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Peter John Law (1 April, 1948 – 25 April, 2006) was a Welsh politician. For most of his career he sat as a Labour Councillor and subsequently AM for Blaenau Gwent. Latterly he sat as an independent MP and AM for the same constituency.
Born in Abergavenny, Law ran a chemists' shop and became a councillor in Blaenau Gwent in 1974. He was subsequently appointed chair of Gwent Healthcare NHS Trust.
He was a close ally of Llew Smith, MP for Blaenau Gwent from 1992, and was selected for the constituency in the first elections to the National Assembly for Wales in 1999, winning the seat easily. He was appointed to the cabinet of Alun Michael as Assembly Secretary for Local Government and Housing, but lost his post in a cabinet reshuffle in 2000 by successor First Minister for Wales Rhodri Morgan.
When Morgan formed a coalition government with the Liberal Democrats, Law made no secret of his opposition to the decision and was not retained in the administration. He became a vociferous backbench critic and following the 2003 election stood as candidate for the Deputy Presiding Officer of the Assembly. However, the Labour AMs voted instead for John Marek who was an Independent AM, thereby ensuring that an opposition member was in the Chair and unable to vote against the Welsh Assembly Government.
Law left the Labour Party in protest at the use of an all-woman shortlist in selecting the candidate for the general election, which was used to replace the retiring member Llew Smith. Law believed all-woman shortlists were being selectively imposed on local parties only where a leadership supported male candidate was unlikely to be selected, citing the example of Ed Balls and Pat McFadden as new leadership-supported male candidates, and that use of all-woman shortlists had been stopped in Scotland.
Smith had enjoyed a majority of 19,313, making it the safest parliamentary seat in Wales. Law won the seat on a swing of 49%, defeating Labour candidate Maggie Jones, and gaining a majority of 9,121 votes.
Law followed a handful of previous MPs and AMs in Wales who won the same constituency as both a party candidate and an independent, following S.O. Davies who was MP for Merthyr Tydfil from 1934 until his death in 1972, who was deselected by the local Labour Party on grounds of age prior to the 1970 general election but ran against the official candidate as an independent and won; and John Marek who remained AM for Wrexham, later forming his own party, Forward Wales.
Law died peacefully at home, aged 58, suffering from a recurrent brain tumour first diagnosed during the 2005 election campaign. As a result of his death, there will be by-elections in Blaenau Gwent for both the UK Parliament and the Welsh Assembly seats.
See also
External links
- Guardian Unlimited Politics - Ask Aristotle: Peter Law MP
- TheyWorkForyou.com - Peter Law MP
- The Lost Valley, The Independent on Sunday, July 10, 2005.
- Labour challenger Peter Law dies, BBC, 25 April 2006.
| Preceded by(new post) | Assembly Member for Blaenau Gwent 1999-2006 |
Succeeded byVacant |
| Preceded byLlew Smith | Member of Parliament for Blaenau Gwent 2005-2006 |
Succeeded byVacant |