Healey the fearless giant of Labour dies, aged 98
TRIBUTES were paid last night to former Labour Chancellor Denis Healey, who has died aged 98, with political foes and allies describing him as a ‘giant’.
Lord Healey, who died peacefully at his Sussex home yesterday, entered politics after the war, having served as a major in the Royal Engineers in North Africa and Italy. He was chancellor in the 1974-79 government and in 1980 became deputy party leader.
David Cameron yesterday said: ‘We’ve lost a huge figure of post-war politics. A hero in World War Two and a brave politician, Denis Healey told his party hard truths about Britain having to live within her means.’
DENIS Healey, one of the most towering figures of the post-war Labour Party, has died at the age of 98.
The pugnacious former Chancellor fought long-running battles against Labour’s militant Left-wingers – including current leader Jeremy Corbyn – and was frequently described as the best Prime Minister the party never had.
But the peer was also renowned for his cultural ‘hinterland’ – he was a pianist who enjoyed opera, history, painting and photography – and for his long and happy marriage to wife Edna.
Lord Healey’s family said he died in his sleep at his Sussex home yesterday morning after a short illness.
Last night, leading politicians described his death as the end of an era.
Mr Corbyn, who throughout the 1980s objected to Mr Healey’s support for the nuclear deterrent, called him ‘a Labour giant whose record of service to party and country stands as his testament’, adding: ‘His wit and personality transcended politics itself, making him one of the most recognisable politicians.’
David Cameron said: ‘We’ve lost a huge figure of post-war politics. A hero of World War Two and a brave politician, Denis Healey told his party hard truths about Britain having to live within her means.’
As an Oxford graduate, Mr Healey entered politics after his war service, memorably being pictured at the 1945 Labour conference in his Army uni- form as he talked to future Cabinet colleague Roy Jenkins. He served as Defence Secretary from 1964-70 and Chancellor from 1974-79. The latter period saw him in running battles with the party’s socialists as he sought to impose pay curbs and spending cuts.
But the defining moment of his political career came when he was forced to go ‘cap in hand’ for an emergency loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) during the country’s near economic meltdown in 1976. After apply- ing for the IMF bailout, he was forced to rush back to the party conference in Brighton to urge delegates to accept the terms.
He described being heckled and booed throughout the speech as the most harrowing day of his life.
The 1970s was also a period when tax rates on the wealthy hit 98 per cent – although Mr Healey never actually said he was going to ‘tax the rich until the pips squeak’.
After the General Election defeat of 1979, he was beaten to the leadership by Michael Foot. In 1981, he fought a titanic battle for the deputy leadership against Tony Benn – backed by a young Mr Corbyn – and won by a knife-edge 50.4 per cent to Mr Benn’s 49.6.
Mr Healey’s battle to defeat the CND-supporting unilateralists who wanted to do away with the British nuclear deterrent throughout the decade foreshadowed the same debate raging in Mr Corbyn’s party. After serving as Shadow Foreign Secretary during most of the 1980s, he retired from the shadow cabinet after the 1987 election, and from the Commons in 1992.
His bushy eyebrows and witty oneliners – such as likening debating with Geoffrey Howe to ‘being savaged by a dead sheep’ – made him a favourite on the chat show circuit, with TV impressionist Mike Yarwood coining the catchphrase ‘Silly Billy’ – something else Healey had never actually said until that point.
In his last newspaper interview, with The Mail on Sunday at the end of August, he said of the Labour leadership contest: ‘I’m not impressed by what I see of [Corbyn]. Too many people in the party are better. The one I’d prefer is Yvette [Cooper].’
‘I’m not impressed by what I see of Corbyn’