Roy Hattersley, Labour's former deputy leader and prolific writer, dies aged 93

Roy Hattersley, a defining figure in the Labour Party's post-1979 internal struggles who later became a trenchant critic of both New Labour and the Corbyn-era left, has died at 93. His family announced the death on 14 June 2026.

He was a giant of the Labour movement. Through decades of service, including as deputy leader and a minister, he never lost his belief in a more equal Britain.

Political ascent

Born in Sheffield, Hattersley was a councillor at 23, an MP at 31, and a minister by 33. He entered parliament in 1964 as the Labour member for Birmingham Sparkbrook, a seat he would hold for more than three decades. He served as employment minister and as deputy to Denis Healey at defence in the 1960s, then as minister of state for foreign and commonwealth affairs under Harold Wilson. Appointed a privy councillor in 1975, he joined Jim Callaghan’s cabinet as secretary of state for prices and consumer protection from 1976 to 1979.

Guardian of the centre

After Labour’s disastrous 1983 election defeat, Hattersley became deputy leader under Neil Kinnock and remained in the post for nine years. He was the architect of Labour Solidarity, the group that organised the centre’s resistance to Militant infiltration. In his own words:

Politics is a tough business, and the proper response to assaults and abuse from the wilder shores of socialism is neither surrender nor retreat. It is a determination to take the ideological battle into enemy territory.

When Tony Blair modernised the party, Hattersley turned his fire on New Labour, harrying the prime minister so persistently that, in an irony he relished, he became a favourite of party conferences. The election of Jeremy Corbyn in 2015 drew fresh combat: Hattersley attacked the leadership’s failure to tackle antisemitism and its opposition to Brexit. In 2019, aged 86, he spoke publicly of possibly quitting the party for the first time, accusing moderate MPs of failing to articulate an alternative Labour identity as he had done a generation earlier.

The writer and the man

Hattersley’s output extended far beyond politics. He wrote more than 20 books, including acclaimed biographies of John Wesley and Lloyd George, and contributed to national newspapers. A lighter side emerged after his dog Buster killed a goose in a royal park, resulting in a fine and the bestseller Buster’s Secret Diaries, written in the dog’s voice. He remained a devoted Sheffield Wednesday supporter throughout.

Remembrances

Very sad. Labour through and through, a fine mind and gifted writer, a loyal and hard working deputy to Neil at a vital time in Labour history, and a critical friend to New Labour. Sheffield Wednesday to the very end! RIP Roy.

The current deputy Labour leader, Lucy Powell, said Hattersley had "shaped the Labour Party and British politics" and was "kind, thoughtful and full of sound advice". Hattersley became a life peer as Baron Hattersley of Sparkbrook after leaving the Commons in 1997. He is survived by his wife, Maggie.