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David Cameron pays tribute to Michael Foot

Wednesday, March 3 2010

David Cameron

Reacting to the announcement of his death, David Cameron has paid tribute to former Labour leader Michael Foot.

"My first thoughts are for those he leaves behind, the friends and the family", he said.

"He was a remarkable man and in many ways, almost the last link to a more heroic age in politics.  You think of him in the 1930’s fighting fascism and Hitler alongside Winston Churchill and the great giants of that age."

He expressed his admiration for "his great defence of our parliamentary democracy and the House of Commons".

"Obviously we come from very different political persuasions but there was never any doubt that he was in politics because he loved his country, he believed in public service, he wanted to make it a better place".

Cameron added that he thought that Foot would be remembered as "a great speaker, a fantastic orator, a beautiful writer" - "a very passionate man who was part of this more heroic age of politics where we were fighting fascism and the rise of fascism in Europe and he was on the right side of that argument and wrote such a brilliant book".

"He knew both victory and defeat and obviously people will remember the defeat as Labour leader, but above all he was an idealist, someone who was in politics for the right reasons and someone who wrote and spoke beautifully", he added.

Rt Hon David Cameron

David was elected Leader of the Conservatives in December 2005 and appointed Prime Minister in May 2010.

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