Both Labour’s Gordon Brown and Keir Starmer led the tributes given to Rt. Hon. Alistair Darling the Labour MP who was Chancellor under Gordon Brown from 2007 to 2010 who has died recently following his battle against cancer.
A representative for the renowned Labour politician’s family announced the death of the former chancellor, Alistair Darling, at the age of 70.
“The death of Alistair Darling, a former chancellor of the exchequer and long-serving member of the Labour cabinet, was announced in Edinburgh today,” said a statement from the family.
“After a brief stay in Western General Hospital, Mr. Darling, the devoted husband of Margaret and the cherished father of Calum and Anna, passed away under the excellent care of the cancer team.”
Darling was an Edinburgh MP from 1987 until his resignation in 2015, and from 2007 to 2010, he was Gordon Brown’s chancellor.
Brown expressed his “deep sadness” at learning of Darling’s passing. “Alistair, who gained a worldwide reputation for his assured competence and the exercise of considered judgment he brought to the handling of economic affairs, will be remembered as a statesman of unimpeachable integrity whose life was defined by a strong sense of social justice,” the statement read.
“Alistair lived a life devoted to public service,” stated Keir Starmer, the leader of the Labour Party. He will be known as the chancellor who led Britain through the turmoil of the world financial crisis with cool professionalism and candor.I feel really lucky to have benefited from Alistair’s friendship and advice. He was always there to offer guidance based on his many years of experience, usually with his characteristic dry humor.”
During the 2008 financial crisis, Darling oversaw the Treasury and the government was obliged to provide many, historically massive bailouts to save significant portions of the banking industry. Later on, he released a memoir called Back from the Brink, which was about that time.
Darling warned that the UK’s economic conditions were “arguably the worst they’ve been in 60 years” in a candid interview with the Guardian in the summer of 2008, before the full effects of the crisis on the country’s economy had been apparent.
Following the announcement of the news on Thursday, politicians from all political stripes paid respect to Darling’s character. David Cameron, the foreign secretary, stated: “Alistair was a very decent and kind man.” Even though we were representing different parties, I always appreciated his enormous effort and had fun dealing with him.
Humza Yousaf, the first minister of Scotland, referred to him as “a giant of Scottish and UK politics.”
“Although I didn’t agree with Alistair on many significant political issues, his demeanor of civility and deference throughout his political career is far more significant. We shall sincerely miss him in our public life.
“He certainly wasn’t a prima donna, in any sense: he was just a calm, able guy, but always with a good moral and political compass,” said Darling’s close friend and former Labour minister Brian Wilson. He was unquestionably the right man in the right situation.
Darling’s close adviser and director at the Resolution Foundation, Torsten Bell, described him as “a man who always felt the weight of the huge decisions that public service involves, but was still able to take them – even in the darkest of economic times.” Bell also worked closely with Darling at the Treasury.
Prior to becoming chancellor, Darling worked in Tony Blair’s administration in a number of high-level cabinet positions, such as chief secretary to the Treasury and secretary for work and pensions. Darling remained a backbench MP after Labour entered opposition.
As the chair of the victorious Better Together campaign, he was instrumental in the 2014 referendum campaign against Scottish independence. In those debates on television, he frequently argued with Alex Salmond, the leader of the SNP. Though he was widely expected to lose both meetings, Darling emerged victorious in the first, disliking the prospectus for leaving the union as being predicated on “guesswork, fingers crossed, or his blind faith” and putting the first minister’s doubts about Scotland’s post-independence currency to shame.
In addition, Darling was incensed at criticism of Better Together’s coalition with the Conservatives, which prompted pro-independence activists to refer to Labour as “red Tories”.
“One of the great chancellors, he’ll be remembered for doing the right thing for the country at a time of extraordinary turmoil,” said Jeremy Hunt, the chancellor in office at the moment, in a tribute to Darling. My sincere condolences go out to his family.
1953 saw the birth of Darling in London, and she went to Loretto School in Musselburgh, Scotland. After that, he obtained his legal degree and served as a Lothian councillor before winning an election to become an MP.
His family owned a croft in the Outer Hebrides, and he was proud of his ancestry there. In the 2015 dissolution honours, he was bestowed with a life peerage and assumed the title of Lord Darling of Roulanish, a settlement situated on the small island of Great Bernera.
