Lord Newton of Braintree
I have just done a post on Lords of the Blog about the death of Lord Newton of Braintree. He was one of my two supporters when I entered the Lords. I wanted to have as supporters peers who reflected my interest in Parliament, so had Lord Newton as a former Leader of the House of Commons and Lord Weatherill as a former Speaker. Tony Newton had been a long-serving and dedicated Leader of the House; as Leader he variously spoke to my students. He was a true public servant. He remained a committed parliamentarian, even in his final days when, very ill, he attended the Lords pulling an oxygen tank with him. Despite his illness, he was on his feet in recent weeks, criticising his own Government on social policy, casting his last vote on 14 March. I used to see him not only at meetings or in the chamber but also at breakfast in the River restaurant. It is difficult to realise he will not be with us again.
Tony Newton was my home constituency MP during my time at Hull.
He was well liked within the constituency, not just by Conservative supporters.
A sad loss.
Lord Norton,
I may actually have reason to rmember the date of his passing indefintely. My condolences on the loss of your friend:
http://franksummers3ba.wordpress.com/2012/03/27/beverly-miller-summers-obit-a-recopied-facebook-note/
I’m glad you did this post about him. To be honest, I wasn’t aware of him but he sounds like a good man and someone who was totally committed to whatever he did.
I love the story of him bringing his oxygen tank with him so he can do his job – he deserves all the credit in the world for that.
Its unfortunate that you don’t see enough people with that level of commitment nowadays.