The former Labour minister Phil Woolas, who has died aged 66 of brain cancer, was a clever and committed politician. He dedicated his working life to Labour politics in an attempt to secure the sort of changes in society that would be of widespread and universal benefit. To this end he believed his best achievement during his 13 years in parliament, which coincided exactly with the lifetime of the last Labour period of government, was as a member of the team that introduced a national minimum wage in the UK.
He was not an idealist, but a tough-talking, hard-headed pragmatist who wanted to smash the idea that politicians were out of touch with the reality of most people’s everyday lives. As someone who was raised in Burnley and became the MP for Oldham East and Saddleworth – both areas of Lancashire that have seen considerable levels of postwar immigration – he regarded the need for what he called a “mature debate” about immigration policy, in particular, as his lifelong purpose.
