Brian Mawhinney was born in 1940 in Belfast. He was elected Member of Parliament for Peterborough in 1979 then for North West Cambridgeshire from 1997 to 2005. He became Minister of State at the Northern Ireland Office in 1990 then Minister of State at the Department of Health until 1994 when he joined the Cabinet as Secretary of State for Transport. He also served as Chairman of the Conservative Party and Minister without Portfolio, stepping down from the House of Commons in May 2005, after which he was created a life peer becoming Baron Mawhinney, of Peterborough. In 2003, he was appointed Chairman of The Football League where he oversaw a reorganisation of the league structure. He lives in Peterborough.