Leo Beckett, who has died aged 95, was my friend and co-conspirator as each of us in our own way supported Dame Margaret Beckett MP when she was environment secretary, then foreign secretary. Leo was Margaret’s most trusted counsellor for 50 years and ran her parliamentary office; they were married for 42 of those years. I was director of communications in her departments. An outstanding Labour and trade union organiser, Leo combined efficiency with care and concern for everybody involved. He was a genius in putting everybody at their ease.
The son of Arthur Beckett, a soldier, and his wife, Marjorie (nee Holland), he was born in Brompton barracks, Chatham, in 1926, the year of the general strike, as he never failed to point out. He was named Lionel, but always known as Leo. Towards the end of the second world war, aged 18, he joined the RAF. These were formative years. His learning from fellow servicemen from mining and other working-class communities transformed his own political understanding.
