:00:02. > :00:05.In the next half an hour... Speaking up - the cost of
:00:05. > :00:10.children's heart surgery to the doctors with tiny lives in their
:00:10. > :00:14.hands. The phone would go. My heart would
:00:14. > :00:22.be racing. I was having anxiety about another operation. I got to
:00:22. > :00:24.the stage where I just couldn't do it any more. $$NEWLINESpeaking out
:00:24. > :00:29.- the North's newest converts to the fastest-growing religion.
:00:29. > :00:32.I always had this longing in me to connect with God. It was only when
:00:32. > :00:35.I started finding out about Islam that things started to make sense.
:00:36. > :00:39.And keeping quiet - the Northern MP with a private passion.
:00:39. > :00:44.YELLOW Ellen Wilkinson's private life was as colourful as her hair.
:00:44. > :00:48.It would have been "reds in the beds". She wouldn't have been Red
:00:48. > :00:51.Ellen, she would have been The Scarlet Woman.
:00:51. > :01:01.Stories from the heart of the North East and Cumbria. This is Inside
:01:01. > :01:05.
:01:05. > :01:09.Out. There is a shake-up underway that
:01:09. > :01:12.could end children's heart surgery at one of our leading hospitals.
:01:12. > :01:15.Yet medics here welcome the review that could see almost half the
:01:15. > :01:21.specialist units in England close, with operations concentrated in
:01:21. > :01:25.fewer, bigger centres. Why? Because, they say, the current
:01:25. > :01:29.system leads to stress and burn-out for surgeons - and that is not good
:01:29. > :01:36.for children. Tonight, for the first time, a surgeon tells Inside
:01:36. > :01:39.Out just how unbearable that pressure can be.
:01:39. > :01:44.Early in his short life, Ashton Glen's growing heart got the wrong
:01:44. > :01:50.signals. Instead of developing two main vessels to carry blood to and
:01:50. > :01:57.from his heart, it only grew one. At six weeks old, Ashton needs a
:01:57. > :02:01.life-saving operation. He is getting more breathless. You
:02:01. > :02:05.can tell he is struggling now, he needs it doing.
:02:05. > :02:10.But children's heart surgery in England has a problem. We have been
:02:10. > :02:14.lurching from one potential crisis to another, in terms of staffing.
:02:14. > :02:19.People have just burned out. So I think it is about time to call it a
:02:19. > :02:22.day. Why is the system in England in crisis? It all boils down to
:02:22. > :02:25.numbers. There are 11 centres in England, employing around 30
:02:25. > :02:28.surgeons. The argument being made is that work is spread too thinly
:02:28. > :02:33.on the ground. Not enough cases are coming through to develop a
:02:33. > :02:39.surgeon's skills and get the best results.
:02:39. > :02:45.It is the day of Ashton's operation. Very nervous. I'm sure they will
:02:45. > :02:55.look after him. Bless him. He does not know what is happening. Are you
:02:55. > :02:55.
:02:55. > :03:04.going to have a cuddle, Mister? Ashton is prepared for surgery.
:03:04. > :03:13.Hard. See you soon. Thanks. It is hard, but you know it is for the
:03:13. > :03:19.best. Once we go on bypass, just flick over the heart, to have a
:03:19. > :03:25.quick look at it. His heart is tiny - the size of a walnut. The single
:03:25. > :03:28.main vessel will be separated, and a new trunk and valve grafted in.
:03:28. > :03:31.This is the most difficult part of the operation, which is to separate
:03:31. > :03:34.both the right and left ventricles. The Freeman's surgeons are now
:03:34. > :03:43.focused on Ashton. If an emergency arose elsewhere, they could not
:03:43. > :03:46.deal with it. Hold on a second. There's a coronary. In the small
:03:46. > :03:49.units, they do not see enough of these rare conditions.
