Michael Foot: Tributes
Tributes have been pouring in after the death of former Labour leader Michael Foot aged 96.
Here are a selection of the best quotes as the political world remembers one of the 20th century’s great political figures:
Labour leader and prime minister Gordon Brown
“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.
“We will never forget his good humour, his passion and above all his enduring values and determination to fight for them – as, one of his favourite poets, Shelley proclaims ‘Ye are many – they are few’.
“Michael Foot was a genuine British radical – one who possessed a powerful sense of community, a pride in our progressive past and faith in our country’s potential for a radical future.”
Labour party general secretary Ray Collins
“Michael Foot’s passing is very sad news for the Labour party and the wider movement. As leader of our party, a Labour minister, a writer and a man he was a tireless campaigner for social justice, whose intelligence, charm and courage will be remembered for years to come.
“It is a mark of Michael Foot’s quality as a man and the scale of his contribution to public life over almost seven decades that it is hard to summarise in a single sentence.
“He was possibly one of the few writers who could. As well as pivotal biographies, Labour party members will remember the clarity and passion of his writing against the appeasement of the 1930s, nuclear weapons, or Apartheid and in support of social justice.”
TUC general secretary Brendan Barber
“Everyone will be saddened by the death of Michael Foot – a man who personified decency and integrity in politics.
“Simply to mention his name is to be taken back to an era when every politician needed to be an orator and command an audience. But we remember him as well as a great employment secretary at a time when the economy was under real pressure.”
Former home secretary John Reid
“I’m very, very sad. Michael was such a lovely man. He was impassioned, principled, sincere, articulate, erudite and he was in a sense among the last of the great orators before the television age.
“Given a large audience and given a philosophical or value-laden speech to make and he was in his element, until the end of his life. He was a passionate believer in certain things, not least his opposition to nuclear weapons. He stuck to it and he was just a very decent man.”
Conservative leader David Cameron
“He was a brilliant speaker. I’m obviously not old enough to have been in the House of Commons at the same time, but reading some of his speeches [they] were incredibly powerful.
“He was a very intelligent, witty, amusing and thoughtful man. He had an extraordinary life.
“Obviously he knew both victory and defeat and obviously people will remember the defeat as Labour leader, but above all he was an idealist, someone who was in politics for the right reasons and someone who wrote and spoke beautifully.”
Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg
“Michael Foot was great parliamentarian, a great intellectual and a great idealist.
“He always stood up for what he believed in, even if that meant inviting unpopularity at times. His intellectual integrity is an example to everyone in politics.”
Hilary Benn, environment secretary
“He was a decent man who said what he believed. He wasn’t interested in appearance – he was interested in ideas, beliefs, trying to change the world.
“He was the most extraordinary orator. I remember him coming to Ealing town Hall in the early 1980s and he just held the audience spellbound. He had a wonderful ability to communicate with people, to get his ideas across, and a lot of people will mourn his passing today.”
Journalist Jon Snow, a personal friend
“He was a decent and accomplished man. He was superb company, a fantastic gossip and married to a wonderful woman in Jill Craigie, the film director. They ran an almost open house of endless meals, drinks, conversation and walks with dogs on Hampstead Heath.
“I feel fortunate to have known him as a friend. He lived a full life to the end, his body seeming to desert a still vibrant mind. History will eventually recall that he was a remarkable force for principle and morality in the unprincipled and immoral age in which he lived.”
:
“He was the nicest person I ever met at a senior level in politics. He had time for everybody.
“It is amazing that someone that nice gets to the top of the Labour party but perhaps not too surprising that someone that nice didn’t win the election.”
Former deputy prime minister John Prescott
“A great man has died. He was the heart of our movement.”
Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament’s chair Kate Hudson
“The 1983 election was not an endorsement of Mrs Thatcher’s nuclear policy. We deplore the dirty tricks campaign carried out at that time against Michael, designed to undermine his campaign.
“Opinion polls show that his views on nuclear disarmament are today shared by the majority of the British electorate across the political spectrum – a fact that our politicians would do well to recognise as they head into a general election. We send our deepest sympathy to Michael’s family and friends.”
Gay rights activist Peter Tatchell
“Michael Foot was wrong to condemn my advocacy of extra-parliamentary protests and to initially block my endorsement as parliamentary candidate for Bermondsey. But this error of judgment, under pressure from SDP turncoats, does not diminish his stature as one of the most outstanding British socialists and democrats of the twentieth century.
“He had the grace to later apologise to me – an apology that I accepted. I have never waivered in my view that Michael Foot was a great humanist and humanitarian, and a true champion of social justice and human rights.
“Sadly, Michael became Labour leader too late in life. He was at his peak in the 1940s and 1950s, and would have been an even better Labour prime minister than Clement Attlee. A brilliant orator, who was equalled by few other politicians anywhere in the world, his speeches were magical and inspirational.”
Margaret Thatcher
“I am very sorry to hear the news. He was a great parliamentarian and a man of high principles.”
