Labour figures gather for funeral of ‘friend and feminist’ Glenys Kinnock
Former prime ministers Sir Tony Blair and Gordon Brown were among those in attendance in north London.
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Your support makes all the difference.Baroness Glenys Kinnock was hailed as a friend, feminist and major political figure as Labour leaders and party members gathered in north London for her funeral.
Her husband, former Labour leader Neil Kinnock, arrived flanked by his son, MP Stephen, and daughter Rachel, and former prime ministers Sir Tony Blair and Gordon Brown were among those at the service in Golders Green.
Current Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer and Alastair Campbell and Lord Mandelson also joined mourners on Thursday.
Mr Campbell, a former Blair aide and close family friend, was among those who spoke at the funeral to pay tribute to the former minister and Welsh MEP.
“If Glenys was your friend she was on your side. Always,” Mr Campbell told mourners.
“That didn’t mean she never disagreed, criticised, suggested a different approach. But publicly nothing else than rock solid support. Without exception. The Labour family – she was a matriarch there too.”
Ms Kinnock, 79, had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s six years ago. Her death earlier this month prompted tributes from figures across the Labour Party, as well as reflections on the key partnership she formed with husband Neil.
But she was also a politician in her own right, serving as an MEP for 15 years before leaving Brussels in 2009 to take up a life peerage when then-prime minister Mr Brown appointed her minister for Europe.
Praising her “guts” and feminist principles, Mr Campebell spoke about her personal qualities as well as her political talents.
“When Gordon (Brown) made her a minister it wasn’t because she was a famous face, and it certainly wasn’t because of her desperation to be a peer. It was because he needed someone good – serious, passionate, knowledgeable – on Africa, on the UN and on Europe.
“She was driven every day of her life by two things: her love of family and friends, and her passion for the great causes she believed in, above all how to help raise people up, especially children, women and the poor and oppressed, wherever in the world they were.”
Ms Kinnock’s wicker coffin was adorned with red roses, a symbol of Labour introduced by Mr Kinnock in the 1980s.
Mr Brown also spoke at the funeral to pay tribute to her life and career, with her children also addressing mourners.
Former MEP and peer Michael Cashman also spoke.
London mayor Sadiq Khan, shadow ministers Yvette Cooper, Ed Miliband and Hilary Benn and peers and Labour veterans were also at the service.
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