Hugh Brown

Hugh Brown, the former Scottish Office minister, has died aged 88. Tam Dalyell has a typically personal obituary in the Independent. There's also one by me in the Herald, another in the Daily Telegraph, and a belated couple in the Scotsman and the Guardian by Brian Wilson.

He served as Member of Parliament for Glasgow Provan from 1964 until he retired in 1987, and during the 1974-1979 Labour government he was one of several Parliamentary Under-Secretaries of State for Scotland.

With the MP for Grimsby, Tony Crosland, he was a British negotiator with Iceland during the Cod War.

I interviewed Hugh in 2006 for a book on The Scottish Secretaries. He was charming and unassuming, and clearly enjoyed having been an MP and minister, but for all the right reasons.