Gwyneth Dunwoody

 

Gwyneth was my neighbour for several years in the early 1970s, when Celia, myself and the children lived in Cromwell Tower in the Barbican.

I feel a great deal of sadness at her passing, as although I probably would never have agreed with her at all on politics, she was very much a person to be admired. She was always someone, who had the right (and often forthright) word at the right time. Just like the time she announced to all and sundry in the foyer of the tower, that Edward Heath couldn't organise a piss up in a brewery.

Perhaps though I remember her most in when one night we went to borrow a cup of sugar and ended up coming home after several very hospitable drinks.

I also remember her mother Baroness Phillips, who when she was Lord Lieutenant of London, presented Metier Management Systems, the company of which I was one of the founders, with our first Queen's Award for Industry.

They don't make them like Gwyneth any more. And judging by the state of British politics, they won't be allowed to in the future.