Gwyneth Dunwoody - Married Life

Married Life

She married John Dunwoody in 1954, the same year he qualified as a doctor. Her husband became a general practitioner based in Totnes in Devon. They had two sons and a daughter. Their daughter, Tamsin Dunwoody, was a member of the National Assembly for Wales for one term between 2003 and 2007 and from 2005 was Deputy Minister for Enterprise, Innovation and Networks in the Welsh Assembly Government.

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 (David Owen would later hold for several years for Labour).

Meanwhile, Dunwoody was a councillor on Totnes Borough Council (now South Hams) from 1963-6. Her husband was finally elected as Labour MP for Falmouth and Camborne in 1966 (she was elected at the same time in Exeter). He served as a Parliamentary Under-Secretary at the Department of Health and Social Security from 1969 until 1970. A well-regarded orator at the Labour Party Conference, John Dunwoody was spoken of as a future leader of the Party but lost his seat in the 1970 general election and did not return to Parliament. They were divorced in 1975.