Brown leads tributes as Michael Foot dies

PRIME Minister Gordon Brown has led tributes to former Labour leader Michael Foot, who has died at the age of 96.

The renowned orator and fierce left-wing campaigner was hailed as a man of “deep principle and passionate idealism” who fought all his life for his beliefs and for the Labour Party.

Mr Foot died shortly before 7am yesterday at his home in Hampstead, north London. He had been ill for some time and had been receiving 24-hour care.

Mr Brown said: “Michael Foot was a man of deep principle and passionate idealism and one of the most eloquent speakers Britain has ever heard.

“He was an indomitable figure who always stood up for his beliefs and whether people agreed with him or not they admired his character and his steadfastness.

“The respect he earned over a long life of service means that, across our country today, people, no matter their political views, will mourn the passing of a great and compassionate man.”

A member of a prominent Liberal family, Mr Foot joined Labour in the 1930s and worked for the New Statesman and Tribune, before being appointed editor of the Evening Standard by Lord Beaverbrook in 1942.

He entered Parliament in 1945 and went on to become a hero of the left, championing nuclear disarmament and campaigning against British membership of the European Economic Community in the 1975 referendum.

He became Labour leader in 1980, defeating the candidate of the right, Denis Healey, and led the party to its worst election defeat in 60 years in 1983.

Lord Healey, who served as Mr Foot’s deputy from 1980-83, said he was “very, very sorry to hear of his death”.

“I was a great admirer of Michael’s,” he said. “He was a brilliant speaker.

“I don’t think he should be remembered only for the 1983 election defeat, because he made a tremendous contribution to the Labour Party when its future was on a knife edge.”

Mr Foot first became MP for Plymouth Devonport in 1945, before becoming MP for Ebbw Vale and Blaenau Gwent.

He was employment secretary in the 1974/76 Labour government under Harold Wilson and went on to become leader of the Commons between 1976 and the 1979 general election.

His election as leader in 1980 followed Labour’s defeat at the hands of Margaret Thatcher and marked one of the most difficult periods in the party’s history, when it was almost torn apart by left-right infighting and the defections of several senior figures to form the Social Democratic Party (SDP).

Labour’s manifesto for the 1983 election – advocating unilateral nuclear disarmament, abolition of the House of Lords, and quitting the EEC – was famously dubbed the “longest suicide note in history”. The party went down to ignominious defeat with just 27 per cent of the vote.

Mr Foot was famously derided for his scruffy appearance at a Cenotaph remembrance ceremony.

But although his appearance was often mocked, his oratory inside and outside the Commons was famed.

He was succeeded as Labour leader by his protege and fellow Welshman Neil Kinnock, who took on the hard left and sowed the seeds of New Labour.

His death was announced to the House of Commons by Justice Secretary Jack Straw, who told MPs the news would be received “with great sadness not only in my own party but across the country as a whole”.

Baroness Thatcher, who faced Mr Foot in many fiery clashes across the dispatch box in the House of Commons, said she was “very sorry to her the news” of his death.

In a statement released by her office, Lady Thatcher said: “He was a great Parliamentarian and a man of high principles.”

The peacemonger who left Labour at war: Page 15.