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MP Gwyneth Dunwoody dies aged 77 | MP Gwyneth Dunwoody dies aged 77 |
(39 minutes later) | |
Veteran Labour MP Gwyneth Dunwoody, the longest-serving female MP in Parliament, has died at the age of 77. | |
Mrs Dunwoody, MP for Crewe and Nantwich since 1974, had been ill for the past week, her son said. | Mrs Dunwoody, MP for Crewe and Nantwich since 1974, had been ill for the past week, her son said. |
Prime Minister Gordon Brown described her as "politics at its best" and said she would be sadly missed. | |
As well as chairing the transport select committee, Ms Dunwoody was known as a prominent and much-admired fighter for backbenchers' rights. | |
Leading the tributes, the prime minister said: "So many people will be so sad to hear of the death of Gwyneth Dunwoody. | Leading the tributes, the prime minister said: "So many people will be so sad to hear of the death of Gwyneth Dunwoody. |
"She was always her own person. She was fiercely independent." | "She was always her own person. She was fiercely independent." |
She was an independent-minded woman who always spoke her mind and will be badly missed Tony Benn | She was an independent-minded woman who always spoke her mind and will be badly missed Tony Benn |
'Wonderful mother' | |
Ms Dunwoody's son David described her as a wonderful mother and grandmother. | |
He told the BBC she had died "in a gentle and calm way" on Thursday evening after being ill for about a week. | |
He said: "She was a women who stood up and said what she believed was true. She defended people who didn't have anyone else to defend them. | He said: "She was a women who stood up and said what she believed was true. She defended people who didn't have anyone else to defend them. |
"Everybody who knew her knew she believed passionately in everything that she did." | "Everybody who knew her knew she believed passionately in everything that she did." |
Former Labour MP Tony Benn said he was shocked by the news. | Former Labour MP Tony Benn said he was shocked by the news. |
He said: "She was an independent-minded woman who always spoke her mind and will be badly missed. | He said: "She was an independent-minded woman who always spoke her mind and will be badly missed. |
"She was listened to with great attention from the House itself." | "She was listened to with great attention from the House itself." |
Great sadness | |
From the Conservatives, party chairman Caroline Spelman said: "Gwyneth Dunwoody's passing is a moment of great sadness for parliamentary democracy. | |
"To many, Gwyneth was a kindly matriarch in the House and her warm personality and powerful rhetoric will be sorely missed." | |
Ms Dunwoody joined the Labour Party in 1946 and first entered Parliament as the MP for Exeter in 1966. She came from a politically active family: both her grandmothers were suffragettes and her father Morgan Phillips was General Secretary of the Labour Party. | |
Her mother was a minister in the House of Lords and later became Lord Lieutenant of London. | |
From 1967 she was a minister on the former Board of Trade, before losing her seat in 1970. She was elected MP for Crewe in 1974 - which became Crewe and Nantwich in a 1983 boundary change. | |
She was also a member of the European Parliament from 1974 to 1979. | |
Thorn in side | |
Always an independent figure, Mrs Dunwoody was frequently a thorn in the Government's side. | |
In 2001 she survived an attempt by Labour whips to remove her from the transport select committee - which under her chairmanship often produced highly critical reports. | |
Backbench Labour MPs refused to support the move when it went to a vote in the Commons. | |
The Labour MP, Stephen Pound, told the BBC: "The House rose as one to save our Gwyneth." | |
He said she was an "extraordinary person" and her views always deserved attention. |