Tony Banks
 Lord Stratford    | |
|---|---|
| Born | 8 April 1942 |
| Died | 8 January 2006 (Age 63) |
Anthony Louis Banks, Baron Stratford (8 April 1942[1] – 8 January 2006) was a British Labour Party politician who served as a Member of Parliament from 1983 to 2005 and subsequently as a member of the House of Lords.
Tony Banks served as Minister for Sport from 1997 to 1999. After two years in office he stepped down to become the Prime Minister's envoy for England's bid to host the 2006 FIFA World Cup. The bid failed and Germany won instead.
| Tony Banks MP vs PM Margaret Thatcher |
From then until his retirement from the Commons in 2005 Banks remained a backbencher though, with help from The Campaign Company,[2] he made a failed bid to become Labour's candidate in the election for Mayor of London in 2004.[3]
On 21 May 2004 Banks proposed an Early Day Motion in response to newspaper reports that MI5 had proposed using pigeons as flying bombs during the Second World War. The motion condemned the proposal, described human beings as "obscene, perverted, cruel, uncivilised and lethal", and proposed that the House "looks forward to the day when the inevitable asteroid slams into the Earth and wipes them out, thus giving nature the opportunity to start again". It was signed by only two other MPs, Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell.[4]
On 24 March 2005 Tony Banks made his final speech in the House of Commons. A week after the General Election, on 13 May 2005, it was announced that he would be created a life peer, and on 23 June 2005 the peerage was gazetted as Baron Stratford in the London Borough of Newham.[5]
On 7 January 2006 Lord Stratford was reported to have collapsed two days earlier after suffering a massive stroke while having lunch on Sanibel Island in Florida, where he was on holiday.[6] He was flown by helicopter to a hospital in Fort Myers and died on 8 January without regaining consciousness. The Prime Minister, Tony Blair, described him as "one of the most charismatic politicians in Britain, a true man of the people".[7]
His funeral was held on 21 January 2006 at the City of London Crematorium. John Prescott, Tessa Jowell, Margaret Beckett, Alastair Campbell, Tony Benn, Chris Smith and Richard Caborn attended. Banks's friend David Mellor gave an address paying tribute.[8]
References
- ↑ Oxford Dictionary of National Biography profile
- ↑ "Labour official linked to firm seeking seats"
- ↑ BBC report on "wit and wisdom of Tony Banks"
- ↑ "Early Day Motion 1255"
- ↑ London Gazette |issue=57687 |page=8379 |date=28 June 2005
- ↑ "'No hope of recovery' for Banks"
- ↑ "Tributes paid to ex-MP Tony Banks"
- ↑ "Mourners bid farewell to 'lovable rogue' Tony Banks"
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