Ex Liverpool council leader dies

John Hamilton had been ill for some time

The former Labour leader of Liverpool City Council, John Hamilton, has died aged 84.

Mr Hamilton was leader of the council during the Militant era in the 1980s, when Derek Hatton was his deputy.

He served as a councillor in the city for 15 years and died following a long battle with illness.

Mr Hamilton was described by his former colleagues as an "old-style Labour councillor" and a passionate politician with strong principles.

Derek Hatton said whenever they met in later years, they still continued to discuss politics.

He said: "You could feel that the passion was still there, he still had a great belief even then.

"Whereas myself and others have gone out of politics and gone to do other things, he stayed very loyal and very principled and I have a great respect for that."

The Militants were socialists who supported Trotsky's revolutionary ideas.

Mr Hatton was expelled from the Labour Party in 1986 for belonging to the left-wing faction and for manipulating the rules of the district Labour Party.