Brigid Jones, deputy leader of Birmingham City Council wrote a tribute to the late Theresa Stewart – Birmingham loses a political giant – in the Municipal Journal.

It opened: “The first and to date only woman to have led Britain’s largest local authority, Theresa Stewart, has passed away aged 90. A giant in Birmingham politics, Stewart led the council from 1993-1999, representing Labour in her Billesley seat for 31 years and serving as Lord Mayor”.

She was born in Leeds and won a scholarship to Somerville College, Oxford, where she read Mathematics, for a host of other information about her life and work go to the MJ article.

A thorn in the side of the establishment but a boon to the people of Birmingham

The writer lived in and near Birmingham for fifty years and believes that Theresa Stewart was the best leader Birmingham city council has had within living memory.

Working in a school in Theresa Stewart’s Billesley ward she remembers having to get out buckets when it rained as the school roofs were leaking badly – money having earlier been diverted from education to prestige building projects. Theresa’s first action in office was to use £5 million from reserves to tackle a backlog of school repairs.

Another vivid memory was, during a period when unemployment was high, after listening to skilled men (parents of my pupils) who could not find work, the writer advised them to get together and form a co-operative. They went to Kings Heath’s Job Centre which was unable to give them the information they needed and offered no hope that they ever would find work.

She wrote to Theresa Stewart about this, expecting her to do something about it. Instead she said “I want you to visit these centres and see how they could be improved”. Though the writer was really shocked by this, she agreed to take on the task. During the long summer holiday, she visited job centres wherever she was, ending with Kings Heath. The person who interviewed her assumed that she was looking for work and not only did she offer no prospect of employment, though polite and kindly it was obvious that she thought this 50-year-old would never work again.

She filed her findings and recommended the ‘best practice’ seen, which was in Wolverhampton and Theresa passed it on to Albert Bore for action, saying these changes should and will be made. She visited Kings Heath Job Centre later and it was transformed.

Brigid Jones writes about a few of Theresa Stewart’s memorable actions:

  • investigating the treatment of whistle-blowers within the NHS,
  • declining an invitation to lunch with the Queen, saying that instead of cleaning up the city centre for her visit, it would be better to tackle the suburbs where people had to live.
  • ruling out bidding for the Olympics and other prestige projects
  • concentrating on delivering “good public services” for the city, rather than prestige projects like the Convention Centre, Symphony Hall and National Indoor Arena promoted by her predecessor Sir Dick Knowles.
  • replacing a £50-a-head lunch for the visiting Nelson Mandela with a free reception,
  • and asking district auditor to investigate allegations that Labour councillors had been using housing renovation grants as a form of political patronage.

At the 1994 elections Theresa Stewart led Labour to an increased majority. Two years later, a Birmingham Labour MP, Jeff Rooker, claimed in the Commons that some Labour councillors had been using housing renovation grants as a form of political patronage. Theresa Stewart asked the district auditor to investigate.

Sadly. in May 1999 Albert Bore challenged for the leadership, defeating her by 40-36. She served a year as Lord Mayor, then left the council in 2002.

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