My memories of working with the fantastic Glenda Jackson MP

News of Glenda Jackson’s sudden death probably hit me harder than I thought it would. I was just someone who worked for her many years ago in a pretty junior role in the civil service. I was her first (and I think her last) government press officer in the then Department of Transport.

She really was a very special person and working with her was memorable. She was an Oscar winning actor, but then I was a little too young to really appreciate what a phenomenal acting talent and legend she was. With a striking modesty, she would be the last person who would want to be called special. Her politics were of a redder hue than many of her colleagues but she was an absolutely committed constituency MP who, I think, became rapidly demoralised by the challenges of making change for the better in government.

I remember meeting Glenda for the first time as she arrived to take up her new post as a junior Transport Minister. It was in the first few heady days of the new Labour government in 1997. When Tony Blair swept into power with all the optimism and positivity that came with such a sizeable election victory. The sense that ‘things can only get better’ was almost palpable back then.

I accompanied her in the lift to the fifth floor of Great Minster House where the Ministers’ offices were. She needed a comb, so I went scrabbling around to find her one ahead of her first photo opportunity. To be honest, I was slightly star struck and was probably talking gibberish.?

She was really excited (gobsmacked is probably more accurate) to see her office and meet her very own private office team. I remember Glenda and Baroness Helene Hayman, also newly appointed to the Transport brief, practically skipping down the Ministers’ corridor showing off how big their offices were and proudly introducing their civil service teams to each other. It was a time of such energy and freshness after a Conservative government that had run out ideas.

I enjoyed some memorable ministerial visits to different parts of the UK, looking at local transport projects, listening to concerns and seeing success stories in action. I remember a particularly exciting trip to Oxford to look at the plans for a controversial local transport scheme. We were greeted at the railway station by a very enthusiastic mob of protesters who crammed around the Minister as soon as we arrived. They pressed upon us, shouting, jeering and pushing us all the way to the vehicle that was waiting to take us away. I was acting like a bodyguard that day, not the usual role of the press officer, but I was a few inches taller and wider than Glenda!?

The really privileged thing about being a government press officer, is that you get to spend quite a lot of time with the Minister(s) you work for. Often in the back of cars. In their office. And sometimes (back in the day) in the smoking room. Glenda loved having a good fag and attempts to smother the smoke alarm in her office’s ensuite toilet were hit and miss.?It was a source of great amusement.

In the down times on our many trips, I often tried to make Glenda laugh as she was a very serious person and I wanted to ‘fill the gap’ and put her at ease. Being a Minister is a really full-on job, whoever you are. I often coaxed her to emit a fantastic theatrical laugh (it reminded me of Count von Count in Sesame Street). I could never really tell if she was laughing with me or at me, but it didn’t really matter, I enjoyed her company.

In my time I’ve worked for many government ministers covering the range of political persuasions. But I was very fond of Glenda and was sad that politics was so hard on her. She didn't find much joy in Westminster. Driven to find justice for those she represented, she was most certainly a conviction politician.

I am so glad that she returned to acting after politics and that she was appreciated (again).

I feel privileged to have worked with her and hope she now rests in peace.

Thank you for the memories.?