[joeysteele]

Reading back through political history, there were it seems 2 candidates possible as Female leaders of Labour..
One was Barbara Castle and the other Shirley Williams.

Had she not lost her seat in 1979, then it may have been she'd have, if she'd stood, won the leadership election that followed that.
Politics could have taken a turn for the better I think there as from all I've read of her own accounts, she stood for a lot of good.

Sadly it went wrong for her, with the SDP she helped form, swallowed up by the Liberal Party, which added democrats to its name to do so.

A formidable politician she certainly was.
Moreso in her Labour Party period.

It's sad to hear of her passing.
Often the most deserving don't always get the higher office of politics they ought to .
In my view, Shirley Williams is one such politician.
R.I.P.