:03:49. > :03:59.Massimo Griselli has only done this operation twice in his career. He's
:03:59. > :04:05.excited. Asifhasan, who is supervising, is not. That, down
:04:05. > :04:09.there? Yeah? As a senior consultant, I have to take the can. Things have
:04:09. > :04:12.to go right. There is no room for error or mistake here. I do not
:04:12. > :04:18.think my emotions are of excitement. I am more sweaty, more worried than
:04:18. > :04:21.him. Ah, yes. Scissors, please. Thanks. There is another reason why
:04:21. > :04:24.there is pressure to set up larger units. It is the effects on the
:04:24. > :04:27.surgeons. They are human beings and doing demanding work in very small
:04:27. > :04:31.teams can be stressful. In another theatre, a surgeon performs a
:04:31. > :04:37.bypass and valve replacement on an adult. Leslie Hamilton led
:04:37. > :04:42.children's heart surgery at the Freeman, but he stopped in 2006.
:04:42. > :04:46.For the first time on TV, he tells Inside Out why.
:04:46. > :04:49.The phone would go, my heart would be racing. I was having attacks of
:04:49. > :04:56.stress and anxiety about the thought of going in to another
:04:56. > :04:58.operation. I got to the stage where I just could not do it any more.
:04:58. > :05:04.adult heart surgery is First Division, children's is Premier
:05:04. > :05:07.League, but without the wages. Every operation is different. You
:05:07. > :05:10.have you have to tailor it to the individual child. You spend a lot
:05:10. > :05:13.of time thinking about it beforehand. You will be lying awake
:05:13. > :05:16.the night before. There is a lot more mental pressure on children's
:05:16. > :05:20.heart surgeons. You do not get into a comfortable phase of doing the
:05:20. > :05:24.same operation regularly. I was fortunate that my colleagues
:05:24. > :05:27.recognised I was feeling the pressure. They came to me and said,
:05:27. > :05:30."You're not enjoying it any more. Let's see how we can change
:05:30. > :05:33.things." For me, it was a question of confidence, rather than
:05:33. > :05:36.operating ability, because I have continued doing adults. So it has
:05:36. > :05:40.not been a technical issue, it was just the whole psychological
:05:40. > :05:44.pressure. For decades there have been calls
:05:44. > :05:48.to change the system. But that would mean closing centres - and
:05:48. > :05:50.that is unpopular. But now, the NHS is grasping the nettle. A review,
:05:51. > :05:55.called Safe And Sustainable, has come up with four options for
:05:55. > :06:01.shaking up children's' heart surgery. Each proposes reducing the
:06:01. > :06:05.number of centres from eleven to either seven or six. In the first
:06:05. > :06:08.three options, A to C, the Freeman's unit remains open. Units
:06:08. > :06:15.in London, Leeds, Southampton and Leicester could close, depending on
:06:15. > :06:20.which option is chosen. In the last option, the Freeman's unit closes.
:06:20. > :06:23.Each centre would see 400 to 500 cases a year and have four surgeons.
:06:23. > :06:26.That should make it easier to organise training and holiday cover
:06:26. > :06:34.and give surgeons more experience of rare conditions The Freeman has
:06:34. > :06:38.two surgeons - one in two, as it is called. One in two is a mug's game.
:06:38. > :06:44.I've done it for 17 years. Constantly working. It is wearing
:06:44. > :06:50.and plays havoc with personal and family life. Ashton's heart has
:06:50. > :06:55.been divided in two. We have dismantled the heart and we are
:06:55. > :07:01.remantling it now. But there is a problem. The main artery from
:07:01. > :07:07.another baby is too small. They use a vein from a cow. Come on. Hold
:07:07. > :07:11.that, please. Just outside, there. Most days, the surgeons are on the
:07:11. > :07:17.wards checking their patients. After contracting a virus three
:07:17. > :07:20.months ago, Scarlett is being supported by an artificial heart.
