Chris Moncrieff RIP

Christopher Moncrieff CBE, a political reporter who covered Westminster for more than 50 years for the Press Association, died yesterday at the age of 88.

Chris Moncrieff continued to file stories long after he officially retired in 1994 and published articles in local newspapers in Cumbria until very recently - if my memory is not playing tricks he wrote at least one column in the Whitehaven news earlier this year.

He was once described by Sir John Major as a "National Treasure" and by the Press Association's current editor-in-chief  Pete Clifton as a "legend".

In 2007, the House of Commons press bar was renamed in Mr Moncrieff's honour.

The new House of Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle, who first met Mr Moncrieff in 1997 when he was elected to Parliament, said:

"Chris was the last of the great old journalists, the old school that everybody respected." 

He is survived by the four children he had with his late wife, Margaret.

Rest in Peace.

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