Peter Mahon (4 May 1909 – 29 September 1980) was a British Labour Party politician. Peter Mahon was born into an

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

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 ...

family in

Bootle Bootle (pronounced ) is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton, Merseyside, England, which had a population of 51,394 in 2011; the wider Bootle (UK Parliament constituency), Parliamentary constituency had a population of 98,449. Histo ...

which was immersed in

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

Labour politics. He joined the Labour Party in 1924, at the age of 15. His father,

Alderman An alderman is a member of a Municipal government, municipal assembly or council in many Jurisdiction, jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council membe ...

Simon Mahon (1886–1961), was a local politician, who also stood unsuccessfully for Parliament. His brother,

Simon Mahon Simon Mahon (4 April 1914 – 19 October 1986) was a British Labour Party politician. Biography Simon Mahon was born into a prominent Roman Catholic family of Irish descent in Bootle. His father, Alderman Simon Mahon (1886–1961), was a ma ...

, was elected MP for

in 1955. His great-nephew,

Peter Dowd Peter Christopher Dowd (born 20 June 1957) is a British Labour Party politician. He was elected as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Bootle in May 2015. From 2017 to 2020, he served as the Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury. Early life ...

, is the present Labour MP for Bootle, and served as Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury until 2020. In 1954, Mahon was selected as parliamentary candidate for the marginal seat of Blackburn West, but the seat was abolished by redistribution prior to the 1955 general election. Almost a decade later he was selected for the "bellwether" marginal seat of Preston South, a constituency with a significant Catholic population. At the 1964 general election, he was elected as

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

for Preston South, defeating the sitting

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...

MP Alan Green by only 348 votes. He held the seat at the 1966 election with an increased majority, but at the 1970 general election, Green retook the seat with a majority of over 1,300. On his election, Mahon introduced a

Private Members 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 ...

, to remove the necessity of applying for

Probate Probate is the judicial process whereby a will is "proved" in a court of law and accepted as a valid public document that is the true last testament of the deceased, or whereby the estate is settled according to the laws of intestacy in the sta ...

in winding-up the estate of a poor person. The bill passed into law as the Administration of Estates (Small Payments) Act 1965. During his time in parliament, Mahon was a vociferous opponent of relaxation of the

Abortion Law Abortion laws vary widely among countries and territories, and have changed over time. Such laws range from abortion being freely available on request, to regulation or restrictions of various kinds, to outright prohibition in all circumstances ...

s, and in 1966 was responsible for the failure of David Steel's first attempt to introduce an Abortion reform bill, by his use of the parliamentary device of "talking out." In 1971, Mahon sought the Labour party nomination in the Liverpool Scotland by-election, the seat with the largest Irish Catholic electorate in Britain; his brother

was Labour MP for the adjoining seat of

. Peter Mahon was not selected, and instead stood in the by-election as an Independent "Labour and Anti-Abortion" candidate, securing a respectable 10.3% of the vote. He was expelled from the Labour party, and in 1973 he joined the Liberals. He subsequently sat as a Liberal councillor on

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 ...

and Liverpool Metropolitan District Council. His grandson, Peter Garrett (b. 1966), former research director of LIFE, was a member of the Labour party until he resigned in 2000 in opposition to the party's stance on

human cloning Human cloning is the creation of a genetically identical copy (or clone) of a human. The term is generally used to refer to artificial human cloning, which is the reproduction of human cells and tissue. It does not refer to the natural concepti ...

. He stood in the 2000 Preston by-election for the Preston Alliance, a group which campaigned for respect for human life and was endorsed by the Christian Peoples' Alliance.

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mahon, Peter 1909 births 1980 deaths Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies UK MPs 1964–1966 UK MPs 1966–1970 Liberal Party (UK) politicians English people of Irish descent