:07:20. > :07:23.just find it hard to believe that they have a life outside of here,
:07:23. > :07:28.because we see them so often. I just keep thinking, "What happens
:07:28. > :07:32.if one of them is ill, then the other one's ill?" What would they
:07:32. > :07:37.do? I think it is obviously a brilliant idea that they have more
:07:37. > :07:44.surgeons here, to learn off two of the best surgeons. I hope it is in
:07:44. > :07:51.this hospital. Have you seen Chloe after transplant? She's doing very
:07:51. > :07:55.well. B$$NEWLINE We have seen two surgeons, they are coming out.
:07:55. > :07:59.she had to get rushed on the Berlin Heart, the surgeon's been busy all
:07:59. > :08:02.day. One is on holiday and there is only him to do everything. It is
:08:02. > :08:11.not fair. You know, we've seen it from that side. They do need more
:08:11. > :08:14.surgeons to cover. Ashton's operation is almost over. We're
:08:14. > :08:17.coming to the last end of the jigsaw puzzle now. You saw the
:08:17. > :08:19.heart completely split at one stage, yeah? This is all being
:08:19. > :08:22.reconstructed now. This manoeuvre is a bit tricky because these are
:08:22. > :08:25.the coronary arteries. We cannot interfere with that. If those are
:08:25. > :08:30.damaged, you would get a heart attack. So, that is it, really. You
:08:30. > :08:34.can see, it is all reconstructed now. Now they must see if the heart
:08:35. > :08:40.works without the help of the bypass machine. Everything is fine,
:08:40. > :08:43.as we expected. So, we are closing the chest. The operation is a
:08:43. > :08:46.success. The review of children's heart surgery was backed by the
:08:46. > :08:49.clinicians. But as the process has gone on, the proposals have
:08:49. > :08:59.generated criticism. Questions have been asked about how the four
:08:59. > :09:04.
:09:04. > :09:07.options were arrived at. Good, OK. Take your time. That's fine. It has
:09:07. > :09:09.been suggested that the Freeman is in three of the four options
:09:09. > :09:13.because Leslie Hamilton was on the review steering group. The
:09:13. > :09:17.decision-making body is the commissioners. The clinicians, and
:09:17. > :09:19.I'm one of those, have been on the steering group, are giving clinical
:09:19. > :09:23.advice. We have been representing our professional bodies, not our
:09:23. > :09:28.individual unit. And that has been really important. The decision-
:09:28. > :09:38.making body is a separate body, so no unit has been represented.
:09:38. > :09:40.
:09:40. > :09:43.Ashton is moved to intensive care. Mum sees him for the first time. In
:09:43. > :09:49.the next few months, a committee of Primary Care Trusts will decide
:09:49. > :09:56.which option to back, and the closures could start in 2013. Even
:09:56. > :10:02.if the Freeman is amongst them, its surgeons support the review. I will
:10:02. > :10:08.be gutted. But we will have to accept that decision. It is four
:10:08. > :10:14.weeks since baby Ashton's operation. Before, he was breathless all the
:10:14. > :10:21.time. Tired. Now he is doing really well, since he got out of hospital.
:10:21. > :10:27.He is putting on weight and happy in himself. We cannot thank them
:10:27. > :10:31.enough. We owe them the world. They have given our son a life.
:10:31. > :10:33.Ashton will need more operations as he grows. We will know soon whether
:10:33. > :10:37.that will be at the Freeman or elsewhere in the country.
:10:37. > :10:40.It is always great to get your take on our stories. So, if you have a
:10:40. > :10:49.view on the plans for children's heart surgery, why not share your
:10:49. > :10:56.comments on my blog? Which do you think is Britain's fastest growing
:10:56. > :10:59.religion and who are the converts? Well, the answers to both questions
:10:59. > :11:01.might surprise you. Former tabloid journalist Richard Peppiatt has
:11:01. > :11:05.been to meet some of Islam's newest northern followers.
:11:05. > :11:07.'Crazy plan for Sharia law Britain'. 'Nobody knew whether I was a thief
:11:07. > :11:09.hiding from the police or a fanatic gripping a home-made bomb'.
:11:09. > :11:16.'Outraged council chiefs have demanded British-style toilets are
:11:16. > :11:21.used instead of Middle East style squat-holes'.
