Patrick Duffy (politician)

Sir Albert Edward Patrick Duffy (17 June 1920 – 2 January 2026) was a British Labor Party politician. He served as a naval aviator in the Second World War, was in the House of Commons for nearly three decades, and was defense secretary in the Callaghan government. At his death he was the oldest former MP in the United Kingdom.

His youth and war years

He was born in Wigan, Lancashire. He completed his higher education at the London School of Economics (LSE), and then continued his education at Columbia University in the USA. He fought as a pilot in the Fleet Air Arm, the air arm of the Royal Navy, between 1940 and 1946. At the age of 23, he had a serious plane crash near Scapa Flow in the Orkney Islands; He survived this accident and returned to flight duty.

Political career

He was elected MP for Colne Valley at the 1963 by-election and retained the seat until 1966. He returned to parliament from the Sheffield Attercliffe constituency in 1970; He represented this place until his retirement in 1992. He served as parliamentary private secretary to the Minister of Defense between 1974 and 1976.

He served as undersecretary of defense for the Royal Navy in the James Callaghan government between 1976 and 1979. During the opposition years, he served as the defense spokesman of his party for two terms. A politician strongly committed to NATO, he served as president of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly in the 1980s.

Queen Elizabeth II in 1991. He was knighted by Elizabeth. In 2017, at the age of 96, he was honored with the Vatican's Order of St. Gregory the Great. He died in Doncaster on 2 January 2026, aged 105, after a short illness.