Farewell to Paul Flynn, a ‘giant of the Welsh Labour movement’
VETERAN Labour MP Paul Flynn has been remembered as a man of “real courage and integrity” who was respected across the political divide, following news of his death at the age of 84.
The MP for Newport West died on Sunday after representing his constituency for more than three decades.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn was among the first to pay tribute to a man he described as an “independent thinker”.
“I’m very sad at the passing of my good friend Paul Flynn,” he tweeted. “He had such love for Newport, knowledge of radical South Wales history and a dry wit. He was an independent thinker who was a credit to the Labour Party. He will be greatly missed.”
First Minister Mark Drakeford said Mr Flynn was a “giant of the Welsh Labour movement”.
He added: “[This] news will be a source of great sadness to all those who knew him.
“He was one of the most effective communicators of his generation inside the House of Commons and outside. But it was Paul’s willingness to speak up for causes beyond the political mainstream which marked him out as a politician of real courage and integrity.”
An unorthodox Westminster stalwart, Mr Flynn once went so far as to encourage people with serious illnesses to break the law and smoke cannabis at Parliament.
An accomplished author and serial blogger, dogged campaigning on issues ranging from the legalisation of marijuana to devolution and Tony Blair’s accountability over the Iraq war became a hallmark of his 31 years in the Commons – most of which was spent launching broadsides from the backbenches.
Born in Cardiff on February 9, 1935, he won a place at St Illtyd’s Catholic College, a grammar school, and went on to study at Cardiff University.
A first career in the steel industry followed school, working as a chemist initially at East Moors in Cardiff and then at Llanwern.
He entered politics in the early 1970s and served as a councillor first for Newport borough then Gwent county. In 1987 he entered the Commons after taking Newport West from the Conservatives.
Aged in his early 50s, Mr Flynn was appointed to Labour’s front bench in 1988 by Neil Kinnock, who made him shadow health spokesman.
But the position was short-lived and he returned to the backbenches 12 months later – where he would remain for the next 26 years.
In the era of New Labour, the leftwinger became a vocal critic of Mr Blair and his leadership of the party, on one occasion branding its policies in opposition as “timid and anaemic”.
In the late 1990s he lent his support to efforts by fellow stalwart of the left Tony Benn to wrest powers away from the “increasingly presidential” Labour leadership.
Mr Flynn consistently opposed Britain’s intervention in Iraq and Afghanistan and backed calls for Mr Blair to be prosecuted following the release of the Chilcot Report in 2008.
Another longstanding issue of concern to Mr Flynn dating back to the early 1990s was the debate around the legalisation of cannabis, which he had advocated as a means of reducing harm.
While perhaps most comfortable as a rebel, Mr Flynn did eventually return to the frontbench, serving as shadow leader of the house and shadow Wales secretary in 2016.
Aged 81, he was the oldest MP to serve on the front bench since Gladstone and called for more octogenarians to hold the roles in the interests of diversity.
With ailing health he announced in October 2018 his intention to stand down at a “convenient time to go”, describing his time in Parliament as a “great, wonderful, rich experience”.