Dr Marjorie "Mo" Mowlam was a British Labour Party politician.
36 Facts About Mo Mowlam
2.
Mo Mowlam was the Member of Parliament for Redcar from 1987 to 2001 and served in the Cabinet as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Minister for the Cabinet Office and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster.
3.
Mo Mowlam was born at 43 King Street, Watford, Hertfordshire, England, the middle of three children of Tina and Frank, but grew up in Coventry, where her father progressed to become Coventry's assistant postmaster.
4.
Mo Mowlam was the only one of the family's three children to pass the 11-plus exam.
5.
Mo Mowlam then studied at Trevelyan College, Durham University, reading sociology and anthropology.
6.
Mo Mowlam joined the Labour Party in her first year.
7.
Mo Mowlam became the Secretary of the Durham Union Society in 1969 and later went on to become the vice-president of the Durham Student's Union.
8.
Mo Mowlam worked for then-MP Tony Benn in London and American writer Alvin Toffler in New York, moving to the United States with her then-boyfriend and studying for a PhD in political science at the University of Iowa on the effects of the Swiss system of referendums.
9.
Mo Mowlam returned to England in 1979 to take up an appointment at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne.
10.
Mo Mowlam worked in adult education at Northern College, Barnsley, with students who had fewer opportunities than traditional university students.
11.
Mo Mowlam married Jonathan Norton, a City of London banker, in County Durham on 24 June 1995; Norton died on 3 February 2009.
12.
Mo Mowlam had two step-children from Norton's first marriage to Geraldine Bedell.
13.
Mo Mowlam took the seat in the 1987 general election, becoming the Labour spokesperson on Northern Ireland later that year.
14.
Together with Shadow Chancellor John Smith, Mo Mowlam was one of the architects of Labour's "Prawn Cocktail Offensive" dedicated to reassuring the UK's financial sector about Labour's financial rectitude.
15.
Mo Mowlam joined the Shadow Cabinet when John Smith became leader of the Labour Party in 1992, holding the title of Shadow Secretary of State for National Heritage.
16.
Mo Mowlam initially resisted being appointed to the position, preferring an economic portfolio, but, after accepting it, she threw her weight into the job.
17.
In 1997, Mo Mowlam was re-elected as MP for Redcar with an increased majority of 21,667.
18.
Mo Mowlam cut through conventions and made difficult decisions that gave momentum to political progress.
19.
Mo Mowlam "oversaw the negotiations which led to the 1998 Good Friday Agreement".
20.
Mo Mowlam was successful in helping to restore the second IRA ceasefire which eventually led to Sinn Fein being included in the multi-party peace talks.
21.
Mo Mowlam went on to oversee the Good Friday Agreement signing in 1998, which led to the temporary establishment of a devolved power-sharing Northern Ireland Assembly.
22.
In 1999, Mo Mowlam referred to paramilitary punishment attacks in Northern Ireland as "internal housekeeping" and maintained that the violence did not count as breaking the ceasefire.
23.
Whilst her deteriorating relationship with Unionists was the key reason Mo Mowlam was replaced by Peter Mandelson as Northern Ireland Secretary in October 1999, her move to the relatively lowly position of Cabinet Office Minister may have involved other factors, notably her health and her popularity.
24.
Mo Mowlam resented being appointed to the post, having previously disparaged it as "Minister for the Today programme".
25.
On 4 September 2000, Mo Mowlam announced her intention to retire from Parliament and relinquished her seat at the 2001 general election.
26.
Mo Mowlam took part in the anti-Iraq War protests alongside Vanessa Redgrave, Tony Benn, Tariq Ali, Ken Livingstone and Bianca Jagger.
27.
Mo Mowlam said she missed her constituency work as an MP.
28.
Mo Mowlam set up a charity, MoMo Helps, to help drug users who are successfully completing their rehabilitation and provide support for the parents or carers of disabled children.
29.
Mo Mowlam was the subject of This Is Your Life in January 2003 when she was surprised by Michael Aspel.
30.
Five months before the 1997 general election which took Labour to office, Mo Mowlam was diagnosed with a brain tumour, which she tried to keep private until the tabloid press started to print jibes about her appearance.
31.
Mo Mowlam often wore a wig, which she would sometimes casually remove in public stating that it was "such a bother".
32.
Mo Mowlam appeared to have suffered from balance problems as a result of her radiotherapy.
33.
Mo Mowlam's living will, in which she had asked not to be resuscitated, was honoured.
34.
Mo Mowlam was survived by her husband Jon Norton and two stepchildren.
35.
Mo Mowlam's death came just 13 days after Robin Cook's, another cabinet minister of the 1997 government.
36.
Mo Mowlam was an atheist and was cremated in Sittingbourne on 1 September 2005 at a non-religious service conducted by Richard Coles, formerly of the 1980s band The Communards.