A veteran British left-wing Labour party MP and a former minister in Tony Blair's first government has died, the party said today.
75-year old Michael Meacher was former environment minister and was also transport secretary. He died yesterday after a short illness.
He has represented Oldham constituency since 1970.
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Former Labour leader Ed Miliband was among MPs paying tribute to Meacher who he said was "principled, kind, thoughtful and deeply committed to a fairer, more just world".
Green MP Caroline Lucas said Meacher - who served as environment minister was a "great politician, championing climate action".
"A really good person, he'll be much missed," she said.
Peter Dean, Meacher's Private Assistant and office manager said: "We are extremely sad and it has been quite a short illness he has had and we just don't know the details at present."
"He was such a well respected person and we will just try to deal with any problems people in the area have ongoing. We will still try to assist in any way we can. We are extremely sad for his family but all of his staff here at his office have worked with him for 20 years so it is almost like a family bereavement for us," he said.
"Our office usually deals with around 5,000 cases every year so he has impacted on an enormous amount of people's lives," he added.
