One Foot in the Grave

Needless to say when a "great" politician dies the media crow on about his greatness . Politicians , allies or antagonists , compete with tributes .Brown describes Foot as a "man of deep principle and passionate idealism". Thatcher said he was "a great parliamentarian and a man of high principles".

Blair said Mr Foot was "a giant of the Labour movement" and went on further to say "I will always remember his personal kindness to me.., he was immensely supportive and kind." Indeed , since it was a letter of support from Foot that assisted Blair being adopted as the Sedgefield constituency Labour candidate.

Michael Foot was a member of the 1974-79 Labour government which spent £1 billion on the new reconstruction of Polaris. During the Falklands War the real star of the Labour benches was Michael Foot. Belying his reputation as a doddering, ineffectual bungler, the Labour leader lashed the government for their "betrayal of those who looked to it for protection" (he was not talking about workers struggling to live on social security). "We should not", he raged, "see foul, brutal aggression successful in our world". (He was not attacking the record of past Labour governments on Korea, Malaysia, Biafra, Vietnam . . .) . Foot's speech was applauded by the MPs as a flag-waving, drum-banging demand for the war in which, of course, he would not personally be in the front line. It was only a few months previous that he won an affectionate ovation at a Labour Party gathering by describing himself as "an inveterate peacemonger". Many Tory MPs were delighted with Foot's performance. One sure way of winning their respect is to make a speech calling for workers to be sent off to war. The Labour Party has never flinched from the prospect of workers dying in the conflicts to protect their masters' interests.