Friday 18 April 2008

Gwyneth Dunwoody

Last night Gwyneth Dunwoody, Labour MP for Crewe and Nantwich, died aged 77. She was Chair of the Commons Select Committee for Transport and entered Parliament in 1966.

It’s a terrible loss to Parliament. Even I as a small 'c' conservative blogger recognise her honesty in debate irrelevant of her own Party’s line and will miss her speeches. Her speech from the debate on scheduling of the Commons ratification of the Lisbon Treaty only a few months ago was one of the best speeches Ive ever seen. She spoke brilliantly about the changes that had happened to Parliament over the years and how what might appear to be side issues or trivialities, can actually be really important and that the processes of Parliament should not be undermined. I don’t usually have much time for Labour MPs, but for her I always paid attention.

There aren’t many MPs in Parliament like her, putting people before Party. She will be missed.

1 comment:

Michael Child said...

James it’s sad indeed and I was surprised not to see it covered on the other local blogs anyway welcome to the world of Thanet blogging I have only just discovered your blog and have enjoyed reading it. I have put a link on my sidebar and eventually will update my main thanetonline.com site with a list of active bloggers. Don’t hesitate to use any of the Thanet pictures on my sites to illustrate your blog.