FORMER Northern Ireland Secretary Mo Mowlam, aged 55, died this morning after being admitted to a hospice.

Tributes are pouring in for the hugely popular politician, who had previously battled a brain tumour. The diminutive campaigner died at the Pilgrim's Hospice in Canterbury, Kent.

Here, Ian Craig recalls his interviews with a brave, down-to-earth woman whose courage, honesty and humour made her one of Britain's best-loved politicians.

Mo's final journey...

She was born Marjorie Mowlam, but she was recognised by her many fans by just two letters - Mo.

The former Northern Ireland Secretary was a Labour conference favourite and, in her later years as she battled with cancer, she became "brave Mo".

Who else could have been given a standing ovation at the Labour conference - slap in the middle of Tony Blair's keynote speech!

And Mo, who was married to merchant banker Jon Norton, herself tried to explain her own popularity: "I can't sing, I can't dance, I can't spell, but something I can do is get on with people."

Stabbed in the back

She complained of being stabbed in the back by New Labour and was a fierce opponent of the Iraq war. But there was united admiration for her courage during her long battle against cancer. I interviewed Mo in 1997 when she was appointed Ulster Secretary and she revealed then she was going through a personal crisis, anxiously waiting for her doctor's verdict on a brain tumour.

"When I learned it was benign and non-cancerous, but I faced 25 radiotherapy sessions, it was the determination to do this job that kept me going," she told me then.

During the interview she threw off her wig, covering her head which had been shaved during the long period of radiotherapy.

Ironically, the interview was two days before the first anniversary of the IRA bomb which devastated the centre of Manchester. She praised the city for its attempts to rebuild confidence and to move forward.

She also urged people, the IRA included, to follow the example of the Quakers and learn from the pain of the past to build peace for the future.

Mo grew up in a modest home in Coventry, a bright and lively girl who studied at Durham University and graduated in America before becoming a lecturer in adult education in Barnsley.

Determination

She was elected to the solid Labour seat of Redcar in 1987 and her good looks, coupled with a determination to make Labour electable, was noticed in a generation subdued by years of Thatcherism.

She was direct, occasionally saucy, irreverent and very funny. Both Republican and Unionist hardliners were not sure what to make of her and most ended up either loving her or, at least, acknowledging her sincerity.

She said at one point: "You don't beat terrorists by bombing them, you simply aid their recruitment. The only way is to talk to those with a grievance, try to understand and lead them away from the path of violence."

And, like the late Robin Cook who was buried last week, she was an arch- critic of the Iraq war, warning that the "silly and daft" military operation would boost Islamic terrorism - a forecast which has since come true.

She stepped down from parliament in 2001 after 14-years as an MP. She had become Northern Ireland Secretary in 1997 when Labour stormed to power.

Frail

Her last TV appearance was with Rolf Harris when he arranged for three artists to paint her portrait and she looked frail, her voice slow. But she was game to take part, sitting for several hours for the artists.

One of her close friends was the former Defence Secretary and Merseyside MP, Peter Kilfoyle. Two summers ago, she went to the Liverpool Pops on the city's King's Dock, dancing along to Eric Clapton and Blues singer John Mayal.

Mr Kilfoyle says she was an outstanding personality and people warmed to her. His epitaph for Mo is: "She fought back, she never gave in."

Pay your tributes to Mo Mowlam. Have your say.