Skipper

Just as a additional comment to my notes on Mo Mowlam, I note Private Eye do a piece on her in its current edition. In it is quoted her husband John Norton who comments that her radiotherapy treatment for a benign brain tumour in 1997: 'led to a shrinkage of the brain which put pressure on the blood vessels, causing them to fur up. It makes it harder for blood to get to all parts of the brain...It had caused a form of dementia.'

The Eye goes on to suggest that the 'whispering campaign' against her of which she complained, was merely an accurate reflection of her dimished abilities. Jon Carr-Brown in the IOS quoted aiides who spoke of her 'erratic behaviour' and 'no longer having the intellectual rigour to do the job'.