PM leads tributes to former minister
MP JAMES BROKENSHIRE HAS DIED AT THE AGE OF 53
PROTESTERS from Insulate Britain blocked a junction of the M25 motorway and a major central London road on Friday morning.
The climate activists said about 40 demonstrators were involved in its 12th day of protests in the past four weeks.
They sat on the road at junction 25 of the M25 at Waltham Cross, Hertfordshire, and on the A501 at Old Street roundabout, causing long queues of rush hour traffic.
BORIS Johnson has paid tribute to James Brokenshire as the “nicest, kindest and most unassuming of politicians” after the death of the former government minister at the age of 53. Mr Brokenshire, who served as Northern Ireland secretary and security minister, had been suffering from lung cancer and died on Thursday evening, a statement from his family said. The Prime Minister said he was “desperately sad” to hear the news, and the flags in New Palace Yard in the Palace of Westminster were lowered to half-mast in tribute.
Mr Johnson said on Twitter: “He served with particular distinction in the Home Office and as security minister. If the Government needed something done well and speedily – and sensibly explained – James was the man to do it.
“I worked with him for many years in London and I know how much he cared for the interests of his Bexley constituents.
“His fight against cancer was heroic, and it is a measure of his resolve that he came back from a first bout with the disease to serve in government again. He will be missed by all who knew him. Our thoughts are with Cathy and his family.” Mr Brokenshire, the Conservative MP for Old Bexley and Sidcup, first announced he had been diagnosed with lung cancer in 2018 and he underwent surgery to remove the upper lobe of his right lung.
At the time, non-smoker Mr
Brokenshire said he had been prompted to see his GP after coughing up a small amount of blood.
He became vocal over calls for a national screening programme for lung cancer, and in April 2018 used a debate in Parliament to call for a national programme to improve poor survival rates.
He also backed efforts by Baroness Jowell, who died in May 2018 after suffering from a glioblastoma multiforme brain tumour, for more experimental treatments to be available on the NHS.
In January, he suffered a recurrence of a tumour in his lung and later said the “somewhat troublesome” lung had been removed by surgeons at Guy’s Hospital in south London. But in August, he confirmed his lung cancer had “progressed” and he was starting a new line of treatment.
Mr Brokenshire’s family said he had been in hospital since Sunday and his condition had rapidly deteriorated.
In a statement, they said: “James was not only a brilliant government minister as both security and immigration minister at the Home Office and secretary of state at the Northern Ireland Office and Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government, but a dedicated constituency MP, first for Hornchurch from 2005 to 2010, and then for Old Bexley and Sidcup for the past 11 years.
“But, most importantly, he was a loving father to his three children, a devoted husband to Cathy and a faithful friend to so many.
“We would like to thank all the NHS staff, particularly those at Guy’s & St Thomas’ in London, who cared for James with such warmth, diligence and professionalism over the past threeand-a-half years.” Mr Brokenshire resigned as security minister in July after telling Mr Johnson that his recovery from surgery was taking “longer than expected”. Former prime minister David Cameron said Mr Brokenshire had been a “hard-working and dedicated MP but, more than that, he was a thoroughly decent and lovely man, and devoted to his family”.
Mr Cameron’s successor as PM, Theresa May, called Mr Brokenshire “an outstanding public servant, a talented minister and a loyal friend”. Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer tweeted: “James Brokenshire was a thoroughly decent man, dedicated and effective in all briefs he held.
“He fought his illness with dignity and bravery. I’m incredibly sad to learn of his death and send my condolences to his wife and children.”