Linda McDougall on Marcia Williams: Challenging misconceptions and misalignments

Linda McDougall is a journalist, television producer and author of Cherie: The Perfect Life of Mrs Blair and Westminster Women. She is also known as the wife of the late Austin Mitchell, who was a journalist and the Labour Member of Parliament for Great Grimsby from 1977 until 2015. Linda’s latest book, Marcia Williams: The Life and Times of Baroness Falkender, seeks to realign Marcia’s reputation away from previously dismissive and misogynistic verdicts. This pioneering biography of Harold Wilson’s political adviser puts forward a more nuanced understanding of Marcia, centred around her unbreakable partnership with Wilson – asserting that they were in fact politically wedded to each other and equal contributors to his success. In this episode, Linda shares what made Marcia such a remarkable force and how she propelled Wilson’s career, as well as drawing comparisons with today’s political scene. Get your copy of Marcia Williams here: https://www.bitebackpublishing.com/books/marcia-williams Music Funkorama by Kevin MacLeod Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3788-funkorama Licence: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/