Mowlam Planning to Leave Government

British Cabinet Minister Marjorie “Mo” Mowlam, who helped oversee the negotiations that led to Northern Ireland’s peace agreement, announced that she will leave the government after the next election, due in 2002. Mowlam, 50, said she plans to step down “because I have several years of my working life left and want to do something different before I finally retire.” Prime Minister Tony Blair’s office stressed that Mowlam’s decision was unrelated to the brain tumor she battled during her tenure as Northern Ireland secretary, Britain’s top post in the province.