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Tam Dayell

(11 Posts)
Anniebach Fri 27-Jan-17 17:09:49

Tam died yesterday . A giant of a man , a thorn in the side of several PM's .

He was a gentleman and greatly respected for his honesty .

He served as Father of The House following Heaths retirement

RIP Tam

Oldgreymare Fri 27-Jan-17 17:56:37

He will be missed.

MawBroon Fri 27-Jan-17 18:13:37

I was sorry to see that he has died. I remember him in the Borders and from the school ship "Dunera" way back in about 1960/61 (I think) before he was an MP for West Lothian.
He and my late father had a high regard for each other and he wrote a lovely obituary of Dad for the Independent in 2001
A highly principled man, eccentric at times (!) but uncompromising in what he stood for. He would have given some of today's politicians what for!!

Jane10 Fri 27-Jan-17 18:41:25

Oh yes. What a man. What a politician. We could do with more like him. RIP Tam Dalyell.

varian Thu 02-Feb-17 17:03:17

No doubt where Tam Dalyell stood on MPs voting against their better judgement.

www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/tam-dalyell-labour-mp-dead-have-the-balls-block-brexit-jeremy-corbyn-article-50-trigger-vote-a7548696.html

Anniebach Thu 02-Feb-17 20:01:47

Thank you for posting that clip of Tam, nice to see him again

Deedaa Thu 02-Feb-17 20:30:00

I may not always have agreed with his principles, but at least he had them!

Anniebach Thu 02-Feb-17 22:21:41

He certaintly did Deeda, and he was honest , if he thought someone was wrong he said so from the floor of the house, he slated Thatcher and Blair, he refused to withdraw a verbal attack on Thatcher over the sinking of the Belgrano so was excluded from the house, he resigned from the front bench on another matter so he could express his views, agree with him or not he was truely a man of principle and honour

annodomini Thu 02-Feb-17 23:08:06

I was a young Liberal, helping in the West Lothian by-election in 1962, when he won his seat. We lost our deposit. He was Eton educated and one of our local gentry - Tam Dalyell of the Binns which was 'the big hoose' near Linlithgow. One of his ancestors founded the Scots Greys regiment but Tam refused to accept a commission when he did his National Service and served as a private instead. His mother went to our church and often Tam would come with her but sit at the back reading the Observer. He started as the youngest MP and ended up as the much respected Father of the House.

grannypiper Fri 03-Feb-17 08:11:50

This great man makes today's M.P'S look like a bunch of multi faced chancers

Jane10 Fri 03-Feb-17 08:52:28

My first job was in West Lothian. He was a very hard working constituency MP. I only ever heard glowing praise for him from a wide range of people.