Shaw was born in
Leeds, and educated at
Sedbergh School. At the
general election in October 1959, he stood as a 'Liberal and Conservative' and contested the Labour-held marginal
constituency of
Brighouse and Spenborough. He lost by only 47 votes to the sitting MP
Lewis John Edwards, who died the following month. At the
resulting by-election in March 1960, Shaw won the seat for the National Liberals and Conservatives with a majority of 666 votes over Labour's
Colin Jackson. Jackson regained the seat from Shaw for Labour at the
1964 general election, however, by a majority of 922. Shaw returned to
Parliament at the
1966 general election, when he was elected for the safe Conservative constituency of
Scarborough and Whitby; he was a Conservative for the rest of his political career. He held that seat until it was abolished for the
February 1974 general election, when he was re-elected for the new
Scarborough constituency. He continued to represent Scarborough until he retired at the
1992 general election, making a total of 30 years as an MP. He also served as a
Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from 1974 until 1979, when MEPs were not directly elected, but were chosen by the
House of Commons and
House of Lords as delegates. In the
1982 Birthday Honours Shaw received a
Knighthood, having the accolade conferred by
Queen Elizabeth II on 25 November 1982. Shaw was created a
life peer on 30 September 1994 with the title
Baron Shaw of Northstead, of
Liversedge in the
County of West Yorkshire. He retired from the House of Lords on 31 March 2015. Shaw was interviewed in 2012 as part of
The History of Parliament's oral history project. ==Personal life==