One could argue that the most successful women politicians, from Barbara Castle to Margaret Thatcher and now Mowlam herself, have not denied their femininity but used it strategically. Thatcher was expert at donning the garments of various female archetypes – housewife mother, warrior queen – when it suited her, and dismissing other aspects of her femaleness when it didn’t – so that she could be more of a man than any of her colleagues. Yet if Mowlam represents the new politics, a new way of doing things, then we might ask where the up-and-coming Mo Mowlams are among the surprisingly docile intake of female MPs. Maybe it is too early for many of them to manifest anything like an individual style as they are subject not only to party discipline but also the reality of life in the House. As one poor woman MP replied in the recent Fawcett Society survey of women MPs, “I have been desperately unhappy since being elected … This is not just the result of her pragmatism but also of her intellect.If it pays off then, it will have been a stroke of genius by Blair to put his most touchy-feely player in charge of the hardest game in town.
A mixture of ignorance and frustration has governed the British attitude to the whole mess. While many male politicians have talked loftily about securing a place in history should they bring peace to Northern Ireland, Mowlam just wants to talk, replacing ideology with what feels like common sense. What was once dismissed as Mowlam’s effortlessly chatty and over-familiar style reveals itself to be an entirely new way of thinking about the Northern Ireland situation, one which is inclusive and human. People in Britain are more interested in the peace process because of the way she has personalised it.
Up until now, the politics of Northern Ireland, though declared important, have actually been a minority interest. It marks her out from other politicians and has worked up until now largely to her advantage.Not everyone succumbs to Mo’s charm. The condemnation of her by many in Northern Ireland can be seen, as David McKittrick has pointed out on this page, as good old-fashioned chauvinism Politics in the North is still frighteningly male-dominated. Though she may appear as someone who doesn’t care what people think of her, anyone who makes this much effort with others obviously cares enormously what other people think. Republicans and unionists alike may have actually found it easier to deal with the quasi-colonial attitudes of former Northern Ireland Secretaries than the unknown quantity that Mowlam represents.What she has done, which no previous occupant of her post has managed to do before, is to bring the troubles home. All this “take me as you find me” lark must also be calculated.
