Member of Parliament in the United Kingdom
Peter Mahon was born into an Irish Roman Catholic family in Bootle that was immersed in Liverpool Labour politics. His father, Alderman Simon Mahon (1886–1961), was a well-known local politician, who also stood unsuccessfully for Parliament.
He joined the Labour Party in 1924, at the age of 15. 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.
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, to remove the necessity of applying for Probate in winding-up the estate of a poor person. The bill passed into law as the Administration of Estates (Small Payments) Acting 1965.
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 and Liverpool Metropolitan District Council.
He stood in the Preston by-election, 2000 for the Preston Alliance, a group which campaigned for respect for human life and was endorsed by the Christian Peoples" Alliance.
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.
43rd United Kingdom Parliament. 44th United Kingdom Parliament]
At the 1964 general election, he was elected as Member of Parliament for Preston South, defeating the sitting Conservative Member of Parliament Alan Green by a majority of only 348 votes.
