From the moment she breezed into Belfast, Mo Mowlam caused a sensation. There were queues to shake her hand on her first city-centre walkabout. She hugged and kissed her way through crowds of shoppers, chatting to pensioners, taking bites out of apples.
Her touchy-feely approach was in stark contrast to the remote and patrician demeanour of her predecessor, Sir Patrick Mayhew. She genuinely liked the ordinary people of Northern Ireland and they liked her.
She was popular on both sides of the political divide. "There is nothing la-di-da about her," said a Protestant man. "God bless you, Miss Mowlam," whispered a man wearing a Pioneer pin.
The honeymoon didn't last long. It was republicans she annoyed first. In July 1997 she failed to keep a promise to personally tell Garvaghy Road residents of her decision on the Drumcree parade. The Orangemen were allowed to march down the road amid scenes of violence.
The graffiti appeared. "Mo Surrender". Sinn Fein leaders would forgive Dr Mowlam but there was a feeling, among some civil servants, that "her mouth went into operation long before her brain and she promised things she could never carry out".
She might have angered republicans first, but it was unionist politicians who had the biggest problems with her. First of all, they didn't like her style. Kicking off her shoes, removing her wig and cursing like a trooper unnerved them. They complained she was unladylike and disrespectful. She once famously told the Rev Ian Paisley to "piss off".
The DUP's attitude to her was clear when her move back to London was announced. "Goodbye Mo", its press release said. Her relationship with the UUP, and Mr David Trimble in particular, was poor. The party regarded her as far too "green", complaining that she constantly appeared to side with Dublin and Northern Ireland nationalist politicians.
There was also a feeling that her mastery of political detail was poor.
"She was good for the sound bites, not for the intricacies of the negotiations," says one Northern Ireland Office insider.
She was present for the key period of the Stormont talks which ended in the Belfast Agreement. Although her contribution was considerable, it was noticeable that Mr Blair himself flew over for that final, crucial week to take control of the negotiations.
"Blair was full of praise for her but the message was clear - Mo was being put in her place," said the NIO source.
There were also reports of disagreement between her and Mr Blair over the peace process, although both sides strongly denied it.
Dr Mowlam was judged to have taken a big political gamble in January 1998 when she went into the Maze to meet loyalist prisoners, whose enthusiasm for the peace process was waning after the murder of Loyalist Volunteer Force leader Billy Wright.
Her action reaped rewards as loyalist support for the process was strengthened. Dr Mowlam's most controversial decision followed the Provisional IRA murder of a young nationalist, Charles Bennett, when she announced that the ceasefire had been breached but not broken.
As the peace process progressed, the UUP leadership increasingly sidelined her and dealt directly with Mr Blair. By last summer hardly a day went by without a unionist politician calling for her resignation.
Mr Trimble believed she was a hindrance to the peace process. One of the greatest difficulties in implementing the Belfast Agreement was the "widespread lack of confidence in the community, particularly among Ulster Unionists, with regard to what the Secretary of State will do", he said.
Dr Mowlam was most popular with the loyalist paramilitary parties, the Northern Ireland Women's Coalition, trade union leaders and the voluntary sector. They miss her deeply.
But even some of her sternest critics talk of her with a certain fondness.
One leading DUP politician says: "Compared to the present incumbent, I like Mo. Peter Mandelson doesn't listen to us. We would talk to her and then she would go off and do whatever she wanted anyway. But at least she listened."