Gloucester’s former Conservative MP Sally Oppenheim-Barnes passed away in January at the age of 96.

She represented the city between 1970 and 1987 and will be remembered fondly by many, politics aside, as a popular, hard-working and glamorous Member of Parliament. She beat the incumbent, Labour’s Jack Diamond, in 1970. He was Chief Secretary to the Treasury at the time and was the only Cabinet Minister to lose his seat at that election. Sally never lost an election and handed over a 12,000 majority to her successor, Douglas French. During her time as MP, she lived at Brawn Farm in Sandhurst and Ardmore Close in Tuffley.

Much of her work was devoted to the interests of the consumer. She famously carried a shopping basket around with her to show the effects of inflation. She served in Mrs Thatcher’s shadow cabinet and as Minister for Consumer Affairs from 1979-82 when the Iron Lady came to power. As a minister she delayed metrification and made petrol stations display large fuel prices.

The only mother and son combination in the House of Commons

Her son, Phillip, became MP for Amber Valley in Derbyshire in 1983, making them the only mother and son combination in the House of Commons. She personally paid for a referendum on EEC membership in Gloucester in 1971 and then voted in Parliament against the principle of joining, in accordance with her constituents’ wishes.

In 1972, she held a celebration dinner at the House of Commons for the victorious Gloucester Rugby Club side who had won the first-ever National Knock-Out competition. It is said that “We are the Gloucester boys” echoed around the Palace of Westminster.

A plaque can still be seen on the Eastgate Street entrance to the Eastgate Shopping Centre explaining how Sally gifted to the city the two crests on the stone portico in 1983, to mark the 500th anniversary of the city’s Charter of Incorporation. Rest in peace, Sally.