David Alton, Baron Alton of Liverpool
David Patrick Paul Alton, Baron Alton of Liverpool (born
15 March,
1951) is a
cross bench member of the
House of Lords. He was made a
Life Peer in
1997.
David Alton was educated at the Campion School, Hornchurch, Essex, and Christ's College of Education, Liverpool. He began his career as a teacher and, in 1972, he was elected to Liverpool City Council as Britain's youngest City Councillor. He was later the
Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament for
Liverpool Mossley Hill. He won
Liverpool Edge Hill in a by-election in
1979, when he became the "
Baby of the House".
From 1979 to 1988 he was a Liberal MP, and served at various times as spokesman on the Environment, Home Affairs, Northern Ireland and as Chief Whip. In 1987 he resigned as chief whip to campaign for his unsuccessful private members' bill which aimed to stop late abortions.
From 1988 to 1997 he served as a Liberal Democrat MP, but had difficult relations with parts of the party, especially over attempts to make the party adopt a pro-choice position on abortion.
He is known for his strongly
Pro-Life position on
abortion, which went against the
pro-choice politics of some in his party. In 1992, he announced that he would not stand again as a Liberal Democrat after the Party made support for abortion a party policy for the first time. Earlier in the day, at the same Conference, they had passed an animal welfare motion which included protection for goldfish on sale in amusement arcades and funfairs.
He stood down as an MP at the 1997 General Election. He was given a peerage as a personal choice of
John Major in the Dissolution Honours of the 1997 General Election and took that seat as a
Cross-bencher.
In 1997, Lord Alton of Liverpool was appointed Professor of Citizenship at Liverpool John Moores University and founds the Foundation for Citizenship there. He Chairs the Roscoe Lectures which has been addressed by His Holiness, The Dalai Lama, amongst others.
Lord Alton of Liverpool is also an accomplished author and has published several 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 DeathChristian Demoract Press 1997
*
Citizen Virtues Harper Collins 1999
*
Citizen 21 Harper Collins 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
*
Morality and legality of abortion*
Pro-Life*
Lord Alton of Liverpool official site
