BBC has just broken the sad news of her death. Gwyneth Dunwoody was one of those rare MPs who won respect and admiration from members of all political parties.
Subscribe
-
Follow @libdemvoice.org on Bluesky
-
Like us on Facebook
-
Subscribe to our feed
-
Sign-up for our daily email digest
Most Read
- Why Holborn and St Pancras deserves our all
- Reform is winning because liberal Britain is not listening to its own society
- Sarah Olney bids to become candidate for Mayor of London
- Making the most of the Government’s belated action on illegal Israeli settlements
- Labour’s Local Government Reform hits a roadblock…
Search
Op-eds
-
Recollections of 9/11 (George Cunningham)
-
Why we need a Trade NATO (Dominic Sokalski)
-
‘I Fear a Target on My Back’ — A Liberal Democrat’s fight for Hong Kong’s freedom (Alan Dai)
-
Making the most of the Government’s belated action on illegal Israeli settlements (Jonathan Brown)
-
Somerset’s farmers are on the front line of climate change (Sarah Dyke)
A stone out of place and time
Latest voting intention and leadership ratings opinion polls
A website on Alec Guinness's two BBC series as George Smiley
Recent Comments
Jonathan Brown
@George - me too. I know that not everyone is happy about this, but it's perfectly reasonable policy and I think all care is being taken to try to reassure thos...
George Thomas
It follows the position of what I believe is a majority of UK population of supporting Israel but being against these unlawful settlements. Maybe not brave in t...
David Le Grice
I don't get your point. Starmer's problem was that he had no charisma or any broader understanding of how to be popular. Boris Johnson managed to deliver the ...
expats
Dr Ruvi ZIEGLER 11th Sep '26 - 10:44am You ref..."These measures are a direct response to continuous shifts in policy in Israel over many years which have deep...- Jonathan Brown
@Andy Daer - there is certainly a LOT I haven't addressed in my article, and am not going to address here, if only for lack of time and space. But a few points....
12 Comments
She was a Labour MP that had a lot of respect for. A very sad loss to democracy.
A real loss. Exactly the sort of no nonsence backbencher that parliamentry democracies need. Also the kind of character that the cloning of politics is irradicating. God Rest her soul.
Yes, the fiercely independent Labour MP who voted . . . in favour of the Iraq war.
Ah well . . .
Very sad to hear this news. I always found her to be passionate and independent. A sad loss.
There was a time when she was pretty typical of Labour MPs: part of the bedrock of entrenched, conservative, labour movement attitudes that did so much to slow this country down for decades. Only she was worse because she was parliamentary spokesman for the British Fur Trade, which made her a particular bete noire of anyone involved with the animal welfare movement. However, as the old Labour Party has gradually been destroyed, people like her who remained consistent to their ideals have come to seem more attractive, because there were also good things about the labour movement, like the way in which it encouraged working class people to get involved in the political process and gave them a route by which they could participate. She was also passionate about public transport and did sterling work holding the government to account, which the vast majority of the wimps on the Labour benches don’t have the guts to do. She will not be replaceable.
I met her last year in a meeting to discuss carbon emission reductions.
I had got 20 seconds into my introduction when I said “we want to make the industry more green”.
“More green?” she barked backed. “More green? You mean greener, boy!”
Me: “er, yes”
Gwyneth: “Were did you go to school? Public school?”
Me (feeling like a school boy again) “Er, yes”
Gwyneth: “Didn’t teach you right did they! Greener, not more green. Got it? Continue!”
She was so refershingly straight and honest. She was awesomely sharp and I will never forget my ten minutes in Norman Shaw North with her. But she was very fair and incredibly courteous, despite my little grammatical tour de force. She will be sorely missed by the world of politics and her constituents – and, dare i say, even by us lobbyists. RIP
Also, Laurence – I think there’s a time for being political and a time for being respectful. Today is the latter.
Thanks Olly. I’m sure that had Gwyneth ever corrected my grammar, I would be awestruck too.
Laurence, some of our MPs might’ve backed it if they hadn’t decided together it was utterly wrong, and a bunch of others both bought into Blair’s lies and were broadly in favour of the liberal internationalist position. I opposed it because it was being done badly at the wrong time, not because it was the wrong thing to do overall.
I disagree with most of our MPs on a few issues, normally completely different one, should I denigrate all of them because they’re sometimes wrong? Overall, she stuck to her beliefs, argued strongly for them and was prepared to rebel and back her position up when needed.
Parliament needs mavericks in order to function, she’ll be a loss to the process.
I think you’re confusing awestruck with just paying respects to someone who recently passed away.
Besides, if i was awestuck by everyone who corrected my grammar I’d be perpetually in awe.
Overall, she stuck to her beliefs.
Which were . . . what exactly? Because, leaving parliament to one side, it’s not immediately obvious.
Incredible. Her constituency is next to the one I live in, and she is one of those people that you just assume is going to be around forever.
Doubtless, she is vastly superior to whatever mindless, careerist drone is going to replace her. Maybe they really don’t have independent-minded MPs like that any more.
RIP.