'An outstanding public servant and a wonderful human being'

TRIBUTES TO POLITICIAN WHO DEDICATED HIS CAREER TO SERVING AND MAKING A DIFFERENCE TO THE LIVES OF ALL HE MET’

- NEAL KEELING

HE WAS a red in every sense. A Labour MP, his first constituency was Stretford, and his first sporting love, Manchester United.

Sir Tony Lloyd, who has died aged 73, was quietly spoken, always sharply dressed and had a long political career.

He was the first - albeit interim - Greater Manchester mayor in 2015, a post he held for two years. The roots of his political passion lay in the Spanish Civil War of the 1930s.

For a while, he seemed to have the knack of landing jobs with clout and power. In 2012 he was elected the £100,000-a-year inaugural Greater Manchester Police and Crime Commissioner, overseeing one of the largest forces in the country.

The post raised his profile hugely and was perhaps the pinnacle of his ambitions. He explained he was prepared to quit the House of Commons to get the job as 'all the years I have been a MP, one of the abiding issues that people raised with me was fear of crime.'

The Stretford Ender was born in the district on February 25, 1950.

Sir Tony, who leaves four children and wife Judith, was educated at Stretford Grammar School for Boys, Manchester Business School and Nottingham University, where he gained a degree in mathematics. He later became a lecturer in business studies at the University of Salford.

Sir Tony's father died when he was 13, leaving his mother Cecily - a staunch supporter of the Labour Party - to shape his values.

Speaking about his mother, he said: "She had friends who died in the Spanish Civil War. I saw that as a simple battle of good versus evil and in that sense the basic morality of politics was instilled in me. I have always thought if not fighting for what's right and just, then what is politics for?" He had three spells at Westminster representing Stretford from 1983-97; Manchester Central from 1997-2012; and Rochdale from 2017 until his death.