Radical MP was often at odds with party leaders

Michael Meacher getting to know the voters on Tommyfield Market in 1968

1 More Image(s) In Gallery

MICHAEL Meacher was a veteran of the Labour left, who served on the party’s front bench for 29 years and was a minister for 11 despite passionately advocating views that often put him at loggerheads with his own leaders.

An acolyte of left-winger Tony Benn, Mr Meacher launched a short-lived bid to challenge Gordon Brown for the leadership in 2007, and was one of 36 MPs who nominated left-winger Jeremy Corbyn earlier this year.

Appointed to a junior ministerial role within four years of his arrival at Westminster, he served Harold Wilson and James Callaghan in the industry, health and trade departments before becoming a fixture in the shadow cabinet through most of Labour’s time in opposition.

He stood for the party’s deputy leadership in 1983, but was well beaten by Roy Hattersley, coming in second with 28 per cent of the vote.

Although regularly re-elected to the shadow cabinet, he was denied a Cabinet post by Tony Blair when Labour returned to power in 1997, and was instead appointed Minister for the Environment, a role he held until 2003.

One of his proudest achievements in office was the introduction of the right to roam, which opened vast swathes of land in England and Wales to walkers.

He represented the UK at the Kyoto climate change talks in 1997 and was a strong supporter of measures to cut carbon emissions and tackle man-made global warming.

He campaigned on renewable energy, organic agriculture and measures to mitigate the environmental impact of industry.

Mr Meacher took a lot of flak for his proposal in 1999 for a ban on second homes to prevent long-time residents being priced out of rural areas, after it was revealed that he and his wife owned a number of properties.

His increasingly “green” rhetoric — including attacks on genetically modified food — were an increasing cause of irritation to Mr Blair, and he was tipped as a candidate for the sack at each of the PM’s reshuffles until he was finally removed in 2003.

His survival until then was credited by some to his impressive technical grasp of complex environmental issues and to Mr Blair’s preference to keep him occupied with government business rather than campaigning from the backbenches.

Mr Meacher voted in favour of the Iraq War in 2003, but later described it as “the biggest political mistake of my life”, saying he had believed Mr Blair when he claimed to have evidence of Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction.

He became a vociferous backbench campaigner for openness about the causes and consequences of the war, as well as on issues like nuclear disarmament, income inequality, civil liberties and climate change.

Unlike MPs who nominated Mr Corbyn purely to “widen the debate” in this year’s leadership election, Mr Meacher was a committed supporter of the new Labour leader and hailed his victory for offering the right “a very real threat they’ve not encountered for the last 30 years”.

Last year, in the Evening Chronicle, he explained why he would never take on the Father of the House role in the Commons: “I still regard myself as a young Turk. Being the Father of the House I would have to represent the views of the House and help bring it together at certain times — that’s not me.

“I intend to retain my integrity and want to speak out on the issues of the day. Politics is for real, not for status or titles.”