Parliamentary Career
Kilfoyle became the Labour Member of Parliament for Liverpool Walton by winning a by-election in 1991 after the death of the incumbent Eric Heffer. He had lost the nomination to the Militant tendency backed candidate, but the Labour Party central office imposed Killfoyle as the local candidate.
He supported Tony Blair in his 1994 leadership campaign.
When Labour came to power in 1997, Kilfoyle 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. He then became a vocal backbench critic of the Government for the remainder of his period in parliament. He spoke against government plans to replace Trident in the debate on 14 March 2007.
On 23 February 2010, Kilfoyle announced that he would stand down at the 2010 General Election.
In the England and Wales Police and Crime Commissioner elections, 2012, he stood in the Labour nomination race to represent Merseyside Police, however he was defeated for nomination by fellow former MP Jane Kennedy.
Read more about this topic: Peter Kilfoyle
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“From a hasty glance through the various tests I figure it out that I would be classified in Group B, indicating “Low Average Ability,” reserved usually for those just learning to speak the English Language and preparing for a career of holding a spike while another man hits it.”
—Robert Benchley (1889–1945)