10 Key Female Politicians in 20th Century British Politics

For the second time Britain has a female Prime Minister, whilst the First Minister of Scotland is also a woman. With the election of Donald Trump as US President (in a campaign rife with misogynistic invective hurled at his rival candidate Hilary Clinton) many observers are labelling the German Chancellor Angela Merkel the true leader of the free world. With the surge of far-right populism across Europe, it is even conceivable that Marine le Pen could become French President next year. So, what better time to look back at some of the female politicians who have made a crucial impact on both Westminster and the nation. Please note that, for once, this list is strictly chronological rather than ranked.


NANCY ASTOR

Nancy Astor was not the first woman to be elected to Westminster; that was Constance Markiewicz the year before in 1918. However, as a suffragist and Irish revolutionary, Markiewicz unsurprisingly refused to take up her seat and so Astor, an American born socialite and wife of Viscount Waldorf Astor, has gone down in history as the political pioneer and proto-feminist. If both assessments are questionable in the conventional sense (she achieved little as an MP and was largely disinterested in female suffrage) she is important for the refreshing and unconventional manner in which she went about her Parliamentary business. Although elected as a Tory she was totally unbiddable and frequently vitriolic about her own government whilst her unguarded approach and legendarily coruscating wit proved popular with voters, with whom she demonstrated an unexpectedly common touch. Unfortunately she was also anti-Semitic, anti-Catholic, reactionary towards ethnic minorities and indulgent (at least initially) to Fascism. Indeed the Cliveden Set of which she was a pivotal figure became a byword for aristocratic prejudice and unsavoury moral outlook during the 1930s. Her extreme views saw her departure from politics after the war and yet she refused to acknowledge how out of touch she had become with public opinion, dying in 1964 embittered and alone.

ELLEN WILKINSON

If Nancy Astor was not Britain’s first female MP then Ellen Wilkinson was not the nation’s first female cabinet minister either. But these days few people remember Margaret Bondfield, Minister of Labour in Ramsay MacDonald’s 1929 government, whilst ‘Red’ Ellen is still regarded as a great Parliamentarian regardless of gender. A diminutive, red-headed Marxist whirlwind she threw herself into a myriad worthy causes with gusto, campaigning vigorously for female suffrage and the raising of the school leaving age. She may be best known, however, for her key role in the Jarrow March of 1936, where, as local MP, she supported the unemployed and destitute of the town on their march to London to confront the government. During the Second World War Churchill, although diametrically opposed to Wilkinson ideologically, recognised her talents and gave her the crucial task of civil defence. She excelled both in the practicalities of supplying Morrison shelters and the more emotive requirements of touring underground shelters and raising morale. Upon the Labour landslide of 1945 she finally achieved much deserved full cabinet rank as Minister of Education, but tragically died less than two years later of pneumonia. A remarkable human being whose life story would make a gripping biopic, Ellen Wilkinson effortlessly transcended the social straitjackets of class and gender in 1940s Britain to become an inspirational figure for all radical politicians.

FLORENCE HORSBRUGH

Ellen Wilkinson was not the only high profile female politician in Churchill’s wartime coalition. Florence Horsbrugh, the Conservative MP for Dundee, was a prim, unfussy Scot who had run a travelling kitchen scheme during the First World War which had attracted favourable comment from Queen Mary. Temperamentally, Horsbrugh was the polar opposite of Wilkinson but they both shared a strong moral sense and natural sympathy for the underprivileged and poverty-stricken. Whilst Horsbrugh achieved distinction as the first woman to move the Address in reply to the King’s Speech it was the war which proved the making of her. As Parliamentary Secretary to the Health Minister she was responsible for the gargantuan task of organising mass evacuation of schoolchildren from urban areas. The confidence and aplomb with which she managed this contributed hugely to the indomitable spirit of the Home Front and, indeed, the welfare of children provided a consistent thread throughout her political career. Hence, she introduced the Adoption of Children Act in 1939 and became, in 1951, Britain’s second female Education Minister. Sadly the government’s attentions were more on foreign than domestic policy and she lacked the support to push through much reform. Whilst neither as flamboyant as Nancy Astor nor as hyperactive as Ellen Wilkinson Florence Horsbrugh’s reputation undoubtedly merits revisiting.

