THE journalist writing a revealing Barbara Castle biography today defended the project and said: "She was a passionate person and lived a passionate life."

Anne Perkins is compiling 'The Red Queen,' which is due to be published in May 2003.

Rossendale and Darwen MP Janet Anderson, who was Barbara Castle's secretary for seven years from 1974 and 1981, said she hoped it did Baroness Castle justice.

The book will detail claims about the former Blackburn MP's love life as well as her political career.

It contains information about an alleged 10-year affair with married William Mellor, when she was 32, until his death in 1942. Miss Perkins, who works for the Guardian, said Baroness Castle gave her letters from Mellor, as well as unrestricted access to her papers.

She had been researching the biography for three years, until Baroness Castle's death on May 2, aged 91.

She said: "I saw a lot of her, and I got to know her, not intimately, but well. I have talked to many of her old friends and colleagues -- including Blackburn people who were important to her, such as Roy Martin, Lord Taylor and Jim Mason.

"The book is a portrait of one of the outstanding women of the 20th century. It is both a political biography of a politician whose influence spanned 60 turbulent years and an intimate account of the life of a passionate and beautiful woman."

She told how her first meeting with Barbara Castle, at a Labour Party Conference 10 years ago, fascinated her.

She said: "I was there as a BBC journalist and as I was with a TV crew. I had got there early enough to get a seat. It was hot and smoky and very crowded by the time Barbara arrived, looking immaculate but frail.

"I offered her my seat. The head went up, the back bone stiffened, 'no thank you dear,' she said, horrified at the implication that an 80-year-old needed to sit down. After that I was hooked."

Janet Anderson MP said: "Anne Perkins has no easy task. Barbara Castle certainly lived life to the full and achieved a great deal. I very much hope the biography will do justice to her outstanding contribution to British politics.

"At the time when Barbara Castle was involved in British politics, it was rare for politicians' private lives to be exposed in the way they are today.

"It will be a very interesting book."