Blackburn-born Labour peer Lord Alan Haworth has died

Lord Haworth was a secretary of the parliamentary Labour Party from 1992 to 2004, then became a member of the House of Lords.

The party said he died on Monday morning on holiday in Iceland with wife Maggie Rae.

The pair had been on a cruise of Greenland and Iceland when Lord Haworth fell ill last week. He was helicoptered to hospital in the capital Reykjavik and was treated for bacterial pneumonia.

He died of a heart attack on Monday morning.

Lord Haworth attended St Silas CE Primary School, Clematis Street, and in 1959 went to Blackburn Technical and Grammar School, which later became Billinge High, then Beardwood High.

At 20 he went to St Andrew's University to study medicine but withdrew and took a place at the Barking Regional College of Technology, where he gained a degree in sociology. Lord Haworth has been married to Ms Rae, a lawyer, since 1991 and lived in London. He was also a minor shareholder in Blackburn Rovers.

Ms Rae praised the doctors and nurses who treated her husband.

She said: “I am obviously heartbroken but I cannot speak highly enough of the Icelandic health service and the doctors and nurses who looked after him.

“I will never be able to thank them properly for their kindness and their professionalism.”

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer led tributes to the Blackburn-born peer, who had a keen interest in the party’s history, co-authoring a book on the first 29 Labour MPs elected in 1906.

“Alan Haworth was a dedicated servant of the Labour Party and a diligent student of its history,” said Sir Keir.

“Alan worked for the party in both the House of Commons as PLP secretary and then in the House of Lords as a working peer, without fuss or fanfare but with an absolute determination to make life better for working people.

“He played a key role in delivering Labour’s 1997 landslide and ensuring the party was re-elected. Alan will be greatly missed on both the green and red benches in Parliament.

“My thoughts are with Maggie and all his family and friends at this terrible time.”

Labour’s leader in the House of Lords, Baroness Angela Smith, said: “Alan was Labour to his core with an entertaining, warm-hearted and encyclopaedic knowledge of parliamentary colleagues past and present.

“He was great company and held the respect and affection of all in the Labour Peers Group.

“I am shocked at this news and will miss him dearly.”

Former Labour prime minister Sir Tony Blair said: “Alan was one of my close friends, a wonderful, warm and witty companion.

“You never had a dull evening with Alan, and I had many of them. And there was no one whose counsel I found wiser or more perceptive. He and Maggie were fantastic hosts, generous and loving friends.

“Of course Alan was a huge Labour Party stalwart. But the kind that was no nonsense, let’s get elected so we can do instead of talk.

“And in all the years I knew Alan, he never wavered in his belief in, and commitment to, the party. He served it with distinction and true and dedicated loyalty.

“So I will miss him very deeply indeed. On many different levels. In many different ways. It is a sad day for me, Cherie and all our family.”

Lord Haworth grew up in Leamington Road, Revidge, where his mother and father owned a grocery store, and became a peer in the House of Lords in 2004.

He became Lord Haworth of Fisherfield in Ross and Cromarty, a name taken from Scotland, reflecting his love of the outdoors.

Speaking at the time, Lord Haworth said: "I am being appointed as a working peer so it's a new role for me in politics after 30 years as a party official.

"I have worked as an official for the Labour Party for 30 years, as a backroom boy. This gives me a speaking role."

There will be a private funeral with a memorial celebration planned for a future date.