About
For 18 years David Alton was a Member of the House of Commons and today is an Independent crossbench life Peer. He began his career as a teacher but, in 1972, he was elected to Liverpool City Council as Britain's youngest City Councillor. Twenty five years later, in 1997, David was made a Life Peer of the House of Lords
1951 - Born David Patrick Paul Alton, son of Frederick and Bridget Alton. His father served in the Eighth Army, the Essex Regiment, and was a "Desert Rat," subsequently working all his life for the Ford Motor Company. His mother was an Irish-speaking immigrant from the West of Ireland, whose own parents died in quick succession, probably of meningittis.
1962 - He left St Helens School Brentwood, and obtained a scholarship to the new Jesuit School, named for St. Edmund Campion, at Hornchurch.
1968 - He was elected as Chairman of the Brentwood Young Liberals and was involved in public protests against the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia and against apartheid in South Africa.
1969 - A student at Christ College Liverpool, he was elected as Chairman of the South Liverpool Young Liberals and Chairman of his branch of the Union of Liberal Students.
1972 - Left College with distinctions and took up a teaching post in Kirkby, Lancashire, later working for five years for Sefton Education Authority with children with special needs. Elected as Chairman of the North West Federation of Young Liberals. Elected as the country's youngest City Councillor to Liverpool City Council, at the age of 21.
1973 - Elected to Merseyside County Council and subsequently appointed as Chief Whip of his Council Group.
1974 - At the age of 23 he was selected to contest Liverpool Edge Hill at the February and October General Elections. Taking second place he was one of only two candidates in the UK to improve their share of the poll between the two elections.
1978 - Deputy Leader of the Council and Housing Chairman
1979 - In the same year of being appointed the national president for the National League of Liberals, David won Liverpool Edge Hill in a by-election to become an MP and his Parliamentary career began. Having become the youngest MP of the Parliament he was also the shorted-lived being elected the day after the Callaghan Government lost a Vote of Confidence. He made his Maiden Speech two and a half hours after taking his seat. Click here to read his maiden speech.
David Alton was appointed Liberal Party spokesman on the environment and race relations, until 1981. During his time as an MP, David was a Member of a number of Select Committees - Environment (1981-1985) and House of Commons Privileges Committee (1994-1997). He was also a member of a host of All Party Select Groups - Vice Chairman of Drugs Misuse (1993-1997), Treasurer of Pro-Life (1993), Landmines (1996), Friends of CAFOD, Chairman of Street Children (1992-1997) and Secretary of the All-Party Ukraine Group (1990).
1981 - David Alton was appointed Liberal Party spokesman for Home Affairs.
1983 - David Alton won the Parliamentary seat Liverpool, Mossley Hill - a seat he holds until 1997. During his time as a Liberal MP, he was appointed Chief Whip as well as holding positions with the Liberal Party Housing Environmental Home Affairs Overseas Aid Local Government departments and was appointed Alliance Spokesman on Northern Ireland
1985 - David Alton was made Chief Whip of the Liberal Party, until 1987
1987 - Appointed Liberal-SDP Alliance Spokesman for Northern Ireland, until 1988. In the same year David helped to create the Jubilee Campaign - an interdominational Christian human rights pressure group lobbying Parliamentarians and governments for persecuted Christians and children's rights world-wide. He resigned as Liberal chief Whip after coming third in the Private Members' Ballot and introduced a Bill to stop late abortions. His first book What Kind of Country? is published.
1988 - His Private Members Bill received 296 votes in favour of its Second Reading - a majority of 45. The Bill was subsequently talked out by opponents but never lost a vote at any stage. He married Elizabeth Bell, a speech therapist specialising with the mentally handicapped, and daughter of the Reverend Philip and Mrs Dilys Bell. David and Elizabeth have four children. His second book Whose Choice Anyway? is published.
1989 - He brought together the Epiphany Group and published The Westminster Declaration, which led the next year to the formation of the Movement for Christian Democracy.
1990 - David Alton co-founded the Movement for Christian Democracy. 2,000 gathered at the Methodist Central Hall, Westminster, endorsed The Westminster Declaration and founded the Movement for Christian Democracy. He was also elected Treasurer of the All-Party Parliamentary Pro-Life Group.
1991 - the Jewish community of Merseyside plant trees in thanks to David for his work for the community (and again in 1993).
1992 - He announced that he would not stand again as a Liberal Democrat after the Party made 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. Subsequently the party called for Royal Commissions to examine the legalisation of euthanasia and drugs and passed policy supporting "therapeutic" cloning of human embryos. His book Faith in Britain is published.
1995 - He became the founding co-chairman of the All-Party Street Children Group.
1996 - David Alton was made a Visiting Fellow of St. Andrews University. Signs of Contradiction is published.
1997 - David Alton was appointed Professor of Citizenship at Liverpool John Moores University and founds the Foundation for Citizenship there. In the same year he was created the youngest life peer and opted to sit as an independent Crossbencher, having left the Liberal Democrats over the pro-life issues. Click here to read his maiden speech. The Christian Democratic Press publishes Life After Death. David was also awarded The Michael Bell Memorial Award for "Initiatives for Life" by the International Alliance of Catholic Knights and Knights of St. Columba.
1998 - He became Chairman and non-executive Director of the Banner Ethical Investment Fund.
1999 - Appointed to the Catholic Bishops' Conference Bioethics Commission of England and Wales. Citizen Virtues is published by HarperCollins.
