Last updated at 13:26, Wednesday, 10 March 2010

Michael Foot’s death is an immense loss. His principled manner and passionate oratory characterise a kind of politics that many would like to see more of today.

He was defiantly un-spun, unknown to the airbrush and never minced his words, unlike so many politicians of today.

He often had a tough time from the media, which younger politicians may have reflected upon and turned, as a result, to the kind of modern political tactics that were so alien to Foot.

Yet these tactics can choke off the things that made Foot so endearing: a preference for reasoned argument, rather than pithy sound-bite; a strong fidelity to his beliefs, not endless hedging of them; a great optimism about the capacities of the better angels our nature, not a capitulation to the lowest common denominator.

We politicians are held in low regard today.

If we wish to recover our standing, we could do far worse than to take some lessons from Michael Foot.

JONATHAN TODD
Labour Parliamentary Candidate for Westmorland and Lonsdale

First published at 11:25, Wednesday, 10 March 2010
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk