Mo

I found Channel 4's film about Mo Mowlam last night almost unbearably poignant.

I met Mo quite a few times when I was in youth and student politics in the mid-90s because she chaired the Labour NEC's Youth Sub-Committee. She was a real champion of young people in the Party and handled a committee which had quite a few egos on it with a combination of biting wit, enthusiasm and strategically called cigarette breaks.

I can't help feeling that in the last two decades Labour has been prematurely robbed through tragically early deaths of a clutch of extraordinary politicians: Mo, Robin Cook, John Smith and Donald Dewar. I always thought Mo would have stood a chance of becoming Party Leader if her health had held up.

Last night's film was a fitting tribute to a much missed person.