Frances Morrell
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Frances Morrell (''
née A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth re ...
'' Frances Maine Galleway; 28 December 1937 – 10 January 2010) was a British
Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...
politician who led the
Inner London Education Authority The Inner London Education Authority (ILEA) was an ad hoc local education authority for the City of London and the 12 Inner London boroughs from 1965 until its abolition in 1990. The authority was reconstituted as a directly elected body corpor ...
from 1983 until 1987.


Life

Frances Morrell was brought up in
York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...
, and educated at that city's Queen Anne Grammar School and at
Hull University , mottoeng = Bearing the Torch f learning, established = 1927 – University College Hull1954 – university status , type = Public , endowment = £18.8 million (2016) , budget = £190 million ...
. Much later she undertook an MA at Goldsmiths College, London University.
Tony Travers Tony may refer to: People and fictional characters * Tony (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Gregory Tony (born 1978), American law enforcement officer * Motu Tony (born 1981), New Zealand international rugby leagu ...
/
Tony Benn Anthony Neil Wedgwood Benn (3 April 1925 – 14 March 2014), known between 1960 and 1963 as Viscount Stansgate, was a British politician, writer and diarist who served as a Cabinet of the United Kingdom, Cabinet minister in the 1960s and 1970s. ...
br>Obituary in ''The Guardian''
14 February 2010
She worked as a schoolteacher from 1960, and married Brian Morrell in 1964. In 1970 she became a Press Officer, working for the
Fabian Society The Fabian Society is a British socialist organisation whose purpose is to advance the principles of social democracy and democratic socialism via gradualist and reformist effort in democracies, rather than by revolutionary overthrow. The Fa ...
and the National Union of Students. This latter role brought her into contact with
Tony Benn Anthony Neil Wedgwood Benn (3 April 1925 – 14 March 2014), known between 1960 and 1963 as Viscount Stansgate, was a British politician, writer and diarist who served as a Cabinet of the United Kingdom, Cabinet minister in the 1960s and 1970s. ...
, then coming to be seen as the leader of the Labour left, and with whom she then agreed on many important issues. In 1973, Benn invited Morrell to be his political adviser should Labour win the next election. She was Labour candidate for
Chelmsford Chelmsford () is a city in the City of Chelmsford district in the county of Essex, England. It is the county town of Essex and one of three cities in the county, along with Southend-on-Sea and Colchester. It is located north-east of London a ...
at the February 1974 general election, and served as a Special Adviser to Benn at the Departments of Industry and Energy from 1974 to 1979.Stuart Wei
Obituary in ''OurKingdom''
14 February 2010
Benn was increasingly marginalised as the Parliament went on, but Morrell worked to link him with a network of activists outside Parliament. She was unlucky in failing to be selected as candidate for any of several Labour constituencies at the 1979 general election (among them
Birkenhead Birkenhead (; cy, Penbedw) is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England; historically, it was part of Cheshire until 1974. The town is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the south bank of the River Mersey, opposite Liver ...
and
Manchester Blackley Manchester, Blackley was a borough constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elected one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election. In boundary changes for the ...
). After Labour left office she helped to create the Rank and File Mobilising Committee, through which the left organised to bring changes in the party. In this capacity she was referred to cynically by some in the media: ''
Private Eye ''Private Eye'' is a British fortnightly satire, satirical and current affairs (news format), current affairs news magazine, founded in 1961. It is published in London and has been edited by Ian Hislop since 1986. The publication is widely r ...
'' commented "How typical of Tony Benn to have a hatchet-woman". The Eye also published a Clerihew: "Frances Morrell / Has done very well / To be leader of the ILEA / Without being black, working class or gay." In the run-up to the 1981
Greater London Council The Greater London Council (GLC) was the top-tier local government administrative body for Greater London from 1965 to 1986. It replaced the earlier London County Council (LCC) which had covered a much smaller area. The GLC was dissolved in 198 ...
(GLC) elections she was chosen to fight Islington South and Finsbury, and on election formed part of the GLC's left faction in support of
Ken Livingstone Kenneth Robert Livingstone (born 17 June 1945) is an English politician who served as the Leader of the Greater London Council (GLC) from 1981 until the council was abolished in 1986, and as Mayor of London from the creation of the office i ...
. However, Morrell's background as a teacher led her to spend most time on the Inner London Education Authority (ILEA), membership of which came with membership of the GLC representing an inner borough. She was chosen as Deputy Leader of the new left leadership of the ILEA under
Bryn Davies Brinley Howard Davies, Baron Davies of Brixton (born 17 May 1944), known as Bryn Davies, is a British trade unionist, actuary and politician who was Leader of the Inner London Education Authority in the early 1980s. Davies graduated from the ...
. She became unsatisfied with his leadership, which she considered weak, and built support for a change through the GLC Women's Group; in April 1983 she challenged him and was elected as the new leader. Under Morrell, the ILEA became concerned with promoting gender equality. The authority was severely criticised for what the right wing regarded as propaganda in the schools it administered. Many of the policies of the Davies leadership were continued, which included the high spending: the ILEA deliberately set an illegally high budget for 1985. The government under Prime Minister
Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. S ...
, which was proposing to abolish the GLC, would have wanted to abolish the ILEA as well, but found it was impractical to do so. However, new legislation allowed the Government to limit the ILEA's budget, and it did so. The ILEA was helped by a bail-out from the GLC for one year. The abolition of the GLC in 1986 also meant something had to be done to provide for future elections to the ILEA. It was first suggested that the ILEA could be made up of delegates from the 12 inner London Boroughs, but the Conservative group on the ILEA was strongly against this policy; eventually it was decided that there would be direct elections. Morrell led Labour into the campaign, and with London hostile to the abolition of the GLC, Labour won an easy victory. Morrell was re-elected quite narrowly herself, as the SDP had a strong challenge. Morrell lost her leadership in 1987 by 23 votes to 22, continuing a tradition of internal deselection established by both her predecessors. She had insisted that teachers who were surplus to requirements at one ILEA school should transfer to another where there was a shortfall, and threatened to dismiss those who refused. She became secretary of the Speaker of the House of Commons' Commission on Citizenship the next year and a senior research fellow at
Queen Mary and Westfield College , mottoeng = With united powers , established = 1785 – The London Hospital Medical College1843 – St Bartholomew's Hospital Medical College1882 – Westfield College1887 – East London College/Queen Mary College , type = Public researc ...
briefly in 1991–92, before becoming executive director of the Institute for Citizenship Studies. She was joint chief executive of ArtsInform, which she set up with Linda Payne in 1995 to build relationships between schools and colleges with professional artists and arts organisations.


Family

Morrell's husband Brian committed suicide in April 2009, and she herself suffered from increasingly poor health. She died on 10 January 2010, aged 72, from cancer. She is survived by her daughter, Daisy, and brother, Peter.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Morrell, Frances 1937 births 2010 deaths Academics of Queen Mary University of London Alumni of Goldsmiths, University of London Alumni of the University of Hull Deaths from cancer in England Labour Party (UK) councillors Members of the Greater London Council Politicians from York Women councillors in England