:11:21. > :11:27.I worked on The Daily Star for two years. I resigned because I was
:11:27. > :11:30.sick of writing stories which I knew to be untrue. I spent most of
:11:30. > :11:33.my career demonising Islam. Despite its media image, it is
:11:33. > :11:38.Britain's fastest growing religion. I want to know why. I am nervous
:11:38. > :11:43.meeting some Muslims today. They probably think that I believe that
:11:43. > :11:48.they are all terrorists and bombers. We're off to a shaky start.
:11:48. > :11:52.I've got a bone to pick with you! Come on. My name is Daniel Johnson.
:11:52. > :11:54.I used to be a punk-rock singer and now I'm a Muslim.
:11:54. > :11:58.Daniel converted to Islam aged 19, just after 9/11. No shrinking
:11:58. > :12:00.violet, is our Daniel. You used to invent stories about
:12:00. > :12:05.Muslims to sell papers, is that true?
:12:05. > :12:07.Not quite as simple as that. You knew at the time what you were
:12:07. > :12:10.doing. And people just like you, who are
:12:10. > :12:13.still doing it, how do they sleep at night?
:12:13. > :12:16.OK, he has got a point. But this isn't about me making up stories
:12:16. > :12:20.anymore. It's about real lives and difficult choices.
:12:20. > :12:24.SHE READS FROM THE KORAN. I was a teenage binge-drinker and
:12:24. > :12:27.now I'm a Muslim. Tell me a little bit more about
:12:27. > :12:31.your wild child days. It was drinking, smoking, things
:12:31. > :12:36.like this. Running away from home, being really naughty. You know,
:12:36. > :12:39.disrespectful towards my parents. I was a real nightmare.
:12:40. > :12:42.Donna fell in love with a Muslim and changed her religion to be with
:12:43. > :12:48.him. She's gradually become more devout, to the point where I can't
:12:48. > :12:51.imagine the old Donna - the clubber, the boozer. Maybe a shopping trip
:12:51. > :12:59.to Middlesbrough will help. Wind the clock back to the year
:12:59. > :13:06.2000. Would you have worn that? Again, it's the style thing.
:13:06. > :13:12.It's too blingy. But it wouldn't have been a problem that it was
:13:12. > :13:18.skimpy. That wouldn't have bothered you?
:13:18. > :13:22.That wouldn't have been a problem. It's the bling on it? Like you say,
:13:22. > :13:25.this low-cut, that would be the style.
:13:25. > :13:31.When you see girls wearing something like that, does it make
:13:31. > :13:35.you feel a bit dowdy, perhaps? No, again, it's a choice that I've
:13:35. > :13:41.made, you know? If I really wanted to do things like this, I'm still
:13:41. > :13:46.able to do it, it's a choice. Do you miss that aspect of your
:13:46. > :13:49.life? Yeah, I do miss going shopping for the clothes, getting
:13:49. > :13:53.ready with your mates and having a laugh. When I'm dropping them off
:13:53. > :13:56.to the clubs, sometimes I do wish, yeah, I would like to just take my
:13:56. > :14:00.scarf off and go. And they do ask me, "Come on, just come with us."
:14:00. > :14:05.But I don't think I would ever, ever, ever step foot again in a
:14:05. > :14:08.nightclub. One of the most difficult things
:14:08. > :14:11.for me, were I to convert to Islam, would be giving up drinking. I mean,
:14:11. > :14:16.drinking is the religion in the north-east. Straight away, you
:14:16. > :14:22.would be an outsider. Donna's friend Amy also converted for love,
:14:22. > :14:26.but she hasn't sacrificed so much. I'm a party animal, but I'm also a
:14:26. > :14:31.Muslim. I do drink and I go out with the girls and stuff. I don't
:14:31. > :14:35.normally wear my headscarf. I've only put it on to go in the mosque.
