Tributes have been flooding in for the former Home Office minister and Labour MP for Wythenshawe and Sale East! Paul Goggins who died last night after suffering a suspected brain haemorrhage while running on December 30th.
Ed Miliband praised one of the Labour party’s ‘most dignified, human, wise and loyal MPs’. Goggins represented Wythenshawe and Sale East seat since 1997, beating the Conservatives in 2010 with a majority of over seven thousand.
Politics, he said is about leadership, but it is also about listening and trying to create solutions that strengthen family and community life.Education, he felt, was the key to a successful future and he was passionate about raising standards in local schools.
His party leader said of him:
“Paul was a man of deep faith whose commitment and strong values shone through everything he did. As a social worker, councillor, MP and Minister, attending to the needs of the most disadvantaged was always at the core of his particularly thoughtful and dedicated service. He was held in great affection by the people of Northern Ireland for his real understanding of the challenges they faced in the aftermath of the Good Friday Agreement.I know Paul’s family have been profoundly moved by the outpouring of support, love and affection they have received since Paul fell ill last week. The Labour Party has lost one of its very best and one of its own. We mourn him deeply.”
Paul was born in Manchester in 1953 and was a pupil at St Bede’s College, before going on to train as a social worker.Prior to his election he was the director of Church Action on Poverty and a councillor in Salford.
After being elected to Westminster,he was was a member of the House of Commons Social Security Select Committee, becoming Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) to John Denham, then the Minister of State at the Department of Social Security and moving with John to the Department of Health in January 1999.
In December 2000 he was appointed PPS to David Blunkett, Secretary of State at the Department for Education and Employment and moved with David to the Home Office in June 2001.
In May 2003 he was appointed Minister for Prisons and Probation and after the May 2005 election, Paul was reappointed as a minister in the Home Office with responsibility for serious and organised crime, the voluntary and community sector, faith and race equality.
In May 2006 Paul was appointed Minister in the Northern Ireland Office with responsibility for Health, Security and Prisons and in May 2007 he was promoted to Minister of State for Northern Ireland.He was the co-founder of the All Party Parliamentary Friends of CAFOD group and is Secretary of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Poverty.He leaves behind a wife and three children.
