It’s still hard to get our heads round the fact that Paddy is no longer with us.
So many tributes have been paid to him. One particularly touching one was published on Somerset Live at the weekend. David Laws, who worked for Paddy and who succeeded him as MP for Yeovil, talked about life with this great character. Here’s an extract:
But those who knew Paddy best, most valued his personal qualities, not the titles or impressive CV.
He was a voracious worker, a natural leader, a person of great courage and conviction, and of a generous, compassionate and progressive spirit. He was, also, a deeply loyal friend and loving family man.
Politics is generally a profession of long hours and hard work, in spite of its reputation. But even in this field, Paddy was exceptional. Work was completed swiftly, with ruthless efficiency.
Party conference speeches had reached draft number 20, a month before they were needed. No holiday of his was ever truly a rest. No hour in the morning was too early for an urgent call, no time at night too late.
Indeed, Paddy once asked me to keep my pager to hand after 2am, in case he needed to be in touch “around 3am”!
And he never, ever, stopped. I remember telling him, after we had completed one lengthy five-hour Advice Centre in Yeovil on a Saturday, that I was going home to see a rugby match on TV.
“What!”, he said, “Spend over two hours doing nothing but watching sport?”
He was genuinely mystified that anyone could want to stop productive work for so long.
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