Sir Patrick Duffy: The UK's oldest surviving former MP who turns 104 tomorrow talks about his love of Doncaster and the forthcoming election

His 104th birthday this coming Monday promises to be a special occasion, one attended by family and friends who will include his 98-year-old sister, Patricia, living next door with her son, Bryan, both of whom keep an eye on their distinguished relative.

Mentally sharp and able to recall accurately his childhood in the mining village of Rossington, near Doncaster, where his father worked at the colliery, Sir Patrick may be an old gentleman and walking with a stick, but at the recent launch of his latest memoirs From Wigan to Westminsterin Doncaster at the Danum Gallery, Library and Museum, he stood for more than 30 minutes speaking clearly and without hesitation. From an underprivileged beginning, his happy home life, in a family which had moved from Wigan in 1925 to Rossington, South Yorkshire, enabled Sir Patrick to make rapid progress that ultimately led him to Parliament; first as Labour MP for Colne Valley(1963-1966) and then MP for Sheffield Attercliffe from 1970-1990. The highlights of his influential political career were being appointed Navy Minister(1976-1979) by the then Prime Minister, Jim Callaghan, and then being made President of the NATO Assembly in the 1980s when he worked tirelessly to improve relations between the West and the Soviet Union.

As he celebrates his 104th birthday, it is astonishing to know how fortunate Sir Patrick is to have had such a long and active life – at the start of the Second World War, he received the Last Rites(he comes from a devout Irish Roman Catholic background) after his Fleet Air Arm plane crashed into a Scottish mountain. His severe injuries kept him in a military hospital for several months before he could resume his Royal Navy service.

A knight of the realm (1991) and a papal knight (2017) for services to the Roman Catholic Church, Sir Patrick, was educated at the London School of Economics and Columbia University in New York, and is proud of his Yorkshire roots which include lecturing at the University of Leeds.

A living museum and a talking history book, how does he explain such a long life?

“I always valued walking. I had no choice when we lived in Rossington because we had no buses or only the odd one into Doncaster. As an altar boy, I would walk to church functions in Doncaster, and I did this year after year. After I retired from the Commons, in my 80s I did a lot of walking too and went on several pilgrimages and did the famous walk, El Camino Santiago de Compostela in northern Spain. That was more than 15 miles a day over 35 days. Another reason is reading. I learnt Latin and the treasure of studying history, so I came to appreciate books and still do. Looking back, I can remember shopping with my mother, aged two, in Wigan before we moved to Rossington, and I can also remember moving from Wigan, and when I was six, I have the clearest memories of the 1926 General Strike.

“I have strong memories of going to the primary school in Rossington. It was in a hut before the new school was built. Later, I got a scholarship to a school in Doncaster and there I became aware of the bigger world and was told by the teachers I should go to university. I remember going home and asking my parents-what is a university?

“I’m a survivor, I feel well, am very fortunate and well looked after. I am ready to slip away, but nothing has developed that can be interpreted as a beckoning. I am ready whenever, but there are still challenges and when opportunities arise, I will take them and see them as challenges. I can’t resist saying to myself, again and again, that I am truly blessed,” says Sir Patrick, who fought his first election campaign in 1950 when Clement Attlee was Labour Prime Minister. As Navy Minister under Callaghan, he had many conversations with the late Queen. “We’d talk about her family and how they enjoyed the Navy and how they learned from being in the Navy, or should they stay on in the Navy. I can tell you that the Queen was most discreet and careful to whom she spoke. Her Majesty had great appeal, great charm and great status. After I’d been knighted in 1991, she leant forward and whispered in my ear: ‘I’m very pleased about this Mr Duffy.’ Those were her exact words.” The next significant appointment came in 1988 as Sir Patrick was made President of the NATO Assembly – a post he held until 1990,one in which he became a central figure in the growing dialogue between the West and the Soviet block.

“I was introduced to Mikhail Gorbachev by John Major when was Prime Minister. It was a great honour. Gorbachev was trying to change his country. I suggested to Major that his wife, Norma, should go shopping with Raisa Gorbachev, and they did. John thanked me saying it was a great development and Gorbachev thanked me in person too. Gorbachev had considerable appeal, but he couldn’t bring the changes off because it meant lowering the status of Russia. It is a European country, and we should have maintained a close relationship with Russia, and I believe we should work on Putin rather than let him be captured by China. Russia has more in common with Western Europe.”

Nearer to home, it’s evident that his affection for Doncaster and South Yorkshire is deeply and sincerely held and he’s optimistic about its future. “Recent changes have given Doncaster an internationalism. Geographically speaking, it’s well placed. It has links with the Humber estuary and to Sheffield, Rotherham and Barnsley and across the Pennines. To begin with Doncaster was a lovely old market town. It changed to a metropolitan borough and is now a city. The people of Doncaster are changing and the changes in industry have presented challenges.” Naturally, given his career choice, he retains a keen interest in politics, particularly with the country facing a general election, but you suspect Sir Patrick’s thoughts are shared by many: “I can’t say that it has the same appeal to me as former elections.”​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

From Wigan to Westminster by Sir Patrick Duffy £9.99 https://sirpatrickduffy.com/