BARBARA CASTLE

  

A red-head every bit as fiery as Ellen Wilkinson Barbara Castle had a habit of ruffling feathers and highlighting uncomfortable home truths for the Labour party. After nailing her left-wing colours to the mast in the 50s by supporting the Socialist firebrand Aneurin Bevan and opposing apartheid she made a clutch of crucial decisions in a series of ministerial roles during the Wilson government of the 60s. Firstly, as Transport Minister she introduced not only the breathalyser but also seat-belts, and then as Employment Minister she intervened in the 1968 machinists’ strike in Dagenham which resulted, two years later, in the Equal Pay Act. But it was another contentious manoeuvre whilst at Employment that came to define Castle’s political career. Her white paper ‘In Place of Strife’ (a riff on her old hero Bevan’s pamphlet ‘In Place of Fear’) aimed to regulate trade union activity and codify acceptable practice for industrial action. But the Labour old-guard, outraged by any attempt to curb union power, shot the proposals down in flames. How different future union relations could have been had Castle got her way we can only speculate. The old union man James Callaghan unceremoniously dropped Castle from his front bench upon becoming Prime Minister in 1976. How his beleaguered ministry could have done with a minister of her passion and commitment.

MARGARET THATCHER

Britain’s first female Prime Minister fundamentally changed the terms of political debate not just in her native country but across the developed world. A traditional moralist Margaret Thatcher enacted policies that resulted in excess and narcissism whilst wrenching the north and south of the country ever further apart. Her brand of economic neoliberalism fed into a philosophy of unsentimental self-help at the expense of society, whilst her monetarist doctrine put millions on the dole and killed off British industry. And yet. Victory in the Miners’ Strike, whilst undoubtedly callously handled, ended the domination of the unions on British political life and deregulation of the City of London dragged an archaic financial sector into the late 20^th century. Along the way Thatcher played the warrior queen over the Argentine invasion of the Falkland Islands and morphed into an unexpected diplomatic intermediary between US President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. She waged war on local government, privatised publically owned companies and attempted to marketise what was left. Finally, she over-reached herself domestically with the ludicrous Poll Tax and internationally by aggravating every other member state of the European Union. She was relentless, divisive, indefatigable and authoritarian. She was also the most influential British politician since the war.

SHIRLEY WILLIAMS

As breezy and informal as Thatcher was aloof and authoritarian Shirley Williams could have been the inaugural leader of the Social Democratic Party – had she wanted to be. The wily David Owen recognised that her immense popularity with the British public would guarantee the inchoate party broad appeal and goodwill and it was his plan to install her as the ‘face’ of the party with him pulling the political strings in the background. That Owen’s plan never came off was down to Williams’ loyalty to the Labour party; a loyalty that only finally eroded when the Bennite left seized control at the 1981 party conference. The daughter of legendary feminist pacifist Vera Brittain Williams was saturated in political philosophy almost from birth, rising to become Education Secretary in Jim Callaghan’s ill-fated 70s government where she championed comprehensive schools. But it is as the only female member of the ‘Gang of Four,’ who broke away from Labour to form the centre-left SDP in 1981, that she is best known. Her stunning bi-election victory in Crosby epitomised the excitement that the party generated in their early days, in the same way that her shock defeat at the 1983 general election summed up the inertia that overtook the SDP in subsequent years. As a leading Liberal Democrat from 1988 onwards she has been one of the most authoritative voices of the moderate centre and an always engaging media performer. 

MARGARET BECKETT

The journey that the Labour party undertook from the mid-70s to the dawn of New Labour 20 years later encompassed a spectrum from the Marxist left to Thatcherism-lite and few of the party’s MPs personify this astonishing turnaround better than Margaret Beckett. Elected to Parliament in the second general election of 1974 Beckett gained a reputation as a radical voice of the hard-left and supporter of Socialist maverick Tony Benn. Whilst she lost her seat at the 1979 election her ascension to the National Executive Committee of the Labour party the following year gave her the perfect platform from which to press the issue of Benn’s election to deputy leader – an election that he lost by less than 1%. Yet she proved as adaptable as the party’s next leader Neil Kinnock who appointed her spokeswoman on Social Security in 1984. As her political views continued to soften she entered the Shadow Cabinet five years later and then, under Kinnock’s successor John Smith, rose to deputy leader. When Smith died in 1994 Beckett briefly became party leader until Tony Blair led the party out of the wilderness and back into power. In 2006 she was appointed Britain’s first female Foreign Secretary in the most right-wing Labour government in history, whilst she is now the longest serving female MP in the House of Commons. As a microcosm of the development of the Labour party over the last 40 years her career is pretty much unparalleled. 

