Tribute to Iain Coleman by Andy Slaughter

1 June 2001: Iain Coleman (right) out campaigning in Hammersmith & Fulham with the-then mayor of London, Ken Livingstone (centre) | Image by: Independent / Alamy

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My friend and political ally of over 40 years, Iain Coleman, died at the early age of 67 last September. After 11 years as a councillor in Hammersmith and Fulham (1986-1997), five as council leader and one as mayor, he was elected MP for Hammersmith and Fulham in 1997, winning from Conservative incumbent Matthew Carrington. Iain suffered a series of strokes in 2004 which led him to retire from Parliament on the grounds of ill health at the 2005 election, though he returned as a councillor for Shepherds Bush 2010-2014.

At Iain’s memorial service at St Paul’s Church, Hammersmith on 19 January, the day after what would have been his 68th birthday, tributes were paid not only by political and personal friends, by his widow Dame Sally Powell and their son Jack, but by his Conservative successor as MP for Hammersmith and Fulham, Greg Hands. The congregation stretched from far left to true blue, a fitting representation for a man who wore his politics proudly but always recognised the person behind the party label.

I got to know Iain in the 1983 general election campaign, later on a memorable coach trip to Dorset for the 150th anniversary of the Tolpuddle Martyrs (specifically to the beer tent) and finally through the Hammersmith and Fulham Miners’ Support Group, which Iain chaired during the 1984-5 strike.

Iain and Sally put up a number of miners from our twinned collieries, Bold and Sutton Manor, when they came to London to fundraise – the start of legendary open-house hospitality. Those were fractious but exciting times, inside the Labour Party as well as in wider politics and the country. It was the start for me of a lifelong friendship which led us to run for the council in 1986 and, five years later, for Iain and me to take over as leader and deputy leader.

If parliamentary business clashed with an Arsenal game there was only one winner

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On the one hand Iain was a consummate politician, winning arguments and votes, tuning a marginal borough into safe Labour seat and rescuing a council almost wrecked by the capital markets scandal. He did so professionally and with great compassion. He was always the champion of the poor and the vulnerable. He cared about disabled residents, children growing up in bad housing and asylum seekers fleeing persecution.

On the other hand, he lived a picaresque, exuberant and sometimes outrageous life. He loved the Arsenal, as did his dad, Ron, sister Helen and brother Neale, a key adviser to both Ken Livingstone and, despite being as Labour as Iain, Boris Johnson. Iain’s mum Pam started her political life as a Tory councillor in Tunbridge Wells and ended it as the Labour mayor of Barnet. Iain was a devoted constituency MP. I still find constituents who remember his kindness and determination to resolve their problems. But if parliamentary business clashed with an Arsenal game there was only one winner, as the Evening Standard’s front page told all of London when they obtained an indiscreet email from his office.

Sally and Iain’s home in Shepherds Bush kept open house most nights and I have rarely enjoyed myself more than the long evenings there, mixing drinking and plotting to a soundtrack that ran from the Grateful Dead to The Pogues.

Iain wasn’t a great fan of Westminster but he formed strong friendships with London MPs of his intake: Karen Buck, Clive Efford, Gareth Thomas and John McDonnell.

Iain found humour in the driest political meetings. He was a great imitator, and a lover of human foibles. He enjoyed life and he let others share his enchanted world in which there was always bigotry to call out and pomposity to deflate – and courage and kindness to celebrate. Iain never once complained about his decades of disability and valued the care he got from his family and a succession of live-in careers from countries around the globe. Above all, Iain made life fun, and I only wish he has stayed with us longer for his and all our sakes.

Andy Slaughter is Labour MP for Hammersmith & Chiswick