Simon Mahon

Simon Mahon (4 April 1914 – 19 October 1986) was a British Labour Party politician.

Simon 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. His brother, Peter Mahon, was elected MP for Preston South in 1964.

Mahon was educated at St. Joseph's Irish Christian Brothers school and at St. James' School, Bootle. He became a general contractor. He was commissioned in the Royal Engineers during World War II and served with the Indian Army in the Far East.

In 1941 he married Veronica Robertshaw. There were no children.

Mahon was a councillor and later an alderman of Bootle Borough Council and was chairman of the housing committee and Mayor of Bootle from 1962 to 1963. He was chairman of Bootle Trades Council and Labour Party.

Mahon was Member of Parliament for Bootle from 1955 to 1979. He served as an opposition whip from 1959 to 1961.

In 1968, Mahon and his brother, Peter, together with Catholic Labour MP Walter Alldritt, threatened to resign the Whip. They had taken exception to remarks made by Douglas Houghton, Chairman of the Parliamentary Labour Party, that large families were a form of "social irresponsibility." Only a midnight meeting with Prime Minister Harold Wilson and a written statement that Houghton's views were not party policy dissuaded the MPs from carrying out their threat.

In 1969 Mahon was created a Papal Knight. On returning from his investiture Mass to the House of Commons, he was prevented from entering the Chamber by the Sergeant at Arms until he divested himself of his ceremonial sword.

In 1978 Mahon wrote a letter of protest to Ladbrokes, complaining of their "appalling taste" in opening a book on the successor to Pope Paul VI.

After his retirement, Simon Mahon moved to live in Crosby, where he died in 1986 aged 72.

References

• Times Guide to the House of Commons October 1974
• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Simon Mahon