Mo Mowlam

It's pretty unnecessary for me to say anything general about Mo Mowlam, as everyone's got there before me, and many of them are more eloquent anyway. But she was the first person in politics who made me think that they weren't all a breed apart, and that maybe there might be someone there who shares my opinion. (Which isn't to say that there weren't others, just that I hadn't noticed them.) So to the extent that I'm not nearly as disaffected with politics as my friends, it's down to her.

It also means that if I ever somehow end up in politics rather than just growling at it on under-read websites, it'll be her fault.