Carry on the fight, as Gwyneth Dunwoody would have done

2:35pm Thursday 8th May 2008

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By Jack Straw »

There will be an air of sadness at Westminster today as we say farewell to Gwyneth Dunwoody, the MP for Crewe and Nantwich who died last month.

I first met Gwyneth when I was a young student leader and she was a minister in the Harold Wilson government of the late 1960s. She became a mentor to me and a great friend. She was Labour to her fingertips and took great pride in her image as a "battleaxe" who kept errant ministers in check. Westminster, Labour and the people of Crewe and Nantwich will be poorer without her.

It will be a great honour to speak of my memories of Gwyneth at her funeral today. Gwyneth was first elected as an MP in 1966. Her grandmothers were both suffragettes, her parents both served the Labour Party with distinction. Between them they have witnessed at close hand the history of the party, with its high points and its lows.

Gwyneth knew how it felt to lose one's seat in politics. A Labour landslide in 1966 was followed on June 1970 by a big win for Edward Heath's Conservatives. Gwyneth was one victim, her husband (also an MP) another. She was returned to Parliament in Crewe and Nantwich in 1974. So she would be able to empathise with those who lost their council seats in last Thursday's local elections.

Moreover, she would understand the bitterness which the deposed might feel at losing their position through no fault of their own, caught up in what - as last Thursday - can be a mass protest vote against an incumbent government. It has happened to both main parties over the years - our showing last week was the worst since 1968; the Tories had terrible years in the 80s and 90s.

People not involved in politics are often surprised at the sometimes good relations between politicians of different parties. It was like that with Gwyneth, who was much loved on all sides of the House of Commons. But when it comes to election day, such relationships are set to one side. Compassion across the political divide is about as great as it would be across the football divide during one of those (happily rare) Blackburn-Burnley derby matches.

So to those Labour colleagues who lost their seats across East Lancashire I offer deep gratitude and support. It is thanks to the efforts of people like them, other party workers and the voters of the town that I have the privilege of sitting in the Cabinet and I will never forget that. It is something I know that Gwyneth Dunwoody would have echoed - indeed I would stake my house on her having said it many times to her colleagues in Crewe.

Her message to defeated Labour candidates last week would be to send her commiserations and her sympathy, but urge them to carry on the good fight with strength and determination because good can come out of adversity. I know this to be the case because this week I spent some time with the woman who hopes to succeed Gwyneth as MP for Crewe and Nantwich.

Plain speaking and focused, she is determined to continue in Gwyneth's footsteps - standing up for the people of Crewe, fighting tooth and nail for her party and never being afraid to speak her mind. She's remarkably like Gwyneth - hardly surprising, as Tamsin Dunwoody is Gwyneth's daughter, a true chip off the old block. And as we remember her mum today, our sadness mixed with such fondness for the memories, I know she wouldn't mind me saying that one bit.