:14:35. > :14:37.Do you find it quite a conflict, quite a tension between trying to
:14:38. > :14:42.balance what you might call your British lifestyle and your Muslim
:14:42. > :14:45.lifestyle? Definitely, yes. If I want to
:14:45. > :14:48.follow properly I've got to wear the headscarf. That means not doing
:14:49. > :14:51.my hair, you know, I'd like to do my hair and look nice. There's
:14:51. > :14:54.certain clothes you can't wear because you would be showing too
:14:55. > :14:59.much or whatever. Even just showing your arms and your chest, that kind
:14:59. > :15:02.of thing. You've got to change a lot of things.
:15:02. > :15:05.Converting is nothing new. Popstars, actors, sportspeople, they've all
:15:05. > :15:08.done it - including Muhammad Ali in 1965. He even visited this mosque
:15:08. > :15:10.in South Shields. But, post-9/11 the trend is growing. Research
:15:10. > :15:13.suggests more than 5,000 people embraced Islam in Britain last year
:15:13. > :15:21.alone. And Amy fits the profile of the new convert perfectly. Young,
:15:21. > :15:24.white and female - and with a crucial role to play.
:15:24. > :15:27.I think converts could play a massive role. The fact that if
:15:27. > :15:30.converts tell other white people, or non-Muslims why they converted,
:15:30. > :15:34.give them the reason why they converted, that could remove a lot
:15:35. > :15:38.of misconceptions about Islam. After our first meeting, Daniel's
:15:38. > :15:43.calmed down a bit. We hook up at one of his favourite teenage haunts.
:15:43. > :15:46.So, this bench, a lot of youth spent on this bench?
:15:46. > :15:50.Yeah, wasted youth. We would sit here, we would smoke marijuana and
:15:50. > :15:55.drink cheap cider. We liked punk- rock so much because it was so
:15:55. > :16:04.angry. And I was so full of anger. I used to write angry, pseudo-
:16:04. > :16:08.political tripe. Can you remember any of the lyrics?
:16:08. > :16:11.Yes, we had a song called Give Dope and E to the Iraqis. I'm not even
:16:11. > :16:18.going to feign nostalgia. Those were some of the most miserable
:16:18. > :16:21.days of my life. Really? I just didn't know the purpose of life and
:16:21. > :16:24.it was only when I started finding out about Islam that things started
:16:24. > :16:31.to make sense. I came to Islam through Christianity. I always had
:16:31. > :16:36.this longing in me to connect with God. And you couldn't find that
:16:36. > :16:39.through Christianity? Well, I think I did, to some extent. But I think
:16:39. > :16:42.the logical next step was to become a Muslim. Because, when I
:16:42. > :16:45.discovered Islam, after 9/11, because that made me want to find
:16:46. > :16:49.out more about Islam, I found that all the things I valued and
:16:49. > :16:53.believed in as a Christian were there in Islam. And it also had
:16:53. > :16:59.more to offer as well. But what on earth does Daniel's
:16:59. > :17:03.family make of it all? When you first converted, yeah, you could be
:17:03. > :17:08.quite annoying. There's a big part of me glad I wasn't too close to
:17:08. > :17:11.you for a lot of it. When I first became a Muslim, I got
:17:11. > :17:13.a serious bout of what's called convertitis. That is when you
:17:13. > :17:16.become so full of passion and enthusiasm, you almost become
:17:16. > :17:21.temporarily insane. Nowadays, my ethos is I like to pass on the
:17:21. > :17:24.message of Islam. And what people do with it, that's up to them.
:17:24. > :17:28.The Muslim community here is small - only 1% North East population
:17:28. > :17:33.follow Islam. Less than 750 Muslims live in the whole of Cumbria. In
:17:33. > :17:36.Middlesbrough, it is just 6,000. I am the only Muslim in my family.
:17:36. > :17:39.My mum's side's Catholic and my dad's side are Christian. I
:17:39. > :17:41.wouldn't say they've rejected me. But, like you said, it's a massive
:17:41. > :17:44.shock to them. Now I feel bad because weddings, parties, funerals,
:17:44. > :17:48.christenings, things like this within the family, I don't now
:17:48. > :17:52.attend. Because I would say the Boro way is to have the party at a
:17:52. > :17:56.pub, the local club. Because I won't go in these places.
