John Maxton, Baron Maxton
| The Lord Maxton | |
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Member of Parliament for Glasgow Cathcart |
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In office 3 May 1979 – 7 June 2001 |
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| Preceded by | Teddy Taylor |
| Succeeded by | Tom Harris |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 5 May 1936 |
| Nationality | British |
| Political party | Labour |
John Alston Maxton, Baron Maxton (born 5 May 1936) is a Scottish Labour Party politician. From 1979 to 2001 he was a backbench Member of Parliament (MP) in the British House of Commons.
He is a nephew of the former Independent Labour Party leader and World War I conscientious objector, James Maxton. His father, also John Maxton, was also a conscientious objector in World War I, and the younger John Maxton was himself a conscientious objector 1955-57, working on building sites and in farming. He subsequently attended University College, Oxford.
He joined the Labour Party in 1970 and became a prominent campaigner as Vice Chairman of the group Scottish Labour Against the Market during the 1975 referendum on Britain's continuing membership of the Common Market. He was selected to oppose the sitting MP, the Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland, Teddy Taylor, at the 1979 election in the Glasgow Cathcart seat. The changing demographics of the area and Labour's increasing popularity in Scotland made it a winnable seat, and Maxton's victory was made more likely by the Conservative Party's strident opposition to the Scottish National Party, which drove some of its voters back to Labour.
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