Gwyneth Dunwoody - Parliamentary Career

Parliamentary Career

Dunwoody stood as the Labour Party candidate for the Exeter seat in the 1964 general election. She was elected as Member of Parliament for Exeter in 1966, emulating her husband in nearby Falmouth and Camborne. Like her husband, she also served as a junior minister, as a Parliamentary Secretary at the Board of Trade, and also lost her seat at the 1970 general election.

From 1970 to 1975, she was Director of the Film Producers Association of Great Britain and Consultant to the Association of Independent Cinemas.

She returned to the House of Commons after the February 1974 general election, becoming MP for the safe Labour seat of Crewe, having received the sponsorship of the National Union of Railwaymen (later part of RMT). Dunwoody was also a Member of the European Parliament between 1975 and 1979 (alongside John Prescott) at a time when MEPs were nominated by national parliaments — MEPs have been directly elected since 1979.

In 1983, Dunwoody stood for election as deputy leader of the Labour Party, alongside Peter Shore, on a Eurosceptic platform (a position she consistently maintained throughout her career - she voted against the Maastricht Treaty seven times). The position was won by Roy Hattersley, and Dunwoody came last out of the four candidates with 1.3% of the Electoral College.

She did not return to ministerial office, but served as a front bench spokesman on, by turns, transport, health, and foreign affairs during the 18 years of Labour opposition from 1979 to 1997. She also served on the Labour National Executive Committee for seven years, from 1981 to 1988, collaborating closely with Betty Boothroyd. She opposed all-women shortlists, and resisted Militant.

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. 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.

In 1998, she gained headlines around the world when she clashed with New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani urging the return of the original Winnie the Pooh dolls from Donnell Library Center to the British Museum after she said she "detected sadness" in their display behind bulletproof glass in the United States library.

In October 2000, she was one of several candidates for the speakership of the House of Commons. The election was won by Michael Martin MP.

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. Her involvement in railways extended beyond parliamentary responsibilities, and in December 2007 she presented the coveted National Railway Heritage Award plaque to a Swanage Railway team of volunteers for the installation of a historic footbridge at Corfe Castle railway station.

An attempt by the government whips to remove her and Donald Anderson, Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee, from their positions after the 2001 general election led to a revolt by back-bench members of Parliament, which resulted in them both being reinstated.

She was President of Labour Friends of Israel from 1988 to 1993, and was a parliamentary consultant to the British Fur Federation. She was one of 13 Labour MPs to vote against a reduction of the age of consent for homosexual acts to 16.

She had a house in her constituency, and a flat in the Barbican. 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. She was sued by Barclays Bank due to an unpaid loan.

A formidable backbencher, Dunwoody was voted "Battle-axe of the Year" by Oldie magazine.

The Daily Telegraph described her as "Clever, acerbic, fiercely independent and often just plain funny", noting her willingness to cast party allegiance aside.