Gordon Brown has paid tribute to Gwyneth Dunwoody, Labour MP for Crewe and Nantwich, who died yesterday.

Gordon Brown said "So many people will be so sad to hear of the death of Gwyneth Dunwoody. She was always her own person. She was fiercely independent. She was politics at its best - a great parliamentarian. She will be sadly missed in all parts of the Houses of Parliament."

Gwyneth was a stalwart Labour MP much loved by not only her family and friends but also by her constituents and the wider labour movement.

Harriet Harman, Labour's Deputy Leader and Party Chair, called Ms Dunwoody "an outstanding politician and a champion in the fight for social justice". She added: "She was a strong parliamentarian and a committed campaigner who was admired and feared in equal measure. I will sorely miss her. We shall not see her like again."

Gwyneth came from a family steeped in Labour tradition. Her father, Morgan Phillips was Labour’s Secretary then General Secretary from 1944 to 1962, her mother Norah was a Labour Peer and her daughter Tamsin served as a Labour member of Welsh Assembly from 2003 to 2007.

She was herself elected as MP for Crewe in February 1974, having previously served as MP for Exeter between 1966 and 1970, and at the time of her death was the longest serving female MP. Since 1997 she served as a Select Committee Chair for Transport.
Tony Lloyd, Chair of the Parliamentary Labour Party, said: "I will always remember Gwyneth very fondly as a tireless and brilliant campaigner. Nobody doubted whose side Gwyneth was on - she was 'Labour First' in every sense of the words."

The whole Labour Party's thoughts and sympathy are with Gwyneth's family at this incredibly sad time.