Shirley Williams stood out. I remember seeing her on the platform at that special Labour conference in January 1981. I was ten, and knew very little about the substance of what was unfolding, but I remember thinking how brave, lonely and pleasant she seemed in the midst of all that turmoil with Labour delegates berating, dismissing or pleading with her. When the Social Democratic Party was founded a few months later, it felt fresh and exciting and Shirley was the main reason that was so, because she exuded a special kind of star quality – a charisma based upon unrivalled grace and reasonableness. There was an approachable, honest ordinariness about Shirley which contrasted with the pompous flannel of others in political leadership. People liked the cut of Shirley Williams’s jib.
On the day she passed away, I heard Neil Kinnock remark that of the “Gang of Four” who left Labour to form the SDP, “she was the only one we missed”, which is an unfair thing to say of Roy Jenkins, David Owen and Bill Rodgers. But Kinnock’s comment is a reminder of how Shirley’s opponents saw her. Even those who were furiously opposed to her because she left Labour, or introduced comprehensive schools or fought for British engagement with Europe, couldn’t really muster a bad word about her on a personal level.
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