Mawhinney, Brian Stanley (1940– )

British Conservative politician. As MP for Peterborough from 1979, his government posts included under-secretary of state for Northern Ireland 1986–90, minister of state in the Northern Ireland Office 1990–92, and secretary of state for transport 1994–95. He became the blunt, no-nonsense chairman of the Conservative Party 1995–97, and was elected MP for Cambridgeshire North West in 1997.

Mawhinney was born in Belfast, and educated at Queen's University, Belfast, and the universities of Michigan and London. He became assistant professor of radiation research at the University of Iowa 1968–70, and lectured at the Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine, London, 1970–84.