The former Northern Ireland secretary Mo Mowlam was close to death last night. The family of Dr Mowlam, who played a key role in the Northern Ireland peace process during the first Blair administration, gathered at her bedside last night at the Pilgrim Hospice in Canterbury, Kent.
Friends said her condition had worsened yesterday when she developed breathing difficulties.
Dr Mowlam (55) had been unconscious following a fall last month. She had previously suffered a brain tumour and had difficulty with her balance as a result of the radiotherapy treatment.
She had earlier asked in a living will not to be resuscitated and, in the last few days, food and water were withdrawn.
Dr Mowlam - one of New Labour's most popular figures - stood down from the Commons at the 2001 general election after 14 years as an MP.
Tony Blair made her Northern Ireland secretary when Labour swept to power in 1997 and she quickly made a name for herself as a down-to-earth and bluntly honest operator.
She won widespread acclaim for her efforts in working towards the Belfast agreement the following year. Her achievements were all the more remarkable because she was recovering from treatment for the brain tumour at the time.
Renowned for her light-hearted disregard for formality, kicking off her shoes and chewing gum in meetings, she reputedly took her wig off to break tension in difficult talks.
She took a political risk in 1998 by entering the infamous Maze Prison to speak to convicted paramilitaries. Loyalist UDA/UFF prisoners had previously withdrawn their support for the peace talks. After her face-to-face meeting with the prisoners, the paramilitaries' political representatives then announced they were rejoining the talks.
But there was growing opposition to her from more mainstream unionists.
In 1999 she was replaced by Peter Mandelson and was appointed cabinet "enforcer". During her time in the post there were reports that someone in high places was briefing against her. There were also claims that the prime minister had been angered when the Labour Party conference gave her a longer standing ovation than he received.
She became even more outspoken after she stood down as an MP, saying it was "harder and harder to defend what the Labour government is doing".
Dr Mowlam was born in Watford on September 18th, 1949, and almost died of pneumonia three months later. Her father was an alcoholic and the family was invariably short of money.
They moved to Coventry where she attended Coundon Court Comprehensive School before going on to study at Durham and Iowa universities.
Dr Mowlam worked as a lecturer and university administrator before being elected MP for Redcar in 1987. In 1995 she married Labour-supporting merchant banker Jon Norton, already a father of two.
The chairman of the local Labour Party in her former constituency of Redcar and Cleaveland, John McCormack, last night told The Irish Times that Mo Mowlam was a "one-off".
He said she was courageous, first in dealing with Northern Ireland issues and latterly in the way she battled with her illness.