More than 50 years of marriage ends in divorce for Lord (formerly MP Roy) Hattersley

Lord Hattersley, who as Roy Hattersley was MP for Birmingham Sparkbrook, married in 1956 (Bruno Vincent/Getty Images)

The marriage of 80-year-old Labour politician Lord Hattersley drew to a close in a London divorce court today.

District Judge Heather MacGregor signalled the end of the former Labour Party deputy leader's marriage to wife Edith when she granted a decree nisi at a hearing in the Principal Registry of the Family Division of the High Court.

Case paperwork said the Hattersleys had been separated for five years and their marriage had “irretrievably broken down”. Records show that the couple married in 1956.

Neither Lord Hattersley - who as Roy Hattersley was MP for Birmingham Sparkbrook - nor his wife was at the hearing.

Lord Hattersley said afterwards that he did not wish to comment.

PA