Peter Kilfoyle

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Peter Kilfoyle (born on June 9, 1946 in Liverpool) is a UK politician. Eleventh of 14 children born to an Irish Catholic family in the Merseyside, he was educated by the Irish Christian Brothers at St. Edward's College in Liverpool; his father died when he was 10 years old. Obtaining 4 A-levels he went to Durham University, but left after a year, qualifying as a teacher at Christ's College in Liverpool [link].

He has been Labour Member of Parliament for Liverpool Walton since winning a by-election in 1991 after the death of its incumbent Eric Heffer. He played a key role in the expulsion of Militant supporters from the Labour Party during the 1980s and was a key supporter of Tony Blair in his 1994 leadership campaign. When Labour came to power in 1997 he was initially appointed to an influential role within the Cabinet Office, with a licence to speak out in the media on the Government's behalf, and was later appointed a junior minister in the Ministry of Defence. But in 1999 he suddenly resigned, claiming the Blair Government was failing to pay enough attention to Labour's heartlands. Since then he has remained a vocal backbench critic of the Government.

He married Bernadette Slater, and they have 5 children.

Controversy

In 2005, he allegedly defied the British Official Secrets Act when he claimed to have passed information supposedly detailing then U.S. President George W. Bush's plan to bomb an Arabic TV station. [link] [link]

External links

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