Former Labour MP and defense minister, Sir Patrick Duffy, has passed away at the age of 105 after a brief illness. He died on January 2, making him the longest-living former MP in the UK. A close family friend, Kevin Meagher, described Sir Patrick as a walking history book, able to vividly recount encounters with figures like Clement Attlee.
Sir Duffy, who was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II and received a papal knighthood from Pope John Paul II, notably survived a plane crash during World War II in the Orkney Islands while serving in the Fleet Air Arm. Recalling the incident, Meagher shared a harrowing tale of Sir Patrick’s resilience and stoicism as he fought for survival in freezing conditions on a mountainside.
His political career spanned from 1950 when he first ran for Parliament to his retirement in 1992 after serving as an MP for various constituencies. Notably, he criticized former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in 1981 over the death of Bobby Sands, a republican hunger striker, but later found common ground with Thatcher during his tenure as president of the Nato Assembly in the 1980s.
In a statement penned by Meagher and approved by Sir Patrick’s family, he was hailed as an exceptional individual with a rich legacy of achievements. Described as kind, humorous, and possessing a remarkable memory of events and personalities from a bygone era, Sir Patrick’s life was celebrated as one filled with accomplishments, camaraderie, and love.