Colin Moynihan

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Olympic medal record
Men's rowing
Silver	1980 Moscow	Eight-oars with coxswain

Colin Berkeley Moynihan, 4th Baron Moynihan (born 13 September 1955) is a former Olympic coxswain who became a politician.

Colin Moynihan was educated at Monmouth School, and went up to University College, Oxford, in the 1970s. He coxed for victorious Oxford University in the 1977 Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race. He was also the first but short-lived pianist for the Oxcentrics jazz band.

Subsequently, Moynihan was an Olympic cox for the Great Britain men's eight rowing squad in the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games, earning a silver medal. In 1981 he coxed the team to silver medal success in the World Championships.

He was elected as a Conservative MP, to represent Lewisham East in 1983. From 1987 to 1990, Moynihan was the Minister for Sport in the Conservative government of Margaret Thatcher. Revealed as one of the lovers of prostitute Pamela Bordes, he lost his seat to Labour in the United Kingdom general election in 1992.

The Barony of Moynihan having become dormant on the death of his half brother in 1991, Moynihan spent five years trying to prove his claim to the title which was complex due to the number of marriages of the 3rd baron and questions over their legality. In 1997 the Committee for Privileges decided:

...that neither of the two sons purporting to be the sons of the Third Baron can, in fact, be an heir to the peerage. In the case of the elder, Andrew, the committee was shown overwhelming genetic evidence that he cannot be the son of the late Lord Moynihan; and so far as the younger, Daniel, is concerned, the evidence clearly shows that he is the child of a bigamous marriage and is therefore illegitimate. In those circumstances, it is clear beyond doubt that the petitioner, Colin Moynihan, must be the rightful heir and that his Petitions must succeed.[1]

Lord Moynihan was elected as one of the hereditary peers to remain in the house following the House of Lords Act 1999. He was Shadow Minister for Sport in the Lords from July 2003 to February 2005.

On 5 October 2005, he was elected Chairman of the British Olympic Association (BOA), for the run-up to the 2012 London Olympic Games. He beat the 1968 Olympic hurdles champion, David Hemery, by a vote of 28 to 15.

[edit] See also

• Baron Moynihan
• Members of the House of Lords
• MPs elected in the UK general election, 1983 and 1987
• Pamella Bordes
• Rowing at the 1980 Summer Olympics

[edit] External links

• Independent Sports Review information
• Baron Moynihan information
• Ugandan Discussions – on the cover of Private Eye (Issue 692, 24 June 1988)
• Moynihan named new BOA chairman, BBC news (5 October 2005)

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Roland Moyle	Member for Lewisham East 1983–1992	Succeeded by Bridget Prentice
Political offices
Preceded by Richard Tracey	Minister for Sport 1987–1990	Succeeded by Robert Atkins
Peerage of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Antony Moynihan (dormant in 1991)	Baron Moynihan (Claim proved 1997) 1991–Present	Succeeded by Current Incumbent