BBC Breakfast stars share heartfelt tribute live on air after sad death news
BBC Breakfast presenters Jon Kay and Sally Nugent shared a touching tribute on Monday
The presenters of BBC Breakfast honoured a former politician during the latest live broadcast.
Jon Kay and Sally Nugent were back in the Salford studio on Monday (June 15) to bring viewers the day's top stories from Britain and beyond.
During the programme, Jon announced the passing of Lord Hattersley, who famously held the position of deputy leader of the Labour Party alongside Neil Kinnock.
Born in Sheffield, the politician first entered the House of Commons in 1964 representing Birmingham Sparkbrook, a seat he retained for over 30 years. During the 1970s, he held cabinet positions under James Callaghan and subsequently became deputy leader while in opposition for nine years after the party's crushing loss to Margaret Thatcher's Conservatives in 1983.
"Tributes have been paid to the former deputy leader of the Labour party, Lord Hattersley, who has died at the age of 93," Jon announced, reports the Mirror.
"The Prime Minister said he was a giant of the Labour movement. Here's our political correspondent Iain Watson to look back at his life."
In a previously recorded segment, Iain explained: "They called it the dream ticket. Neil Kinnock, then from his party's left, and Roy Hattersley, from the right, came together to form the Labour leadership team after an historic defeat in 1983.
"The red flags were replaced by red roses. But there was also a change of substance as well as image. Unilateral disarmament and a commitment to withdraw from Europe were amongst the policies ditched."
Iain went on: "The Trotskyist militant tendency was expelled and Roy Hattersley hoped to help lead Labour back to power. But growing up he had rather different aspirations. He wanted to play football for Sheffield Wednesday or cricket for Yorkshire.
"Instead, he tackled the role of local councillor in Sheffield, then became the Labour MP for Sparkbrook in inner city Birmingham."
The correspondent finished: "Roy Hattersley will be remembered as a Labour loyalist who fought to modernise his party, and a man unwilling to compromise his principals to advance his own career," before a memorial card was displayed on screen.
In a public statement, Sir Keir Starmer remarked: "Through decades of service, including as deputy leader and a minister, he never lost his belief in a more equal Britain. My thoughts are with his wife Maggie and his family."
Deputy Labour leader Lucy Powell noted that Lord Hattersley had "shaped the Labour Party and British politics".
"He was a giant of our movement and of that generation of politicians," she continued, characterising the former MP as "kind, thoughtful and full of sound advice."
The tributes continued, as Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle observed Lord Hattersley spent his life "devoted to politics, public duty and writing".
BBC Breakfast airs daily on BBC One at 6am