NEWS: Britain's Former N. Ireland Secretary, Mo Mowlam, Dead at 55, page 1

Mo Mowlam, Britain's former Nortern Ireland Secretary has died at the age of 55. Mo was well known for her part in helping to secure the province's 1998 Good Friday peace accord. Ms. Mowlam died Friday morning at a hospice south of London. It is reported that Ms. Mowlam has undergone radiotherapy treatment for her brain tumor which had affected her balance. She recently fell and hit her head, and did not manage to regain consciousness.

seattletimes.nwsource.com
Prime Minister Tony Blair, who made Ms. Mowlam his top Northern Ireland official in 1997, paid tribute to "one of the most remarkable and colorful personalities ever to come into politics. Great company, utterly irreverent, full of life and fun."

Observers of the tense negotiations that led to the 1998 Good Friday accord, which revived Catholic-Protestant power-sharing in the British-governed province, cited Ms. Mowlam's approachability as a key factor.

Famously informal, she kicked off her shoes in meetings, threw her wig — a product of her battle with a brain tumor — on the table at a moment of high tension and was caught on tape calling Sinn Fein negotiator Martin McGuinness "babe."

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Mo Mowlam will be admired for so many things including her willingness to speak frankly and her bravery in fighting her brain tumor.

Taken from Wikipedia:

“She was born in Watford, the daughter of an alcoholic father, but grew up in Coventry, where her father rose to become Coventry's assistant postmaster, and she would later be awarded the Freedom of the City in 1999. She was the only one of the family's three children to pass the 11-plus exam, and started at Chiswick Girls' grammar school in West London, before attending Coundon Court comprehensive school in Coventry.

She then studied at Trevelyan College, Durham, reading sociology and anthropology, joining the Labour Party in her first year. She worked for then Labour MP Tony Benn in London and American writer Alvin Toffler in New York, before deciding to do a PhD in political science at the University of Iowa.

She taught briefly at the University of Wisconsin in 1977 and at Florida State University before returning to England in 1979 to teach at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne. In her time at Florida State she was stalked by a man she later concluded was Ted Bundy, who murdered two women students on the campus near where she lived. In 1981 she organised a series of alternative lectures - in parallel to the Reith lectures - which were published as Debate On Disarmament, jointly edited by Mowlam, with all proceeds from the book going to the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament.
She called herself a 'devout atheist'.”

It is an ashame when anyone such as Mo Mowland passes away but I feel this will be felt greatly within British politics and people will really start to appreciate her for what she did and what she stood for. She spoke out at meetings and was not scared to take on opposition who opposed her views. At meetings she would remove her wig to help break the formality.
A memorial service is likely to follow a private family funeral.

Thank you for your time and work within the Labour party, and may you rest in peace.

Related News Links:
www.4ni.co.uk
news.scotsman.com
en.wikipedia.org

[edit on 20-8-2005 by phixion]

[edit on 20-8-2005 by John bull 1]