Brown leads tributes to ex-MP Frank Doran, champion of Piper Alpha families

Senior Labour figures including Gordon Brown and Harriet Harman have paid tribute to former Labour MP Frank Doran, who has died aged 68.

The ex-Aberedeen MP was widely respected for his work supporting the families who lost loved ones in the Piper Alpha disaster, when 167 people were killed in the world’s worst oil rig disaster 1988.

Doran, who was married to former Labour MP Joan Ruddock, was praised by friends and former colleagues today as a “tireless campaigner”.

Brown, the former prime minister and chancellor, wrote on Twitter: “So sad to hear of Frank Doran’s passing. Great friend, great trade unionist and a great colleague. My thoughts are with Joan and family”.

Harman, the former Labour deputy leader, said: “RIP Frank Doran. His life – trade unionist, lawyer & MP lived 4 progressive causes. Beloved husband of Joan.”

Doran represented Aberdeen in two spells between from 1987. He was MP for Aberdeen South between 1987 and 1992, when he lost. He returned to the Commons in Aberdeen Central in the Blair landslide in 1997 and, following boundary changes, Aberdeen North, where he stayed until he stood down in 2015.

He served as parliamentary private secretary to trade minister Ian McCartney in Labour’s first term.

Douglas Alexander, a former cabinet minister who also represented a Scottish seat, said: “Frank Doran was the kind of MP who gives politics a good name: wise, decent & dedicated to others. Condolences to Joan.”