Tributes paid to former Essex MP and deputy speaker

Former long-serving Essex MP Lord Haselhurst has died at the age of 88.

As Alan Haselhurst, he was the Conservative MP for Saffron Walden for 40 years from 1977.

He was knighted in 1995 and later became deputy speaker of the House of Commons.

Paying tribute in the Commons, Tory leader Kemi Badenoch – who succeeded him in Saffron Walden in 2017 before the constituency was replaced in 2024 by North West Essex – said: "He was a good and kind man and will be much missed... he was respected on all sides of the House."

Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle said: "I am saddened to hear of the passing of Lord Haselhurst, a distinguished parliamentarian who served for decades, including as my predecessor as chairman of ways and means and chair of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association.

"My thoughts are with his family and friends."

Lord Haselhurst, who was MP for Middleton and Prestwich in Greater Manchester between 1970 and 1974, was a longstanding campaigner against expanding Stansted Airport.

He was born in South Elmsall, near Hemsworth, West Yorkshire, and went to King Edward's School, Birmingham, and Cheltenham College before going to Oriel College, Oxford.

In her tribute, Badenoch noted that, outside Parliament, Lord Haselhurst's greatest passion was cricket, and she reminisced about how he had tried to get her to join the parliamentary cricket team.

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