Tony Worthington obituary

Labour MP who served as a Northern Ireland minister in the run-up to the Good Friday agreement and was active on behalf of asbestos victims The Labour MP Tony Worthington, who has died aged 84, served as a minister in the Northern Ireland Office at a crucial time – in the run-up to the Good Friday agreement – and won widespread respect for his campaigning on behalf of victims suffering from asbestos-related diseases. Having been an opposition spokesperson under Mo Mowlam, he was appointed to her ministerial team when Labour came to power in 1997, with community relations as part of his portfolio. With a personality that exuded calm reasonableness, Worthington was well qualified to earn trust in that role. In the early months of the new government, he took through legislation that formally abolished internment without trial, describing this as “an important statement of political principle that does honour to the government and to this country”. He had responsibility for legislation to establish a Parades Commission, which brought order to a subject of perpetual conflict. Although well regarded across the political spectrum in Northern Ireland, Worthington fell victim to Tony Blair’