales. Its name is abbreviated as EWHC (England ...
."
Honours and arms
Alton has been appointed to two Roman Catholic orders of chivalry; he is a Knight Commander of Merit of the
Sacred Military Constantinian Order of Saint George
The Sacred Military Constantinian Order of Saint George (SMOCG) ( it, Sacro Militare Ordine Costantiniano di San Giorgio, es, Sagrada Orden Militar Constantiniana de San Jorge), also historically referred to as the Imperial Constantinian Order ...
(2003) and a Knight Commander of the
Order of St. Gregory the Great
The Pontifical Equestrian Order of St. Gregory the Great ( la, Ordo Sancti Gregorii Magni; it, Ordine di San Gregorio Magno) was established on 1 September 1831, by Pope Gregory XVI, seven months after his election as Pope.
The order is one of ...
(2008).
Personal life
Alton is married, has four children and four grandchildren, and holds both British and Irish citizenship. He resides in
Lancashire
Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly.
The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...
, UK and is a
Roman Catholic
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...
.
Books
Lord Alton has published numerous non-fiction titles:
* ''What Kind of Country?'' Marshall Pickering 1987
* ''Whose choice anyway?'' Marshal Pickering 1988
* ''Faith in Britain'' Hodder & Stoughton 1991
* ''Signs of Contradiction'' Hodder & Stoughton 1996
* ''Life After Death'' Christian Democrat Press 1997
* ''Citizen Virtues'' HarperCollins 1999
* ''Citizen 21'' HarperCollins 2001
* ''Pilgrim Ways'' St Pauls Publishing 2001
* ''Passion and Pain'' (with Michele Lombardo) and accompanying DVD of TV series 2003
* ''Euthanasia: Getting To The Heart of The Matter'' (with Martin Foley) 2005
* ''Abortion: Getting To The Heart of The Matter'' (with Martin Foley) 2005
* ''Building Bridges: Is there Hope for North Korea?'' (with
Rob Chidley) Lion 2013
References
External links
Lord Alton of Liverpoolofficial site
David Altonofficial Facebook page
*
Jubilee CampaignJubilee Action
{{DEFAULTSORT:Alton, David
1951 births
Alumni of Liverpool Hope University
Councillors in Liverpool
Alton of Liverpool
Knights Commander of the Order of St Gregory the Great
Liberal Democrats (UK) MPs for English constituencies
Liberal Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies
Liberal Party (UK) councillors
Living people
Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Liverpool constituencies
UK MPs 1974–1979
UK MPs 1979–1983
UK MPs 1983–1987
UK MPs 1987–1992
UK MPs 1992–1997
Politicians from Liverpool
English people of Irish descent
Life peers created by Elizabeth II