Niall MacDermot (10 September 1916 – 22 February 1996) was a British Labour politician. MacDermot was educated at

Rugby School Rugby School is a Public school (United Kingdom), private boarding school for pupils aged 13–18, located in the town of Rugby, Warwickshire in England. Founded in 1567 as a free grammar school for local boys, it is one of the oldest independ ...

and

Corpus Christi College, Cambridge Corpus Christi College (full name: "The College of Corpus Christi and the Blessed Virgin Mary", often shortened to "Corpus") is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. From the late 14th c ...

, and served in the Intelligence Corps during the Second World War. He was first elected to the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...

as Member of Parliament (MP) for Lewisham North, at a

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, or a bypoll in India, is an election used to fill an office that has become vacant between general elections. A vacancy may arise as a result of an incumben ...

in 1957 following the death of

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

MP Sir Austin Hudson. MacDermot lost his seat two years later at the 1959 general election, and unsuccessfully contested the equivalent seat at the

1961 London County Council election An election to the London County Council, County Council of County of London, London occurred on 13 April 1961. It was the last election to the council, and plans for its replacement by the Greater London Council were already in process. The cou ...

. He returned to

Parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

as MP for Derby North at a by-election in 1962. He was

Financial Secretary to the Treasury The Financial Secretary to the Treasury is a mid-level ministerial post in HM Treasury. It is nominally the fifth most significant ministerial role within the Treasury after the first lord of the Treasury, the chancellor of the Exchequer, the ch ...

from 1964 to 1967, and retired from the Commons at the 1970 general election. From 1970 to 1990, he was Secretary-General of the

International Commission of Jurists The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) is an international human rights non-governmental organization. It is supported by an International Secretariat based in Geneva, Switzerland, and staffed by lawyers drawn from a wide range of jurisdi ...

, succeeding

Seán MacBride Seán MacBride (26 January 1904 – 15 January 1988) was an Irish Republican activist, politician, and diplomat who served as Minister for External Affairs from 1948 to 1951, Leader of Clann na Poblachta from 1946 to 1965 and Chief of Staff o ...

. He was the grandson of Hugh Hyacinth O'Rorke MacDermot, who served as Solicitor General for Ireland in 1885 and 1886, and as

Attorney General for Ireland The Attorney-General for Ireland was an Kingdom of Ireland, Irish and then, from 1801 under the Acts of Union 1800, United Kingdom government office-holder. He was senior in rank to the Solicitor-General for Ireland: both advised the Crown on ...

in 1892. He was also the nephew of

Frank MacDermot Francis Charles MacDermot (25 November 1886 – 24 June 1975) was an Irish barrister, soldier, politician and historian who served as Seanad Éireann, Senator from 1937 to 1943, after being Nominated members of Seanad Éireann, nominated by the ...

Fine Gael Fine Gael ( ; ; ) is a centre-right, liberal-conservative, Christian democratic political party in Ireland. Fine Gael is currently the third-largest party in the Republic of Ireland in terms of members of Dáil Éireann. The party had a member ...

politician.

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* 1916 births 1996 deaths British people of Irish descent Financial Secretary to the Treasury Intelligence Corps officers Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for constituencies in Derbyshire Alumni of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge People educated at Rugby School Commanders of the Order of the British Empire 20th-century King's Counsel UK MPs 1955–1959 UK MPs 1959–1964 UK MPs 1964–1966 UK MPs 1966–1970 MacDermot family Ministers in the Wilson governments, 1964–1970 {{England-Labour-UK-MP-stub