:17:56. > :18:00.You can't go to the reception itself?
:18:00. > :18:02.No, because it's in a pub. I don't think they would fall out with me
:18:02. > :18:07.over these things. But I can't imagine they're happy about it.
:18:07. > :18:11.Maybe they don't understand? Amy married in this mosque four
:18:11. > :18:14.years ago, but hasn't been back since. I want to know why.
:18:14. > :18:17.I find it intimidating. I worry about going in there and doing
:18:17. > :18:20.something wrong, or people looking at me and whispering, nudging each
:18:20. > :18:24.other. Because they see me, they see blonde hair and blue eyes. They
:18:24. > :18:29.think, like, I'm an intruder. I do feel like I'm intruding sometimes.
:18:29. > :18:33.Do you think that Middlesbrough's a difficult place to be a Muslim?
:18:33. > :18:35.It's difficult to be a Muslim that isn't Asian. If you're not of the
:18:35. > :18:40.same background, culturally, they tend to leave you, like you're an
:18:40. > :18:43.outsider, basically. A lot of new Muslims struggle
:18:43. > :18:47.because of lack of support. It is not necessarily that they can't
:18:47. > :18:56.come to the mosque, it is that when they do come to the mosque, they
:18:56. > :18:59.have no-one to answer their I do regret now writing stories
:18:59. > :19:05.about Islam when I didn't really know anything about it, or made no
:19:05. > :19:12.effort to. On a personal level, I let myself down not learning more.
:19:12. > :19:16.But I hope to change that. When I heard about who was going to do the
:19:16. > :19:19.interview and what he's done, I was full of anger and really wanted to
:19:19. > :19:21.throttle him, to be honest. But, then when I thought about the
:19:21. > :19:24.reality of what he's done since writing those terrible headlines,
:19:24. > :19:29.how he's tried to spread the truth, after having spread falsehood, I
:19:29. > :19:32.actually really admire and respect him.
:19:32. > :19:37.While I spent my tabloid career tearing at the seams of communities,
:19:37. > :19:40.these Muslim converts are repairing my damage. They've been on a really
:19:40. > :19:50.difficult path, but I genuinely feel they believe they're on the
:19:50. > :20:00.
:20:00. > :20:03.right road. I hope that now I'm on 75 years ago today, local MP Ellen
:20:03. > :20:05.Wilkinson led the Jarrow Marchers into Downing Street and the
:20:05. > :20:08.headlines. But Red Ellen had a secret life, a passionate affair
:20:08. > :20:11.that would have set today's red tops racing. The question is, would
:20:11. > :20:21.Ellen have made today's headlines for entirely different reasons? We
:20:21. > :20:21.
:20:21. > :20:26.asked another Labour leading light, Diane Abbott, to investigate. She
:20:26. > :20:30.was a pioneer. She led from the front.
:20:30. > :20:37.A crusader who fought injustice, poverty and inequality.
:20:37. > :20:40.She was Ellen Wilkinson, the woman they called Red Ellen. Ellen
:20:40. > :20:43.Wilkinson was one of the most important female political figures
:20:43. > :20:47.of the 20th century. In her era, she was a real
:20:47. > :20:51.political star. And yet, today, much of her life
:20:51. > :20:58.and work is forgotten. I'm a big fan of Ellen, but I'm
:20:58. > :21:03.keen to find out why she's not better known outside the North East.
:21:03. > :21:08.Maybe her private life had something to do with it.
:21:08. > :21:14.Ellen Wilkinson's private life was as colourful as her hair.
:21:14. > :21:17.She loved very well. Perhaps wisely, I don't know.
:21:17. > :21:20.Ellen Wilkinson was the MP for Middlesbrough East for seven years
:21:20. > :21:25.and then the MP for Jarrow for 12. She was the only female cabinet
:21:25. > :21:29.minister in the 1945 Labour government.
