YP Comment: Veteran MP's long commitment

The hard-left outlook of the party under Michael Foot held no appeal for Sir Gerald, and he served Labour for long enough to see history repeating itself in the revival of similar views under Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership.

But history should remember Leeds Grammar School-educated Sir Gerald for something else as well. He was an MP of a vanishing breed, less interested in climbing the ministerial ladder than in faithfully serving his constituents from the back benches.

And what a length of service his was – 47 years, over the course of which his accumulated wisdom came to be admired across the political spectrum.

Such commitment is regrettably rare in public life these days, and politics is the poorer for Sir Gerald’s passing.