Presidents past and present pay tribute to Senator John Mccain

Uspresidentspastandpresent have joined world leaders in mourning one-time presidential candidate and war hero John Mccain, praising him for a lifetime of service and accomplishments.

President Donald Trump, who once criticised his fellow Republican for being taken prisoner during the Vietnam War, said his “deepest sympathies and respect” went out to Mr Mccain’s family.

Mr Mccain, 81, died at his ranch in Arizona after a yearlong battle with brain cancer.

A black hearse, accompanied by a police motorcade, could be seen driving away from the ranch near Sedona where Mr Mccain spent his final weeks.

For 50 miles along Interstate 17 southbound, on every bridge and at every exit slip road, people watched the procession.

Hundreds, including many waving American flags, parked their cars and got out to watch.

Former presidents, including those who blocked Mr Mccain’s own White House ambitions, offered emotional tributes.

Barack Obama, who triumphed over Mr Mccain in the 2008 campaign, said that despite their differences, Mr Mccain and he shared a “fidelity to something higher – the ideals for which generations of Americans and immigrants alike have fought, marched, and sacrificed”.

Mr Obama said they “saw our political battles, even, as a privilege, something noble, an opportunity to serve as stewards of those high ideals at home, and to advance them around the world”.

Former president George W Bush, who defeated Mr Mccain for the 2000 Republican presidential nomination, called Mr Mccain a “man of deep conviction and a patriot of the highest order” and a “friend whom I’ll deeply miss”.

Mr Bush was among those expected to speak at Mr Mccain’s funeral.

Mr Mccain is expected to be remembered at ceremonies in Arizona and Washington before being buried, probably this coming week, at the US Naval Academy Cemetery on a peninsula overlooking the Severn River in Annapolis, Maryland.

Tributes poured in from around the globe.

Prime Minister Theresa May hailed Mr Mccain as “a great statesman, who embodied the idea of service over self ”, while her predecessor, David Cameron, said the world had “lost a great defender of liberty”.

Irish prime minister Leo Varadkar said Mr Mccain was “a wise and remarkable statesman, US ally of Ireland and a proud Scots Irishman who was a champion for immigration reform in the US Senate”.

Frenchpresidentemmanuel Macron tweeted in English that Mr Mccain “was a true American hero”.