PM leads tributes to former Labour deputy leader Roy Hattersley

Prime Minister Keir Starmer has led tributes to former deputy Labour leader Roy Hattersley, who has died at the age of 93.

One of the defining figures of Labour politics, he represented Birmingham Sparkbrook as an MP for more than three decades and held ministerial posts in the governments of Harold Wilson and James Callaghan.

After Labour’s defeat in 1983, Hattersley contested the party’s leadership election, losing decisively to Neil Kinnock, but went on to be elected deputy leader by a substantial margin.

Kinnock and Hattersley worked together to expel members of Militant to “rehabilitate” the party ahead of elections in 1987 and 1992.

After the party’s surprise defeat in 1992, Hattersley announced his retirement from politics two years later and was made a life peer in November 1997.

Although identified with the party’s right wing, Hattersley was a critic of New Labour and said: “Blair’s Labour Party is not the Labour Party I joined.”

Outside of politics, Hattersley was known for novels and biographies, including a 700-page biography of the Liberal Prime Minister David Lloyd George.

Keir Starmer said: “Roy Hattersley was a giant of the Labour movement. Through decades of service, including as deputy leader and a minister, he never lost his belief in a more equal Britain.”

Current Labour deputy leader Lucy Powell said Hattersley “shaped the Labour Party and British politics”.

She said: “He was a giant of our movement and of that generation of politicians. I met him a few times and he was always kind, thoughtful and full of sound advice.”

Former Labour leader Neil Kinnock told The Guardian Hattersley was “a socialist of deep conviction, a dedicated democrat who believed that liberty should be unqualified by anything but responsibility and never by background or fortune”.

He said: “He held that freedom had to be made real and secure by collective action and contribution, by accountability, and by equality.

“He was fluent and courageous in expressing these beliefs in speech and writing and wrote countless columns and published 20 books. He was never solemn nor deferential and his common sense, humour and endless stories made him excellent company.

“All of this made him a valued comrade and an incomparable asset to the Labour Party, to British democracy and to wider humanity.”

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