Brian Sedgemore

Brian Sedgemore was my MP for a couple of years when I lived in Hackney in the mid-80s. He’s one of a small number of Labour MPs who still seem to understand what the Labour Party is supposed to stand for. He’s retiring at the end of this Parliament and last week he made what will almost certainly be his last speech to the House. It’s impressive stuff.

As we move towards a system of justice that found favour with the South African Government at the time of apartheid and which parallels Burmese justice today, if hon. Members will pardon the oxymoron, I am reminded that our fathers fought and died for liberty-my own father literally-believing that these things should not happen here, and we would never allow them to happen here. But now we know better. The unthinkable, the unimaginable, is happening here.

He’ll be sadly missed.