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LABOUR DEPUTY LEADER'S TRIBUTE TO MUCH-LOVED MP AS HUNDREDS ATTEND FUNERAL

- CHRIS SLATER

FORMER Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Labour's deputy leader Angela Rayner gave moving eulogies as hundreds gathered for the funeral of the 'tireless' campaigner and 'dedicated' MP Sir Tony Lloyd.

Family, friends and colleagues from Parliament packed out St Hugh of Lincoln Roman Catholic Church in his home town of Stretford to pay their respects to the highly respected and popular politician, who represented three constituencies in Greater Manchester across five decades either side of a stint as the region's mayor.

Among those who attended the requiem mass for Sir Tony, who died from blood cancer last month aged 73, was Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer.

Mr Brown told the congregation: "Tony Lloyd was the most popular, most committed and most compassionate member of Parliament you could ever meet.

His mission was social justice, his life was given to public service, his cause was the people he represented." Mr Brown hailed Sir Tony's sixyear stint as chair of the Parliamentary Labour Party, a post he was elected to every year under three leaders between 2006 and 2012.