:21:29. > :21:32.Ellen Wilkinson is an heroic figure. She was a pathfinder as one of the
:21:32. > :21:36.first women MPs, one of the first women cabinet ministers, the first
:21:36. > :21:40.woman Education Secretary. Above all else, she stood up for
:21:40. > :21:43.what she believed in and she stood up for Jarrow.
:21:43. > :21:46.But Jarrow has not forgotten Ellen. Here in the town centre, everywhere
:21:46. > :21:52.you look there are memorials to Ellen and the Jarrow Crusade which
:21:52. > :21:55.she led. 200 marchers travelled the 300
:21:55. > :22:01.miles from Jarrow to London to protest against unemployment and
:22:01. > :22:05.extreme poverty. They carried a petition with 12,000
:22:06. > :22:15.names. This was Ellen Wilkinson's defining
:22:16. > :22:19.
:22:19. > :22:22.moment - the iconic image of the 1930s depression.
:22:22. > :22:24.Behind us is the Town Hall in Jarrow, where the march started in
:22:24. > :22:27.1936. They walked down here, down Grange
:22:27. > :22:31.Road. They turned left into Hill Street and into immortality, of a
:22:31. > :22:36.sort. Was she was the only woman on the
:22:36. > :22:41.march? She was the only woman on the march.
:22:41. > :22:44.She was that. One dog, 200 men and Ellen!
:22:44. > :22:48.The local paper had a reporter alongside her and the links between
:22:48. > :22:51.the press and the protest remain to this day.
:22:51. > :22:55.My Uncle Jonny was a marcher and they all felt a great affinity with
:22:55. > :22:58.the woman. I don't know whether it was her stature or passion - I
:22:58. > :23:02.suspect it was both of those things together. She was a firebrand and
:23:02. > :23:05.they took to her as their own, as though she a Jarrow woman. My dad
:23:05. > :23:08.often talked about how she would do the meetings beside the railway
:23:08. > :23:11.station in Jarrow, how she started to speak and held people. She was
:23:12. > :23:18.passionate, she was small, she was a red head, she was all the cliches
:23:18. > :23:24.rolled into one. She was honoured and loved by the people of Jarrow.
:23:24. > :23:27.She is remembered in the North East, with great affection. Many other
:23:27. > :23:30.MPs have been and gone. But she is still remembered. Partly because
:23:30. > :23:34.she was a women, partly because she was a cabinet minister, but she
:23:34. > :23:38.stood up for Jarrow. And that shock of red hair meant she was, with her
:23:38. > :23:41.politics, Red Ellen. Ellen Wilkinson wrote this book
:23:41. > :23:44.three years after the Jarrow March. "One thing is constant through the
:23:44. > :23:53.whole story of Jarrow. And that is the poverty of the working people
:23:53. > :23:57.of Jarrow. They built vast fortunes, but for others.
:23:57. > :23:59.She is the eldest of a family of 10 children. And she is only 13
:23:59. > :24:03.herself. It's no light undertaking
:24:03. > :24:05.addressing a mass meeting in the open air. What strikes me is how
:24:05. > :24:08.she manages to bond with her audience. But it's remarkable,
:24:08. > :24:14.because the audience is almost entirely men. And there is this
:24:14. > :24:17.tiny woman holding them in the palm of her hand.
:24:17. > :24:27.Well, surely it is the number of happy homes, the number of children
:24:27. > :24:30.
:24:30. > :24:34.who have a chance in life? Did the people of Jarrow like her?
:24:34. > :24:43.Yes, definitely. When she died, it broke all their hearts. It did,
:24:43. > :24:46.honestly. Well, all except the Tories!
:24:46. > :24:49.A month after they set out, Ellen Wilkinson and the Jarrow Crusade
:24:49. > :24:52.arrived here in Westminster, almost 75 years ago to the day. But, sadly,
:24:52. > :24:55.the Prime Minister of the day, Stanley Baldwin, refused to meet
:24:55. > :25:05.them, so the petition was politely submitted, but nothing was done for
:25:05. > :25:07.
