A pillar of regional politics and staunch campaigner for justice
HE WAS a red in every sense.
A Labour MP, his first constituency was Stretford, and his first sporting love, Manchester United.
Sir Tony Lloyd, who has died aged 73, was quietly spoken, always sharply dressed and had a long political career.
He was the first - albeit interim - Greater Manchester mayor in 2015, a post he held for two years.
The roots of his political passion lay in the Spanish Civil War of the 1930s.
For a while, he seemed to have the knack of landing jobs with clout and power.
In 2012 he was elected the £100,000-a-year inaugural Greater Manchester Police and Crime Commissioner, overseeing one of the largest forces in the country.
The post raised his profile hugely and was perhaps the pinnacle of his ambitions. He explained he was prepared to quit the House of Commons to get the job as ‘all the years I have been a MP, one of the abiding issues that people raised with me was fear of crime’.
The Stretford Ender was born in the district on February 25, 1950.
Sir Tony, who leaves four children and wife Judith, was educated at Stretford Grammar
School for Boys, Manchester Business School and Nottingham University, where he gained a degree in mathematics. He later became a lecturer in Business Studies at the University of Salford.
Sir Tony’s father died when he was 13, leaving his mother Cecily - a staunch supporter of the Labour Party- to shape his values.
Speaking about his mother, she said: “She had friends who died in the Spanish Civil War.
“I saw that as a simple battle of good versus evil and in that sense the basic morality of politics was instilled in me. I have always thought if not fighting for what’s right and just, then what is politics for?”
He had three spells at Westminster - representing Stretford from 1983-97; Manchester Central from 1997-2012; and Rochdale from 2017 until his death.
Incumbent Simon Danczuk was barred from standing for Labour before Sir Tony became the party’s candidate ahead of his final stint in the Commons.
He was elected with a majority of 14,819.
During Tony Blair’s time as Prime Minister,
Sir Tony was made junior Minister of State in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in 1997, but it ended in 1999 after a government reshuffle. He carved out a reputation as a powerful backbencher and was regarded as a key ally of Gordon Brown.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn picked him as Shadow Minister for Housing and later
Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland.
Sir Tony was not beyond rebelling. He voted against the government policy regarding the Iraq war and the policy to detain terror suspects for 90 days without trial. He also
voted against introducing tuition fees for students and the renewal of the UK Trident programme as an ‘anti-war campaigner’.
His path to power and influence began when he was elected to Trafford council on May 4, 1979, the day Margaret
Thatcher became Prime Minister. Sir Tony represented Clifford Ward in the borough and rose to deputy council leader.
He was at the centre of controversy in 2007 when he added his name to more than 1,000 others who wanted to keep Britain’s only super casino in Beswick.
Sir Tony signed his support for the Stand up for East Manchester petition opposite the proposed site and declared that the area
deserved to keep the super casino because of its high levels of deprivation and unemployment. When the plan was axed he described the decision as ‘bonkers’.
Still highly regarded for his experience and contacts in December 2019, he became Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland.
When Sir Keir Starmer became Labour leader in spring 2020, Sir Tony was replaced but continued as Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland.
In April 2020 after he was admitted to hospital with coronavirus.
Following his discharge from Manchester Royal Infirmary, he stood down from his front bench role to concentrate on his recovery, but pledged to
continue his work as a constituency MP. In 2021 he was knighted for public service.
In January last year, Sir Tony tragically revealed that he was receiving chemotherapy after a cancer diagnosis.
Last week he announced he had made the decision to leave hospital after his cancer developed into an ‘aggressive and untreatable leukaemia’.
He asked for privacy so he could spend ‘the time I have left with my family’.
He said in a statement: “I have been receiving treatment for some time for a form of blood cancer which has been controlled by chemotherapy. Unfortunately this has now transformed into an aggressive and untreatable
form of leukaemia and I will be leaving hospital today to spend the time I have left with my family.”
Mr Mohammed Shafiq, Chief Executive of the Ramadhan Foundation and resident of Rochdale said: “The death of Sir Tony Lloyd MP is a sad moment for the people of Rochdale and Greater Manchester.
“He served the communities for decades, always with a smile, passionate and committed to the causes of his life. He was a friend who always took my calls, always helped in my community work and never said no when I approached him.
“My condolences to his family and colleagues. A sad moment.”