 Between 1953 and 1957 Braddock served on the Royal Commission for Mental Health which led to the Mental Health Act 1959 . From the early 1950s she moved steadily to the right wing of her party , and was increasingly acerbic in her judgements of her former colleagues on the left . When Labour won the 1964 general election she refused office on the grounds of age and health ; thereafter her parliamentary contributions dwindled as her health worsened . Towards the end of her life she became Liverpool 's first woman freeman . After her death in 1970 her Guardian obituarist hailed her as " one of the most distinctive political personalities of the century " . 
