The wonder that was Mo Mowlam
This evening, I watched a recorded version of the Channel 4 docu-drama on the life of Labour Minister Mo Mowlam which was screened yesterday evening. I thought that it was an impressive work that both captured the essence of this wonderful character and challenged us to think of how illness can define us. I am a huge fan of Julie Walters who played Mo. She caught Mo’s manner of speaking very well and, as the narrative developed, looked more and more like Mo.
I met Mo Mowlam several times and loved her irreverence and eccentricity. The last time I saw her was on 26 January 2000 when I was part of a team from the Communication Workers Union meeting her in the Cabinet Office. The subject was e-citizenship and it was my job to make a PowerPoint presentation on behalf of the union.
She was amazing. First she was 45 minutes late. When she did arrive, she was warm and engaging but not exactly engaged. The conduct of the meeting was chaotic and she was constantly telling her civil servants to set up a meeting on various issues which arose.
I wrote in my diary: “Mo was very casual and enthusiastic but wanted lots of meetings and I suspect that she is the despair of conventional officials.”
Of course, what none of us knew then was that she was suffering from a malignant and incurable tumour which almost certainly explains much of her erratic behaviour.