‘A giant of the Labour movement’: Roy Hattersley, former Labour deputy leader, dies aged 93

Party grandee was MP for Birmingham Sparkbrook from 1964 until his retirement from the Commons in 1997 Roy Hattersley, the former Labour deputy leader and author, has died at the age of 93. Keir Starmer described Hattersley as a “giant of the Labour movement”. The prime minister said on X: “Through decades of service, including as deputy leader and a minister, he never lost his belief in a more equal Britain. My thoughts are with his wife, Maggie, and his family.” Hattersley was a councillor at the age of 23, an MP at 31 and a minister by 33, where he served in Jim Callaghan’s cabinet in addition to Harold Wilson’s government. He was the MP for Birmingham Sparkbrook from 1964 until his retirement from the House of Commons in 1997. In the 1960s, Hattersley held posts as employment minister and as deputy to Denis Healey in defence. From 1974 to 1976, the MP served under Wilson again as minister of state for foreign and commonwealth affairs. He was appointed a privy councillor in 1975. From 1976 to 1979 he joined Callaghan’s cabinet as secretary of state for prices and consumer protection. The Labour grandee was elected deputy leader under Neil Kinnock and was made a lif