MO MOWLAM

If New Labour was all too often dominated by identikit career politicians and wonk-spouting sycophants then the unvarnished presence of Marjorie ‘Mo’ Mowlam was a constant relief. Calling for the destruction of Buckingham Palace whilst shadowing the National Heritage portfolio under John Smith failed to harpoon her burgeoning career and, when she backed the right horse for the party leadership, Tony Blair rewarded her with the poisoned chalice of the Northern Ireland office. Yet here her tenacity, bloody-mindedness and unguarded humour worked wonders. Her willingness to court opprobrium by visiting the notorious Maze prison to talk to convicted IRA terrorists spoke volumes about what she was prepared to do to broker peace in the province, and the historic Good Friday Agreement of 1998 was secured in large part because of her Herculean efforts. But her outspoken persona also ensured she made enemies and the deterioration of her relationship with both Unionists and her narcissistic Prime Minister saw her shunted off to the backwater of the Cabinet Office at the height of her national popularity. Like her fellow Labour firebrand Ellen Wilkinson Mowlam met a tragic end in 2005 after sustaining fatal head injuries from a fall brought on by the effects of radiotherapy for a brain tumour she had suffered from for nearly a decade. The outpouring of grief for this remarkable woman and a subsequent television biopic are testament to her lasting influence on public life.



THERESA MAY

The current Prime Minister of the United Kingdom was first elected to Parliament when the Conservatives were at their lowest ebb for decades – the 1997 general election that ushered in Tony Blair’s New Labour. As successive Tory leaders faltered ignominiously Theresa May recognised the need for party modernisation, making the notorious ‘nasty party’ remark at the 2002 Conservative party conference. This serious-minded, unflashy vicar’s daughter duly rose within David Cameron’s rebranded opposition and, having served her time shadowing Culture and Work and Pensions, May was appointed Home Secretary in the 2010 coalition government. The second woman to hold the post, she remained there for the next six years. Never afraid to pick a fight, she took on the culture of corruption and racism endemic in the police force and oversaw a decade long campaign to deport the extremist Muslim cleric Abu Qatada. Whilst seen as tough on juvenile crime her promise to reduce net migration to the UK to less than 100,000 failed spectacularly, with figures continuing to rise six years later. Given the central role that immigration played in the EU referendum and the resultant decision to leave the European Union it would not be unreasonable to question whether May is the ideal person to force through the process of Brexit. Yet, whilst nominally on the Remain side of the debate, she kept a sufficiently low profile during the referendum campaign to make her the natural heir to David Cameron upon the latter’s resignation earlier this year.

NICOLA STURGEON

When Alex Salmond, the charismatic demagogue of the Scottish Nationalist Party, stepped down in the wake of the 2014 Scottish Independence referendum many observers thought that the SNP had lost its greatest political asset. But his successor, Nicola Sturgeon, has proved herself an even more formidable operator, leavening the bullish swagger of her predecessor with a cool-headedness and accessibility that won even more hearts and minds. Brilliantly exploiting both the Conservative government’s arrogance and the Scottish Labour party’s complacency Sturgeon led the SNP to an astonishing victory north of the border in the 2015 general election, where they won 56 out of a potential 59 seats and decimated the traditional Labour vote. After campaigning for the UK to remain in the European Union – and seeing her country overwhelmingly support her stance – the Scottish First Minister has made recent overtures about a second referendum for independence based upon a material change in circumstances in Scotland’s relationship to both the rest of the United Kingdom and to Europe. Whilst the record of her party since 2015 has been chequered there is good reason to believe that her powers of persuasion and common touch could well produce a different result second time around.