Shirley Williams can easily be described as one of Britain’s best-loved politicians. Her charisma, intellect and empathy are appreciated by men and women across the political spectrum and beyond.
This week, Biteback published the definitive biography of a great woman. In the opening pages of ‘Shirley Williams: The Biography’ by Mark Peel, the author recalls his tentative enquiry in October 2000. Peel recalls asking Shirley ‘whether she would be at all interested in my writing her biography and, much to my delight, she consented.’ Lucky for us all that she did! Mark Peel, a renowned biographer, provides us with original, personal material about her relationship with her mother, Vera Brittain, and about Shirley’s relationships and marriages. The book also sheds important light on her political beginnings, and the developments throughout her extraordinary career. Intrigued?
Here’s a sneak peak from one of the early chapters.
Destined For Politics
Although Shirley departed quite happily for her first day at nursery school in September 1932, her extreme youth led to a rough baptism with her peers. ‘She is very easily roused if anything or anybody annoys her,’ commented her first report. ‘On these occasions she is inclined to become very negative towards everybody and this continues for some considerable time.’ It took the rest of the year for her to find her feet and become fully accepted. By her second year the runes appeared much more favourable. Her growing sociability, her interesting observations on the other children’s behaviour and her artistic creativity were all the subject of favourable comment. ‘One forgets that it is only this term that Shirley has been working with the older group of children. She is well adjusted and happy. She is developing rapidly.’ The only cloud on the horizon was the upset caused by the absence of her parents from home.
‘Has definite phases when she needs attention and approval of an adult. This seems often to correspond to the times when her mother is away’ was the verdict of her report in March 1934. Shirley’s demand for her mother’s attention began to prey on Vera. When taxed about her maternal neglect at the time and later she was sensitive to the charge, especially since she had disapproved of the way her mother’s generation had left their children to other people. She would later recall the heartbreak that the pain of separation from her children had caused her, never more so than during her three months in the US in 1934 when she would cry herself to sleep. Yet aside from ascribing her neglect to her perceived calling to make the world a better place (‘I had gifts, even more standards, to pass on’), Vera claimed, quite justifiably, that her input into her children’s upbringing was quite considerable. Not only did she take them for walks, enlightening them as to the different types of bird and flower, she also read to them after tea, and in John’s case taught him the piano, before putting them to bed. When they were ill she looked after them, employing her nursing experiences to good effect.
If the children continued to harbour regrets that they didn’t see more of their parents, they at least were fortunate in the range of surrogates to help ensure that both of them, especially Shirley, had happy childhoods. Entertainment in those early years often centred on Winifred Holtby, known to the children as Aunty Winifred. Tall, slim with golden hair, and invariably attired in a striking assortment of hats and dresses, she endeared herself to everyone by the radiance of her personality. ‘For my brother and me,’ Shirley later recounted, ‘Winifred was the source of unending pleasure: stories, games, wild fantasies, exotic visitors … Our favourite game was “elephants”. We would pile cushions high up on Winifred’s back, and issue orders from our rickety howdah as she crawled carefully across the floor.
As Mark Peel notes in the introduction ‘Her genuine friendliness and capacity to relate to all types, so rare in a politician, led people into thinking they knew her.’ This book will certainly help readers to achieve that.
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