Tributes pour in ahead of Sir Tony Lloyd's funeral
The funeral for the 73-year-old will take place in Stretford at 12 noon
The funeral of Sir Tony Lloyd will take place in his first constituency, at St Hugh of Lincoln RC Church on Glastonbury Road in Stretford, at 12noon today (February 16th).
The 73-year-old passed away on the 17th of January, only days after announcing he was suffering from leukaemia.
MP for Gorton, Afzal Khan has been paying tribute to Sir Tony ahead of his funeral. He said to Hits Radio Manchester: "From day one, I found him to be an amazingly pleasant individual, very intelligent, caring, a great listener and with bags of experience. He was also someone who cared deeply about the communities.
"He was proud of the richness of the diversity that we have... Whenever someone attended any community events, you'd have a very good chance of finding Tony there.
"I find it absolutely incredible that he was going through such a difficult part of his illness and yet he was always thinking of others."
In their statement, his family said:
"He was working until a few days before his death as his passion was helping others. He devoted his life to serving and making a difference to the lives of those he met including his constituents, colleagues, friends, and family.
"We would like to thank all the dedicated doctors, nurses, healthcare assistants and other hospital staff who have provided him with care, as well as the blood and platelet donors who gave him an extra four years of life."
Sir Tony's career
Sir Tony first entered Parliament in 1983, being elected during that year's general election - a disastrous showing for Labour under Michael Foot's left-wing leadership - as MP for Stretford in Greater Manchester.
Following boundary changes, he stood and won election for Manchester Central during New Labour's 1997 general election landslide.
He would go on to serve in the influential position as chair of the parliamentary Labour Party between 2006 and 2012 before standing down from Parliament to successfully contest the election for police and crime commissioner for Greater Manchester.
After losing to Andy Burnham in his ambition to become Labour's candidate for mayor of Greater Manchester, Sir Tony returned to the Commons as MP for Rochdale in 2017.
During his Commons career, he was a junior minister for some of former prime minister Sir Tony Blair's first term in office.
He also held a number of key opposition roles during Jeremy Corbyn's time as leader, including shadow housing minister and shadow secretary of state for Northern Ireland.
In 2020, he was admitted to intensive care after contracting Covid-19, standing down from the shadow cabinet to focus on his recovery.
He was knighted in the Queen's 2021 birthday honours for parliamentary services.