Mo Mowlam

Marjorie "Mo" Mowlam (18 September 1949 – 19 August 2005) was a British politician, Secretary of State for Northern Ireland and Labour Member of Parliament.

British Politician. Born in Watford, England, she became interested in politics at an early age. After studying social anthropology at the University of Durham, she earned a master's degree and a doctorate from the University of Iowa. In 1969, she became a member of the Labor Party, was first elected to Parliament in 1987 and later became a member of the influential House of Commons Public Accounts Committee and the party's ruling National Executive Committee. Elected to the Shadow Cabinet in 1992, she became the chief spokesman on women and the Citizen’s Charter. Appointed Secretary of State for Northern Ireland in 1997, she was given the Northern Ireland portfolio. She took a political risk in 1998, by entering the Maze Prison near Belfast to speak with convicted loyalist paramilitaries to encourage peace negotiations between the protesting Irish Republican Army and the British government. Her efforts resulted in the negotiations leading to the Good Friday Peace Agreement of 1998. She remained Secretary of State for Northern Ireland until 1999 and retired from public service in 2001.

Illness and death

Five months before the 1997 General Election which took Labour to office, Mowlam was diagnosed with a brain tumour, a fact she tried to keep secret until the tabloid press started to print jibes about her appearance. Although she made a full recovery from the tumour itself, the various treatments caused her to lose most of her hair and she often wore a wig, which she would sometimes casually remove in public stating that it was "such a bother"

The BBC reported on 3 August 2005, that she was critically ill at King's College Hospital in London.She appeared to have suffered from balance problems as a result of her radiotherapy. She fell over, received head injuries and never regained consciousness. She had made a living will in which she had asked not to be resuscitated, and food and water were withdrawn.

On 12 August 2005, she was moved to Pilgrims Hospice in Canterbury, Kent where she died seven days later, aged 55. She was survived by her husband, Jon Norton, who died in February 2009 at the age of 53, and two stepchildren. Mowlam died just 13 days after Robin Cook, another member of the 1997 New Labour Cabinet.

A Mo Mowlam memorial was held at The Theatre Royal, Drury Lane on 20 November 2005, and another in Redcar on 3 December 2005.