Gwyneth Patricia Dunwoody (née Phillips; 12 December 1930 – 17 April 2008) was a British Labour Party politician, who was a Member of Parliament (MP) for Exeter from 1966 to 1970, and then for Crewe (later Crewe and Nantwich) from February 1974 to her death in 2008.[1] She was a moderate socialist[2] and had a reputation as a fiercely independent parliamentarian, described as "intelligent, obstinate, opinionated and hard-working".[3]
She attended the Fulham County Secondary School for Girls, now the Fulham Cross Girls' School, and the Notre Dame Convent (a girls' grammar school) in Battersea. She left school aged 16, and became a journalist with a local newspaper in Fulham,[3] covering births, marriages and deaths.[4] She joined the Labour Party in 1947, and spoke at the 1948 Labour party conference in Scarborough.[4] She worked as an actress in repertory and as a journalist in the Netherlands, learning fluent Dutch, before suffering a bout of tuberculosis.[4][5]
Her husband stood as Labour candidate in the safe Conservative seat of Tiverton in 1959, and came close to winning Plymouth Sutton in 1964, losing by just 410 votes[3] (David Owen would later hold for several years for Labour).
In 1969 whilst serving as Parliamentary secretary to the board of trade she presented rock band Led Zeppelin with gold discs in recognition of the group exporting £5 million of records to the USA (£111,000,000 in 2024)
From 1970 to 1975, she was Director of the Film Producers Association of Great Britain and Consultant to the Association of Independent Cinemas.[5]
She did not return to ministerial office, but served as a front bench spokesman on, by turns, transport, health,[7] and foreign affairs during the 18 years of Labour opposition from 1979 to 1997.[3] She also served on the Labour National Executive Committee for seven years, from 1981 to 1988, collaborating closely with Betty Boothroyd.[3][4][8] She resisted the Militant group in her constituency and later opposed all-women shortlists.[citation needed]
In 1983, boundary changes abolished the constituency of Crewe and created the constituency of Crewe and Nantwich, with many Conservative voters from Nantwich included in the new seat. She narrowly won the election in 1983 by 290 votes.[4] She remained MP at Crewe and Nantwich until her death in 2008, having benefited from a further redrawing of the boundaries in 1997 which increased her majority substantially.[8]
As a member for a constituency with a strong connection with the railway industry, she had considerable expertise on transport matters, and was Chair of the House of Commons' Transport Committee from 1997 to 2008. In this role she was a credible, independent-minded critic of the government, and she and her committee discomfited witnesses from the rail and air transport industries.[citation needed]
She had a house in her constituency, and a flat in the Barbican.[3] She suffered from financial problems in the late 1980s, with a house in her constituency being repossessed due to mortgage arrears, was threatened with eviction from her London flat, and had furniture seized by bailiffs to meet rent arrears.[3] She was sued by Barclays Bank due to an unpaid loan.[3][4]
The Daily Telegraph described her as "Clever, acerbic, fiercely independent and often just plain funny", noting her willingness to cast party allegiance aside.[9]
Her former husband died in 2006.[4] She was survived by her daughter and two sons.[4]
Her daughter Tamsin Dunwoody was selected as the Labour Party candidate in the by-election for Crewe and Nantwich.[14] The by-election was announced by chief party whip Geoff Hoon on Wednesday 30 April 2008 and was held on Thursday 22 May 2008. Dunwoody lost the by-election and the Conservative candidate, Edward Timpson, became her mother's successor.[15]
In late September 2007, Dunwoody beat Irene Ward's record of the longest total service for a woman MP, at 37 years, 9 months. In early December 2007, she beat Barbara Castle's record of the longest unbroken service for a woman MP, at 33 years, 9 months. These records have since been broken by Margaret Beckett and Harriet Harman respectively.
Legacy
In January 2007, railway operator GB Railfreight named locomotive 66719Gwyneth Dunwoody.[16] Dunwoody Way in Crewe is named after Gwyneth Dunwoody.