MP BURDEN’S "MR BIRMINGHAM" TAG FOR MP KNOWLES

19-02-2008

Northfield MP Richard Burden has paid this moving to tribute to Birmingham’s former Labour leader Sir Richard Knowles who died on Sunday.

Although he was born in Kent and won his spurs as a political organiser in Leeds, Dick Knowles was ‘Mr Birmingham’ in so many ways.

As the Labour Leader of Birmingham City Council in the Thatcherite 1980s and the early 1990s he led the City though one of its most challenging periods.

But as recessions wiped out whole swathes of manufacturing industry on which the West Midlands had built its identity and prosperity, Dick had the vision to identify ways in which Birmingham could face those challenges and renew itself for a new millennium.

The transformation of the city centre, the International Convention Centre and the Symphony Hall are lasting tributes to that vision.

With his colleagues he saw the potential of Britain's membership of the European Community to make these things a reality, and he built a consensus that reached well beyond his own party to build a new pride in the City and its future.

Although Dick will be most widely remembered for his achievements as Leader of the City Council and then as Lord Mayor, as one the MPs for South West Birmingham, where he lived, I also saw the passion and commitment he brought to improving his local community.

That passion really flourished after he stepped down from his City-wide leadership roles. He always wanted to see local people having more say in local affairs and his great ambition was for Birmingham to create its own network of locally elected parish councils across the City.

He lived to see the first of those created in Frankley, just down the road from his Bartley Green home. He chaired the South West Birmingham Community Association and the Consultative Committee, which pushed both for the regeneration of Northfield town centre and for local people to have a say in the shape of that regeneration.

That was the thing about Dick. There was no ‘side’ to him nor any sense of self-importance. Whether he was chairing his local community group or negotiating with Government Ministers, he was always the same: perceptive, loyal, plain speaking, funny and totally committed to trying to build both a better and a fairer world.

He used to joke that he had always been regarded as being on the Right of the Labour Party but that, as he had stayed where he was while the world shot by him, he had ended up being regarded as a bit of a Leftie in later life.

You couldn't pigeon-hole him. He was his own person and as a result he commanded both respect and genuine affection from so many people. I will never forget that gravel-like Kentish voice or the ‘Alright, comrade!’ greeting you got when you saw him.

I will miss him.

To see more tributes paid by other Labour colleague click here