18 Facts About Peter Law

For most of his career Law sat as a Labour councillor and subsequently Labour Co-operative Assembly member for Blaenau Gwent.

Peter Law ran a General Store between 1964 and 1987.

Peter Law was appointed chair of Gwent Healthcare NHS Trust.

Peter Law served as a councillor for Nantyglo and Blaenau Urban District Council between 1970 and 1974.

Peter Law was latterly a close ally of Llew Smith, MP for Blaenau Gwent from 1992, and was selected for the constituency in the first elections to the National Assembly for Wales in 1999, winning the seat easily.

Peter Law was appointed to the cabinet of Alun Michael as Assembly Secretary for Local Government and Housing, but lost his post in a cabinet reshuffle in 2000 by successor First Minister for Wales Rhodri Morgan.

When Morgan formed a coalition government with the Liberal Democrats, Peter Law made no secret of his opposition to the decision and was not retained in the administration.

Peter Law became a vociferous backbench critic and following his re-election with an increased majority in the 2003 election he stood as candidate for the Deputy Presiding Officer of the Welsh Assembly.

Peter Law left the Labour Party in protest at the use of an all-woman shortlist in selecting the candidate for the general election, which was used to replace the retiring Llew Smith.

Peter Law believed all-woman shortlists were being selectively imposed on local parties only where a leadership-supported male candidate was unlikely to be selected, citing the example of Ed Balls and Pat McFadden as new leadership-supported male candidates, and noting that use of all-woman shortlists had been stopped in Scotland.

Peter Law campaigned while recovering from surgery for a brain tumour.

Peter Law won the award of Welsh Politician of the Year by both BBC Wales and the Wales Yearbook.

Peter Law married Trish Bolter in 1976 and they have three daughters and two sons.

Peter Law died at his home in Nantyglo, aged 58, suffering from a recurrent brain tumour first diagnosed during the 2005 election campaign.

Peter Law's widow has claimed that he was offered a peerage to not stand against Labour in Blaenau Gwent in 2005, an allegation denied by Labour.

Peter Law's funeral was held on Thursday 4 May 2006, at Christchurch in Ebbw Vale, exactly a year after he was elected to parliament.

In December 2007 a memorial concert in honour of Peter Law was held locally, with the proceeds raised donated to Hospice of the Valleys.

On 10 December 2007 a plaque in Peter Law's honour was installed at the new Ebbw Vale Parkway railway station, with the location chosen to mark his years of campaigning for a railway link to Cardiff to be restored for the community.