Margaret McDonagh obituary: ‘We have lost a true working-class hero’

Margaret and Siobhain McDonagh’s parents were part of the great wave of postwar Irish immigration to the UK.  Like so many others who came to work on building sites, in the NHS and countless other jobs, they came to start a new life in a Britain hungry for workers after the war.

For the generation who came, they got work and a living that wasn’t available at that time back in Ireland.  And they also put something back through the hard work they did.  For their sons and daughters growing up in the 1960s and ‘70s they were able to take advantage of the huge increase in opportunities of those post war decades.  The growth in higher education.  The chance to get good jobs.  The ability to change your circumstances.

These changes, and the desire to make them more available to others, were what drove Margaret McDonagh’s politics.  After a brief stint working for the pub landlords’ trade association she found her true calling as, first a Labour organiser, then a key figure at Labour headquarters.

From the early days it was clear if a job had to be done, it had to be done right.  She did not suffer fools gladly.  Had no time for cutting corners or lazy thinking or practices.  She was probably the most determined person any of us have ever met.  If it hadn’t always been done like that, who cared.  If it upset someone, so what.  If it added to Labour’s chances of winning, do it.

Much of life is about timing and Margaret’s rise coincided with a Labour leader who was as passionate about spreading opportunity as she was.  Tony Blair and Margaret McDonagh were a good match – equally committed to winning, equally committed to confronting and dealing with any sacred cows that stood in the way, and each instilling a culture of loyalty and high standards that defended the team but demanded good performance.

Margaret put a rigour and professionalism into Labour’s methods that simply hadn’t existed before.  She saw no reason why if Labour organised an event it shouldn’t be the best event with the best sound quality, the best pictures, the most professional staging.

She was utterly focussed on voters, speaking to them, listening to them, collecting the data and using it like a guided missile.  The culture of voter ID which exists in Labour today, with its emphasis on engagement with individual voters, contact rates and driving up the Labour turnout was instilled in us all by Margaret.  Every time I go door knocking I have her in my head, like an angel on my shoulder making sure it’s done right.

But her influence wasn’t just organisational.  It was cultural and political too.  Margaret knew how much people needed a Labour Government.  She knew and believed in the good it could do and did when in office.  She wanted Labour to practice the politics of “and” not “or” – constantly adding people to the coalition not excluding them or putting them in boxes.

Margaret McDonagh was like no other. Passionately Labour. Tough as steel. Winning mentality. A vital part of Labour’s victories. She taught us all so much. May God rest her soul. 🌹

Thinking of her sister Siobhain and all her friends and family today. @Siobhain_Mc https://t.co/pLc4yYigyn

— Pat McFadden (@patmcfaddenmp) June 24, 2023

For Margaret Labour had a duty to the electorate to be a relevant, modern campaigning party committed to the expansion of working-class opportunity. If we didn’t live up to that duty, it was an abdication of our responsibilities.  This was not just a difference of opinion about policy with others.  It was a different view of Labour’s job description.

Not for her the view of what working-class life and expectations should be held by parts of the well-heeled hard left who have no personal skin in the game and for whom Labour defeat leaves them untouched.  Or the familiar version the Tories wanted of a Labour Party big of heart but soft of head that they found easy to beat – over and over again.  She knew that there wasn’t an iron law that said Labour had to give the Tories the kind opponent they wanted.

No.  For Margaret the politics of the left should never just be about looking after people and telling them to take what they are given.  Instead, it should provide a platform on which to stand, a vehicle for fulfilling your potential and for tearing away the barriers that stop that happening.

She knew that one of the most radical and progressive things a government can do is to give the kind of power and choice to those without money that those with money have always enjoyed.

She wanted politics to move in line with rising expectations and ambitions.  A child of social mobility herself she wanted those chances for others.

At 9.38am this morning my extraordinary sister peacefully passed away at home surrounded by friends who loved her. She was the first female,the youngest & most successful ⁦@UKLabour⁩ General Secretary in history. She was kind, generous and brave. I loved with my whole heart pic.twitter.com/o1aQWPZsWB

— Siobhain McDonagh MP (@Siobhain_Mc) June 24, 2023

Her sister Siobhain, the MP for Mitcham and Morden, is quite simply the best constituency MP in Parliament.  There isn’t a broken paving stone in Mitcham and Morden that she doesn’t know about.  Around both sisters they have built a CLP that lives by the values dear to them.  One big family dedicated to winning and to the politics of opportunity they believe in.

In her final months Siobhain has been constantly at Margaret’s side, caring for her, fighting for her.  She has shown her a sisterly love both awesome in its power and gentle in its force.

We have lost a true working-class hero.  May God rest Margaret McDonagh’s soul and bring comfort to Siobhain and Margaret’s wider family and friends.