The Labour MP and former Foreign Office minister Sir Tony Lloyd, who has died aged 73 of blood cancer, was a popular politician who represented three different constituencies in the Manchester area for a total of 36 years across five decades. He was “Mr Manchester”, a devoted son of the city who spent five years out of parliament as the elected police and crime commissioner (PCC) for Greater Manchester before returning to the Commons in 2017 as the member for Rochdale.
He was instilled by his upbringing with a sense of public service and the possibilities offered by politics, once saying: “I have always thought: if not fighting for what is right and just, then what is politics for?” It was an approach that won him trust and admiration from his constituents and widespread respect across all parties in the House of Commons.
