Shirley Williams: Opera to Labour, SDP and Lib Dems

She nearly became a child film star but narrowly lost out to Elizabeth Taylor for the lead role in the film National Velvet, and also thought of a career in opera.

Shirley Williams went on to become Labour education secretary in the Callaghan government, signalling the end of many grammar schools, and later helped found the Social Democratic Party.

Looking back at her career in a film for the Daily Politics' A Life in Politics series, Jo Coburn spoke to the former MP, who now sits as Baroness Williams of Crosby, a Liberal Democrat peer in the House of Commons.

A Life in Politics interview - Norman Tebbit

A Life in Politics interview - Roy Hattersley

A Life in Politics interview - David Steel

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