Michael Meadowcroft has died at the age of 84. He had been suffering from a brain tumour in recent months and died peacefully with family present in Adel, Leeds. He continued to engage with friends throughout his last months.

Michael and his wife Liz Bee will be remembered for many reasons by many people. They have had rich and full lives. Michael’s political and philosophical contributions will be remembered and valued by most commentators, but we also celebrate the person who was happy, kind, supportive, thoughtful, incisive, inclusive, passionate about the many things he believed and engaged with, and widely-read.

Their wonderful home in Leeds welcomed many visitors and guests – Liberals, musicians, opera-singers, and a wide variety of people associated with the political and cultural life of their city.

Michael and Liz were Francophiles, particularly from their home in France and committed to the promotion of the local wines of Faugères. Their musical interests ranged from Michael’s clarinet playing in Granny Lee’s All-Stars to Opera North and the wider music scene in Leeds. I remember when Michael played to a Conference Glee Club of 8 people in a hotel room and later more than 1000 people.

Much of Michael’s life was in the Liberal Party, the continuing Liberal Party, the Liberal Democrats and the cause of Liberalism. From Chair of Merseyside Young Liberals to Liberal Party Local Government Officer to Leeds City Councillor and MP to observer and adviser on elections and democracies in many parts of the world, Michael defined and was defined by his philosophy of life and Liberalism.

Crucially, and in common with the late Tony Greaves, Michael saw no distinction between local politics, national politics and philosophical belief. They were all part of the same package: a single, coherent whole in which all the elements interact.  Philosophy underpins action; it’s not separate from everyday hard political choices. Both philosophy and action are founded in the everyday life and language of real folk.

In the late 60s when we were developing the ideas of community politics, Michael referred to “the councillor as the political arm of his people” in the same way that a butcher or a policeman had a role in a community where they were an organic part. The idea of the “community champion”, a hero or heroine who helped the little people, was anathema. Power should flow upwards, defined and limited by engaged and informed communities.

For future generations, Michael’s writings should be as powerful and relevant as those of his Yorkshire predecessors Elliott Dodds and Donald Wade, Ramsay Muir and even Maynard Keynes’s political works. His debate about Liberalism & Social Democracy with David Marquand in 1980 (later published by the Liberal Publication Department), his own booklet on “Social Democracy: Barrier or Bridge” and the publications on “Liberals and the Left” and “Liberalism and the Right” were and remain important in understanding the distinctive character of the Liberal identity.

The “Liberal Yellow Books” re-stated practical Liberalism in an up-to-date context. One of his most important publications is “Diversity in Danger: Pluralism and Policy Development” published by Beecroft Publications in 1989 and revised in 2009. It is a powerful antidote to the “strong leader” populist brand of politics which highlights the ideas of pluralism and federalism as central to Liberalism.

Like all great Liberals from Locke to Mill and onwards, Michael’s writing was of its time and addressed the issues of their day as well as the great underlying principles of Liberalism. Some of the detailed argument about immediate issues can become outdated (the US Supreme Court is “conceivably the nearest one can get to safeguarding the independence of the judicial process”), but that doesn’t matter: the details may change but the principles remain the same.

Michael’s other roles of political importance included as Election Monitoring observer and governance adviser in 35 new and emerging democracies as well as chairing the Electoral Reform Society. He was understandably dismayed by his Party’s tendency to champion electoral reform without thinking through the different systems and their implications.

Michael’s Introduction to The John Stuart Mill Institute’s recent publication “When we speak of Freedom” concluded with these words:

“Principally, we are summoned to foster a society in which beauty and community are as politically pressing as health or education. The modern world should never have separated well being and aesthetics, much less wrenched economy from notions of social good. In renewing our politics, technique is not enough. We need the breathing space to ask ourselves why we strive, and, crucially, what we strive for. For Liberals, there is no greater intellectual mission. Freedom cannot thrive in a community obsessed with ‘means’. We need grand ends and compelling principles to make a better life and a better politics”.

Not so much an epitaph; more a call to action!

Messages of sympathy, memories and condolences should be sent to Michael’s wife Liz Bee, at  [email protected] or at Waterloo Lodge, 72 Waterloo Lane, Leeds LS13 2JF

* Parish Councillor Gordon Lishman has been a Liberal activist at locally, nationally and internationally for 63 years. He was closely engaged with developing the ideas of community politics. He was Chair of the Social Liberal Forum and is a Trustee of the John Stuart Mill Institute. He was Group Chief Executive of a successful federal charity.