predecessor successor death_date religion nationality party office birth_date term_start spouse article_title term_end name
john kinley allan roberts 1986 roman catholic british labour member of parliament for bootle 4 april 1914 1955 veronica robertshaw simon mahon
 1979 simon mahon
simon mahon

simon mahon -lrb- 4 april 1914 -- 19 october 1986 -rrb- 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 -lrb- 1886 -- 1961 -rrb- , 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 , liverpool .
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 .
