BLAENAU Gwent Council is holding a centenary event today in remembrance of Michael Foot.

Leader of Blaenau Gwent Council Hedley McCarthy said: "It is a pleasure to celebrate the centenary of man like Michael Foot. He was a very passionate orator and is fondly remembered."

He was an MP from 1945 to 1955 and from 1960 until 1992. He was deputy leader of the Labour Party from 1976 to 1980, and later became the Leader of the Opposition from 1980 to 1983.

Associated with the Labour left for most of his career, Foot was a supporter of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and British withdrawal from the European Economic Community. His first Cabinet appointment was as Employment secretary under Harold Wilson in 1974, and later served as Leader of the House of Commons under James Callaghan.

Foot's parallel career as a journalist included appointments as editor of Tribune, on several occasions, and the Evening Standard newspaper. Among the books he authored are Guilty Men (an attack on Neville Chamberlain and others for the policy of appeasement), a biography of Jonathan Swift (The Pen and the Sword, 1957) and a biography of Aneurin Bevan.

Professor Dai Smith will speak at the event on Thursday. His specialist subjects include south Wales miners. Others attending include Alun Davies AM, Blaenau Gwent councillors, Rev Viv Nichols, Chief Executive of Blaenau Gwent Council David Waggett and Dai Havard MP.

The event is at 5.30pm on Thursday 25 July, at Llanhilleth Institute.