Former Labour chancellor Alistair Darling dies aged 70
Alistair Darling (pictured) during a speech at the Investment Week Funds To Watch event in November 2022.
«The death of Alistair Darling, a former chancellor of the exchequer and long-serving member of the Labour cabinet, was announced in Edinburgh today,» a spokesperson for the family said in a statement.
«Mr Darling, the much-loved husband of Margaret and beloved father of Calum and Anna, died after a short spell in Western General hospital under the wonderful care of the cancer team.»
Darling served as chancellor under Gordon Brown from 2007 to 2010, having served as Edinburgh MP from 1987 until he stepped down from parliament in 2015.
Writing on X, formerly Twitter, Brown said: «I am deeply saddened by the death of Alistair Darling. I, like many, relied on his wisdom, calmness in a crisis and his humour.
»I send my deepest condolences to his loving wife Maggie and their children Calum and Anna. He will be missed by all who knew him."
Jim Leaviss, M&G's CIO of public fixed income, said: «Alistair Darling is the only politician I have sent fan mail to. I wrote to tell him what a great job he had done during the Global Financial Crisis in 2008, when he nationalised Northern Rock rather than allowing it to go bust with losses for individuals and companies, and thereby causing a run on all other UK banks.
»He also organised the bailout of the Royal Bank of Scotland. Darling understood the lessons of the Great Depression, a period when politicians decided that failing banks and businesses needed to be liquidated rather than supported.
«Of course, moral hazard, the argument that bailing out bad institutions leads to reckless investment in future, is a real phenomenon and some policymakers may have chosen a different
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