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Mo Mowlam

Mo Mowlam

by JuliaLangdon (Author)

  • Used

    Paperback 2001

    $3.25

  • Used

    Paperback 2001

    $4.20

  • Used

    Hardcover 2000

    $4.47
Synopsis

Mo Mowlam, Secretary of State for Northern Ireland until 1999, is arguably Britain's most popular politician and a woman who evokes immense personal empathy among politicians and, more importantly, the public at large. She has given political journalist Julia Langdon privileged access to her family, friends and colleagues to enable her to write a definitive account of an absorbing life - the child of alcoholic parents who was the first in the family to go to university; studying in the USA; a politics lecturer who was also a woman with a mission to do something; her sexual liberation in the Seventies; her Labour politics in the North East, Westminster and of course Ulster; and her dramatic success achieved against a brain tumour.

$3.25

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4 in stock

More Information

Format: Paperback
 Pages: 336
 Edition: New e.
 Publisher: Sphere
Published: 20 Sep 2001
ISBN 10: 0751531014
ISBN 13: 9780751531015

Media Reviews
'Julia Langdon has produced a biography in which the full flavour of the subject is gustily preserved' SUNDAY EXPRESS 'Julia Langdon should be congratulated . . . fluently written and thoroughly researched' TLS 'An enjoyable read.' LITERARY REVIEW 'A roller-coaster read...' RTE GUIDE 'Marjorie Mo Mowlam is arguably Britain's best-loved politician--though her public popularity is highly unusual for someone holding a cabinet position. In this biography, unauthorised but apparently written with Mowlam's approval-- she allowed me to talk to anybody who was prepared to spare me the time --seasoned journalist Julia Langdon attributes Mowlam's undoubted ability to interact to her exuberant and driven personality, and also to a desperate insecurity which is assuaged by feeling that she is useful to other people . Through interviews with friends and family, Langdon paints a portrait of the high achiever with a secret family misery (her father was an alcoholic), the student activist whose tutors thought she would be the first female prime minister, the academic who spent years in the US and the tireless Labour party campaigner and administrator who became MP for Redcar at the age of 37 in 1987, and then rose under Tony Blair's leadership to become Secretary of State for Northern Ireland 10 years later. It was a position that would lead to much acclaim--for her charismatic style of politics, her fortitude in the wake of the discovery of a brain tumour--benign, but necessitating debilitating treatment--and, above all, for her commitment to her role, which was instrumental in bringing about the Good Friday Agreement of April 1998. Yet the halting nature of that imperfect peace , plus the standing ovation she received in the middle of Tony Blair's keynote speech at the next Labour Party Conference meant that Mowlam's cabinet future appeared uncertain (a friend is quoted as saying to her after this incident, Don't you realise they're going to come gunning for you? ), and in October 1999 she was demoted to the position of cabinet Enforcer , with Peter Mandelson taking over in Ulster. Indecisive (until it was too late) about whether she wanted to be put forward as the Labour candidate for London Mayor, Mowlam surprisingly, but perhaps inevitably, announced her intention to step down as an MP in early September 2000. This seemingly sudden decision had apparently been decided many months earlier, in fact within weeks of Mowlam losing her post as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland . She did not immediately resign because of her profound loyalty to the Labour Party . Langdon's account of Mowlam's rise--and fall--in politics depicts a determined, difficult yet immensely likeable character. The great anticipation is, however, the account Mo Mowlam herself might write of her time with New Labour.' - Kate Weaver, AMAZON.CO.UK REVIEW
Author Bio
Julia Langdon has been a highly respected political journalist since 1971, one of the inner circle of Westminster writers, with a very long experience of domestic political affairs.