Corbyn tribute to poet Lady Wilson

when he was just 18. She was described as “a somewhat puritanical young lady who was shocked to discover that he drank the occasional beer.”

Lady Wilson outlived her husband of 55 years, who was MP for Huyton in Merseyside, by more than two decades.

The pair had homes in London and the Isles of Scilly.

During their time in Downing Street, the prime minister’s wife inspired the Private Eye parody feature Mrs Wilson’s Diary.

She hosted Betjeman at No 10 and the poet wrote a piece about a journey they took together to Diss.

Lady Wilson was born Gladys Mary Baldwin in the Norfolk town in January 1916.

The daughter of a reverend, she wrote poetry from the age of six and became a shorthand typist in Cheshire after leaving school.

She met her future husband at a Cheshire tennis club in 1934 and the pair married on New Year’s Day in 1940.

They had two sons, Robin and Giles, the former now an emeritus professor in mathematics at the Open University, which was founded under his father’s government in the 1960s.

Robin and other family members came to Huddersfield in March 2016 for a series of events to mark what would have been Harold’s 100th birthday. Tony Blair greets Lady Mary Wilson as he arrives to unveil a statue to former Labour Prime Minister Harold Wilson in Huyton, Merseyside in 2006