I have just heard in the last hour of
the passing of Tam dalel Tam dalel was a
legend in the labor movement and a
legend in the House of Commons I served
with him for decades in the House of
Commons and for years before I entered
it and indeed after I left it tamel made
a conscious decision to join the labor
movement he was in fact a blue blooded
Aristocrat who lived in a castle given
to his ancestor in centuries past for
ferocious Service as a soldier in the
office of the crown tamel decided to
side with the workingclass communities
of West loan including the coal mining
communities around Blackburn West loan
and that was one of the reasons why Tam
achieved Reed legendary status during
the Great minor strike of
1984 85 he stood alongside the mining
community and he pursued the hammer of
Britain's miners Margaret ther for
decades not just for the way that she
treated the miners but the conduct of
the fand's war his pursuit of Mrs thater
led to him several times being thrown
out of the chamber and I saw it
happening I knew that it was going to
happen because Tam would never back down
from his repeated assertion that Mrs
thater had lied about the course of the
Argentine ship the belgrano he knew and
said so that she lied about the policing
of the minor strike and he collaborated
closely with my friend Sheamus mil in
his Epic book The Enemy Within about
that minor strike which should be read
by all of you tamel was a man who got
fixed on causes and issues early earlier
than anybody else he fixed on the
anguish the agony the Dreadful death
toll in Iraq as a result of sanctions
after the first war and I worked closely
with him on that if Tam took up your
cause if Tam adopted your principles you
could be certain that everyone would
know about it and that he would never
ever waver he was a fantastically
generous person I remember once I scored
a half decent goal against the Blackburn
miners at a labor party fet in his
constituency that he organized
afterwards Tam said in his uh tremendous
unrepeatable sonorous voice George I
haven't seen a left foot like that since
pusas you may say that that makes him a
master of the
overstatement and certainly it's true
that Tam's fixations could sometimes be
wrong or at least in my opinion I
opposed him in his long campaign
culminating in the west loan question to
Scupper Scottish Devolution mind you I
believed that home rule for Scotland
would Forstall preclude obviate the
breakup of Britain and the separation of
Scotland Tam believed it was a Motorway
to separation with no
exit ramp history will tell whether Tam
was right or whether I was about that
I'm extremely sad to hear the news
because I can still see Tam bobbing up
and down in his seat in the House of
Commons harrying ministers with short
forensic questions often questions for
which there was only a yes or a no could
be the answer he was a supreme
parliamentarian he was a fantastic
family man his now Widow Kathleen was
the daughter of the late and great John
Wheatley one of the finest men who ever
wore the labor colors in labor history
in the history of Scotland and my
condolences go to her and all of Tam's
family they should take some consolation
from the fact
the all over Britain Palestine Iraq
indeed all around the world people will
receive the news of the passing of the
father of the House of Commons Tam Diel
with sadness and with respect Tam I hope
that you're now in heaven with Tony Ben
your great friend may God Rest You and
may you rest in peace