Michael Foot's death means John Freeman is the last member of 1945 parliament left alive

Michael Foot died today, aged 96. As a tribute, the New Statesman site has published his last interview, which he gave recently to Mark Seddon. There was also a nice piece about him by Craig Murray last year.

Everyone is paying tribute to Foot as a scholar, yet the clips of his speeches being played on the news make it clear that he had a weakness for the slighly paranoid style of oratory that comes naturally to Labour. All that talk of "betrayal", for instance. My mother described his politics to me as "joyless" on the phone, which again is a typical Labour weakness.

Remarkably, Michael Foot fought a parliamentary election as long ago as 1935, when he was the defeated Labour candidate in Monmouth.

His death leaves John Freeman as the last member of the 1945 parliament left alive.