Service for Tam Dalyell

A memorial service was held yesterday for the Labour stalwart Tam Dalyell, who died last month.

Labour figures from Westminster and Holyrood packed St Michael’s Parish Church in Linlithgow, West Lothian, for the service.

Tributes were led by f ormer Labour MP Brian Wilson, who said: “Tam never lost sight of the things that brought him into politics.

“There wasn’t a subject you could not go to him for advice.”

Former chancellor Alistair Darling and former MPs Jim Murphy, Ian Davidson and Margaret Curran were among those paying their respects

Tributes were also given by Lord Peter Hennessy of Nympsfield and Professor Sir Tim O’Shea of Edinburgh University.

Mr Dalyell spent 43 years as an MP after being elected to represent West Lothian in 1962. He became MP for Linlithgow 21 years later.