Drink culture blamed for ex-MP death

Last Modified: 08 Feb 2007
By: Cathy Newman

The Industry Minister Margaret Hodge has told Channel 4 News that former MP Fiona Jones, was a victim of the Westminster drinking culture.

Watch the report

Mrs Jones, who lost her seat in 2001 and became an alcoholic, was one of a record number of women MPs famously pictured with Tony Blair after Labour's landslide election victory in 1997 - leading to them being dubbed Blair Babes.

Ms Hodge backed the view of Mrs Jones's husband, Chris, who partly blamed the drinking culture at Westminster for her death.

He said that this would not have happened had she not entered politics, adding, "she hardly drank at all before she was elected".

However MPs this week rejected claims that there was still a hard-drinking culture in the House of Commons. They said that the situation had changed radically over the past 15 years with late-night and all-night sittings now a rarity and a "sea change" in the type of person who seeks to become an MP.

Mrs Jones became MP for Newark in 1997, as one of the Blair Babes. But she lost the seat at the following general election. In 1999 she was convicted of election fraud and faced expulsion from the House.

But on appeal her conviction was quashed. She had claimed that she was the victim of a malicious prosecution.