What they are saying after the death of Michael Foot

Tributes have been paid in Parliament and across the media today following the news that Michael Foot, the former Labour Party leader and recognised on both sides of the Commons as one Britain's greatest political orators, has died at the age of 96.

He entered parliament in 1945 as a young MP in Clement Atlee's post-war landslide. He was a founder member of CND and served in the Wilson and Callaghan governments. But he is most famous for leading the Labour party to a resounding loss against Margaret Thatcher in the 1983 general election, after which he was replaced by Neil Kinnock.

He was a great journalist as well as politician. He edited the London Evening Standard before the age of 30 - an extraordinary feat at the time - and wrote a hugely well-received biography of his hero Nye (Aneurin) Bevan.  

He died at his home in north London, just years from Hampstead Heath where he was a regular walker with his stick and dog - invariably wearing his famous donkey jacket - until he became frail recently.

WHAT THEY ARE SAYING:
 
Ray Collins, Labour Party general secretary: "As leader of our party, a labour minister, a writer and a man, he was a tireless campaigner for social justice, whose intelligence, charm and courage will be remembered for years to come."
 
David Blunkett, former Home Secretary: "I have rarely come across anyone as gracious, thoughtful and intellectually sharp as Michael Foot. It was a privilege to have known him and to have learned from him ­ not simply as a politician, but as that rare breed: an intellectual and a thinker.

Tony Benn, a former cabinet colleague: "He was one of the great figures of the Labour movement."
 
Ken Livingstone, former Mayor of London: "It's amazing that somebody that nice got to the top of the Labour party but not surprising that he didn't win the election."
 
David Miliband, Foreign Secretary, via Twitter: "Ironic to hear news of Michael Foot's death while welcoming south african president. He hated apartheid with a vengeance."

John Bercow, Speaker of the Commons:  "[He was] a quite extraordinarily distinguished parliamentarian."
 
John Prescott, former deputy leader of the Labour Party, via Twitter:  "So sad to hear about Michael Foot. A great man has died. He was the heart of our movement."

Alastair Campbell, former director of communications at 10 Downing Street, on his website: "He did not agree with everything the Labour government did. But he delighted in so much of the change made under first Tony and now Gordon, two men of whom I never heard him say a bad word, even when disagreeing with some of their actions. And to the end, the very end, he would argue with anyone who cared to engage that in the choice between Tory and Labour about who should run Britain, there wasn't really a choice at all." ·