Duffy, believed to be UK’s longest-living former MP, survived a plane crash in Scotland during second world war
The former Labour MP and defence minister Sir Patrick Duffy has died aged 105 after a short illness, a family friend has said.
He died on 2 January and is believed to have been the UK’s longest-living former MP.
According to Kevin Meagher, a writer who helped Duffy publish his memoirs, the politician was “kind of a living historical jukebox” where you could “push the buttons and say, what was it like to meet, you know, [the former prime minister] Clement Attlee?”
Duffy, who was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II and received a papal knighthood from Pope John Paul II, served in the second world war during which he survived a plane crash in the Orkney Islands while serving in the Fleet Air Arm.
