 In an assessment of the new MPs , the Daily Express described Bessie as " a character among the Labour women . Very forthright in her speech , strong in her Labour faith ... never hesitates to call a spade a spade " . Physically imposing — she admitted to weighing 15 stone ( 210 pounds , 95 kg ) — she made an impact with her maiden speech , on 17 October 1945 , during a debate on the national housing shortage . After taunting the Conservative opposition for having " <unk> " the Exchange seat — " the prize Division of the [ Liverpool ] Tory Party " — she made an impassioned plea to the new Minister of Health , Aneurin Bevan , for immediate measures to improve the slum housing conditions in Liverpool , and throughout the country : " Particularly in industrial areas , people are living in flea @-@ ridden , bug @-@ ridden , rat @-@ ridden , lousy hell @-@ holes " . She ended her speech with a promise that she and other Labour back @-@ <unk> would continue to agitate until the conditions in which many were forced to live , " as a result of having been represented for so long by the Conservative Party " , were removed . 