:25:07. > :25:11.the unemployed of Jarrow. But the march did achieve one thing
:25:11. > :25:16.- it put Ellen Wilkinson in the public eye like never before. Her
:25:16. > :25:22.star was rising fast. But, behind the scenes, Ellen had
:25:22. > :25:25.secrets - she had love affairs with married men.
:25:25. > :25:29.By this time, Ellen had a new lover, titan of the Labour movement and
:25:29. > :25:32.soon-to-be Home Secretary, Herbert Morrison.
:25:32. > :25:35.Discovery might have ruined them both.
:25:35. > :25:43.But the affair remained secret and, in 1945, Ellen Wilkinson became
:25:43. > :25:45.Education Secretary in the new Labour Government.
:25:45. > :25:52.Would Ellen Wilkinson's love affairs have landed her in hot
:25:52. > :25:55.water with today's tabloid media? It would have been 'Red in the
:25:55. > :25:57.Beds'. She wouldn't have been Red Ellen,
:25:57. > :26:01.she would have been The Scarlet Woman. The right-wing tabloids
:26:01. > :26:04.would have gone for her and savaged her. And I think that would have
:26:04. > :26:07.really affected her. She might never have made it into the cabinet,
:26:07. > :26:10.because, certainly in the 1930s, there was a lot of hypocrisy in
:26:10. > :26:15.public life. The political leaders, the establishment were hopping in
:26:15. > :26:18.and out of each other's beds. But if you've got a fiery left-wing MP
:26:18. > :26:25.for Jarrow doing that, she would have been crucified by the right-
:26:25. > :26:28.wing media. I think now we have 24/7 media
:26:28. > :26:31.coverage, she could have well become the victim of a tabloid
:26:31. > :26:39.sting or a lot of coverage which would have perhaps turned the
:26:39. > :26:42.working class people of Jarrow against her.
:26:42. > :26:44.Perhaps if Ellen had lived in the days of 24 hour news, all the
:26:44. > :26:47.rather prurient scrutiny that politicians' private lives get now,
:26:47. > :26:50.perhaps she would have behaved differently? She was a single woman,
:26:50. > :26:53.she never married. She was a very remarkable young woman. I would
:26:53. > :26:58.prefer that we think of her for her achievements and not for her
:26:58. > :27:00.private life. But then I would say that, wouldn't I?
:27:00. > :27:04.Overworked and under pressure, Ellen Wilkinson's health was
:27:04. > :27:11.failing. Shortly after her break up with Herbert Morrison, she died
:27:11. > :27:18.from a drug overdose. I think the question of whether
:27:18. > :27:20.Ellen Wilkinson committed suicide or simply took an overdose of
:27:20. > :27:22.barbiturates by mistake is something that we will never
:27:22. > :27:26.resolve. The passing of our dear colleague,
:27:26. > :27:34.Ellen, came as a great shock to all of us. Ellen, all her life, had
:27:34. > :27:39.been a very great fighter, a fighter for the common people.
:27:39. > :27:44.Farewell, Ellen - great, little, courageous soul.
:27:44. > :27:48.We will carry on your work. Despite these warm words, her death
:27:48. > :27:52.had the whiff of scandal. Rumours persisted, but the Labour
:27:52. > :28:01.establishment closed ranks. Her status within Labour Party is
:28:01. > :28:03.diminished to this very day. But I think that needs to change.
:28:03. > :28:06.Without women like Ellen Wilkinson, Margaret Thatcher's tenure in the
:28:06. > :28:09.Ministry of Education, the Prime Ministership, would not have been
:28:10. > :28:12.possible. She was a significant figure. She
:28:13. > :28:15.was a very attractive figure. She was, in many ways, a romantic
:28:15. > :28:21.figure and one who cared passionately about the people she
:28:21. > :28:24.represented. But, in the end, she didn't achieve very much.
:28:24. > :28:29.The world needs to remember Ellen Wilkinson, the woman they called