Former long-serving MP and peer Lord John Gilbert dies aged 86

Lord John Gilbert contributed to the public debate at Westminster for nearly half a century.

He had represented the East Dudley ward from 1974 until 1997 before taking up a seat in the House of Lords. The politician, who was the borough's longest serving MP, was known for being a sharp critic of the practices of high street banks, attacking increases of charges and misleading advertising of interest rates.

He was Labour transport minister in the mid- 1970s and championed the creation of the M25.

Born in April 1927, he was educated at Merchant Taylors' school, Hertfordshire. He later attended St John's College, Oxford, where he became secretary of the Oxford University Labour Club in 1950.

He did a PhD in international economics at New York University, before moving to Canada to qualify as an accountant, returning to Britain in the mid-1960s.

He was originally chosen to succeed outgoing MP George Wigg in Dudley, but he lost the 1968 by-election to the Conservative Donald Williams before winning the seat in 1970. His constituency was abolished in 1974 and he served as MP for East Dudley from then until 1997.

During his political career he had many roles including serving on the select committee on defence and as Labour spokesman on Treasury affairs.

Lord Gilbert, who died on Sunday, retired as an MP in exchange for a seat in the House of Lords in 1997.

He later got involved in the campaign to stop the former Coseley East ward moving to the Wolverhampton South East parliamentary constituency.

Speaking at the time about the Boundary Commission's plans, which were later approved, he said: "The Black Country has been a football for this kind of thing for years where people are shuttled between constituencies."

He married, in 1963, Jean Olive Ross-Skinner. He had two daughters with his first wife, Hilary Kenworthy, who he had married in 1950.

Ian Austin, MP for Dudley North, today paid tribute to Lord Gilbert.

"Many in Dudley will share my sadness at the death of former MP John Gilbert, a good friend who helped save the Labour Party in our wilderness years," he said on Twitter.

"I remember as six-year-old when John Gilbert came to our house to see my dad," he said. "He worked hard for Dudley."

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