2000 - David Alton visited Moscow in September on behalf of the St Francis & St Sergius Trust (now renamed Partners in Hope) to visit street children projects. He was appointed as a trustee of the Trust. In the same year he led the campaign to free James Mawdsley who was in prison in Burma for distributing pro-democracy leaflets. A further debate about Burma was held in the House of Lords on 2 October 2000. He joined the All-Party Parliamentary Friend of CAFOD Group, and was elected Treasurer.
2001 - David Alton was one of the leading campaigners within Parliament seeking to thwart the Government's attempts to legalise so called "therapeutic cloning". He was invited to give oral evidence in November 2001 to the House of Lords Select Committee on Stem Cell Research. In October 2001 his book, Pilgrim Ways - a guide to Catholic pilgrimage sites in England and Wales - was published by St. Pauls. Citizen 21 is also published.
2002 - David Alton made a visit to Azerbaijan and Georgia, and wrote a report on the situation there. He also visited the south of the Sudan, subsequently producing a report, and initiated a House of Lords debate on the situation there. He was also appointed a Board Member of the Institute on Religion and Public Policy in Washington DC. He was made a Kinght of the Constantinium Order of St. George. In the autumn, he made a visit to Birmingham, Alabama to make 16 programmes for EWTN on the subject of the Suffering Church. He also initiated a debate and a campaign on the trafficking of children.
2003 - He visited the Burma border, Laos and Vietnam in January, and has published reports on issues of human rights and religious liberties there. He delivered a lecture on the subject of "J.R.R. Tolkien, Catholicism and Allegory" at the Catholic Chaplaincy of Bath University and Bath Spa University. In March, he also initiated a debate on North Korea in the House of Lords. David visited North Korea with Baroness Cox, raised human rights and security issues, and published a report on the situation there. Published Passion and Pain and accompanying TV series (available on DVD from Jubilee Campaign).
2004 - Visited the favellas of Brazil and published a report on the killing of street children. Later launched the web site www.stopkillingchildren.com. Was elected founding Chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Committee on North Korea. On behalf of Jubilee Action he visited Congo, Rwanda, and Darfur and published reports on his findings. Hosted the visit of His Holiness the Dalai Lama to Liverpool John Moores University. In Washington was presented with the Good Samaritan Award by Advocates International. Presented graduation awards to lawyers at Handong University in South Korea.
2005 - Celebrated the 25th anniversary of the Liverpool Edge Hill by-election; Re-elected as Chairman of the North Korea APG; elected Vice Chairman of the All Party Tibet Committee and Secretary of the All Party Sudan Committee. Co-founded the Jedidiah Foundation (for the Congo); appeared before a Congressional Committee chaired by congressman Chris Smith to give evidence on the imprisonment, trafficking and use of violence against street children. Hosted hearings at Westminster on the abuse of human rights in North Korea and Burma. With Martin Foley, published new books on euthanasia and abortion. Following the bombings of July 7, he initiated a "Learning To Live Together" mini-lecture series in Liverpool, addressed by key figures from the great faiths, including Sheik Dr.Zaki Badawi and Rabbi Herschel Gluck.
Today
- The "Good Citizen Award Schemes" now operate in over 900 schools
across the North-West of England, and 50 Roscoe Lectures have been staged in
Liverpool, many of which drew audiences of over 1000.
He is President of the NSPCC (Liverpool Branch) and the Mersey Kidney Research. He is Vice President
of Liverpool YMCA and LIFE. He is also Vice Chairman for the National Association of Councillors.
He is President of Karenaid and a Trustee of James Mawdsley's Metta Trust.
He is a regular columnist for the Universe.
Summary
All-Party
Committees:
Founding
Chairman:
All Party Committee on Street Children
Vice-Chairman: All-Party Tibet Group
Secretary: All-Party Sudan Group
Treasurer:
All Party Friends of CAFOD
Chairman:
British-North Korea All Party Parliamentary Group
Apolitical
Affiliations:
Co-Sponsor:
All Party Movement for Christian Democracy
President:
NSPCC (Liverpool Branch)
President:
Mersey Kidney Research
President:
Karen Aid
President: The British Coptic Association
Vice
President:
The Bible Society
Vice
President:
St Joseph’s Hospice Association
Vice-President:
LIFE
Vice-President:
Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine
Former
Chairman:
Forget-Me-Not Cancer Appeal, Royal Liverpool & Broadgreen Hospital
Trust
Former
Chairman:
Merseyside Council for Voluntary Service (now Local Solutions)
Vice-Chairman:
National Association of Councillors
Chairman:
Banner Real Life Ethical Investment Fund
Member:
British & Irish Bishops’ Advisory Committee on Bio-Ethics
Foundation
Governor: Liverpool
Blue Coat School
Trustee:
Partners
in Hope
G
K Chesterton Institute
Mawdsley
Children's Education Trust
Director:
Ethical Investment Consulting
Merseyside
Special Investment Fund
Patron/Vice-Patron:
Zoe’s
Place
St
Francis House, Manchester
Stephen’s
Children, Cairo
Bromley
Mencap
Deafway
African
Network for the Prevention & Protection Against Child Abuse & Neglect
Council
for the Advancement of Deaf People
Network
of Access & Child Contact Centres
Dame Vera Lynn Trust for children with cerebal palsy
Asylum Link Merseyside
Friends of St. George's Hall, Liverpool
International Young Leaders Network
Publications:
What Kind of Country? Marshall Pickering 1987
Whose
choice anyway?
Marshall Pickering 1988
Faith
in Britain
Hodder & Stoughton 1991
Signs
of Contradiction
Hodder & Stoughton 1996
Life
After Death
Christian Demoract Press 1997
Citizen
Virtues
Harper Collins 1999
Citizen
21
Harper Collins 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
David's books are available on www.amazon.co.uk or www.abebooks.co.uk
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