Will reveals Kaufman left everything to fellow MP

DAPPER Labour MP Sir Gerald Kaufman was known to be a pal of former Cabinet Minister Eric Varley, but the extent of their friendship has become clear only after the publication of the knight’s will.

Probate documents reveal that Sir Gerald, who died in February aged 86, planned to leave his flat in the fashionable London district of St John’s Wood to Varley. Kaufman also wanted to bequeath his household and personal items to Varley, who was elevated to the House of Lords in 1990, as well as £3,000 in cash.

He was, however, unable to do so because Lord Varley of Chesterfield died in 2008. Kaufman failed to update his will after Varley’s death, at the age of 75.

Half Kaufman’s £1.7 million estate will now go to Binyamin Wenger, of Kibbutz Yagur in Israel, or his children. The other half will be shared equally between Leeds residents

Dora Faith, Martha Selby, Anne Pearson, Gertie Sherman, Hilda Goodman and David Kaufman. Kaufman, who held the safe seat of Manchester Gorton until his death, is survived by two nieces and four nephews.

Born in Leeds after his Jewish refugee parents escaped Poland, Kaufman was one of the longestserving Labour MPs, eventually becoming Father of the House.

He served as a junior minister at the Department of the Environment, and then Industry, but James Callaghan decided not to make him a Cabinet minister, wrongly believing he had supported Michael Foot in the leadership contest.

Sir Gerald hit the headlines in the MPs’ expenses scandal in 2009 for trying to claim for an £8,000 television set, a £1,500 rug, and £115,000 for work on his London flat.

He had left the royalties from his book To Build The Promised Land to Lord Varley, and these will now go to Mr Wenger or his descendants. He also wrote Meet Me In St Louis, a study of the 1944 film, and a memoir called My Life In The Silver Screen.