Roy Hattersley, former Labour deputy leader, dies aged 93

Roy Hattersley, the former Labour deputy leader and author, has died aged 93, his family has said.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer described Hattersley as 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. My thoughts are with his wife Maggie and his family.”

Hattersley was a councillor at the age of 23, an MP at 31 and a minister by 33 where he served in Jim Callaghan’s cabinet in addition to Harold Wilson’s government.

He was MP for Birmingham Sparkbrook from 1964 until his retirement from the House of Commons in 1997.

In the 1960s, Hattersley held posts as employment minister and as deputy to Denis Healey in defence.

From 1974 to 1976, the MP served under Wilson again as minister of state for foreign and commonwealth affairs. He was appointed a privy councillor in 1975.

From 1976 to 1979 he joined Callaghan’s cabinet as secretary of state for prices and consumer protection.

The Labour grandee was made deputy leader under Neil Kinnock and was made a life peer in 1993 as Baron Hattersley of Sparkbrook.

Kinnock, who led the Labour party between 1983 and 1992, said he was “deeply saddened” to hear of Hattersley’s death.

“Roy 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 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.”

Labour’s deputy leader Lucy Powell said: “Roy Hattersley shaped the Labour Party and British politics. 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.”

As well as contributing to numerous national newspapers, he wrote a number of books including The Edwardians; Borrowed Time: the Story of Britain between the Wars; In Search of England, and acclaimed biographies of John Wesley, Lloyd George and the Devonshires.

Alastair Campbell paid tribute to Hattersley in a post on X: “Very sad. Labour through and through, a fine mind and gifted writer, a loyal and hard working deputy to Neil at a vital time in Labour history, and a critical friend to New Labour. Sheffield Wednesday to the very end! RIP Roy.”

Hattersley’s brother-in-law, Norman Pearlstine, paid tribute to him. He said: “Roy was one of the most intellectually curious politicians I ever met.

“In addition to writing frequently for the Guardian, he wrote more than 20 books, including thoughtful studies of Catholicism in Britain, Lloyd George, and the Edwardians.

“Roy also displayed a humorous touch after his dog Buster killed a goose in one of London’s royal parks and Roy was fined.

“The dog’s encounter with the goose led to publication of Buster’s Secret Diaries as discovered by Roy Hattersley, written in the dog’s voice. The book, in which Buster claimed he had acted in self-defence, was a bestseller that was subsequently translated into several languages.”

After the 2010 general election, Hattersley offered some words of advice in a newspaper article to newly arrived MPs.

He wrote: “The House of Commons is workshop, not shrine … without clear convictions life at Westminster is a boring waste of time. With them it is a great and glorious adventure.”

Hattersley was also a visiting fellow of Harvard’s Institute of Politics and of Nuffield College, Oxford. In 2003 he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.

He was born into a Labour family in Sheffield in 1932 and had strong Yorkshire roots. He was a supporter of Sheffield Wednesday Football Club and Yorkshire County Cricket Club.

He gained a scholarship to Sheffield City grammar school and went to the University of Hull, where he read for a BSc in economics and participated in student politics.

After graduating he worked for a Sheffield steelworks and then for two years for the Workers’ Educational Association.

Among his first forays into politics was serving as chair of the housing committee when he was a member of the Sheffield city council.

He was renowned for being a longstanding supporter of the Common Market and Britain’s role in the European Economic Community.

In 1981, Hattersley founded Labour Solidarity to help prevent the break-up of the Labour party, famously declining to join the MPs who left to form the short-lived Social Democratic party.

In 2017, the author declared in an article for the Observer: “The Labour party faces the greatest crisis in its history. Momentum – a party within the party which is dedicated to moving Labour to the far left of the political spectrum – is on the point of winning control of Labour’s policy, programme and constitution.”

Hattersley lived in Derbyshire with his wife, Maggie Pearlstine.

In an interview with The Lady, Hattersley said his greatest influence was his mother, Enid, who was a Labour city councillor and mayor of Sheffield.

He said: “She was a very dominant, very positive, aggressive figure. I was always closer to my father, but he was very gentle, unlike my mother.

“She would never say you could do better, just how badly you were doing. And that stimulated me to do better. I think she had a painful, but very important influence on me.”

When asked when he is at his happiest, he said: “When I’m writing. Especially when I’m here in Derbyshire, as I am now with the dog sleeping at my feet.”