An Independent Book of the Month Edith Summerskill was a remarkable politician feminist
physician campaigner and writer. At a time when there were few powerful women in public life
Dr Edith as she was known served in Clement Attlee's transformational post-war Labour
government and oversaw the National Insurance scheme which solidified the welfare state in
Britain. Here Labour MEP Mary Honeyball provides the first biography of this remarkable early
pioneer for women in politics. Honeyball shows how Edith Summerskill's direct campaigning was
instrumental in promoting women's causes throughout her life and lays out her remarkable
achievements in securing the equal rights of housewives and divorced women over property. This
is an uplifting and enlightening account of a forgotten Labour hero.
