Peter John Law (1 April 1948 – 25 April 2006) was a Welsh politician. For most of his career Law sat as a Labour councillor and subsequently Labour Co-operative Assembly member (AM) for Blaenau Gwent. Latterly he sat as an independent member of Parliament (MP) and AM for the same constituency. Law resigned from the Labour Party in 2005. In the 2005 general election, he defeated the Labour candidate by over 9,000 votes. The Daily Telegraph described his victory as "one of the most spectacular general election results of modern times". Early life Born in Abergavenny, Law was educated at Grofield Secondary School and then attended Nant-y-Glo Community College. He later studied at the Open University. He ran a General Store between 1964 and 1987. He was subsequently appointed chair of Gwent Healthcare NHS Trust. Political career Law served as a councillor for Nantyglo and Blaenau Urban District Council between 1970 and 1974. He continued to serve as a councillor on Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council until 1999 and was appointed mayor for 1988-89. He 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. He 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, Law made no secret of his opposition to the decision and was not retained in the administration. He 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. However, the Labour AMs voted instead for John Marek who was an Independent AM, thereby ensuring that an opposition member was in the Chair and unable to vote against the Welsh Assembly Government. 2005 general election 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. 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